Duke's
Lot 171
GROUP OF SIX INTAGLIO ENGRAVED GLASS TASSIE 'GEMS', late 18th or early 19th century, including a clear rectangular example depicting three birds eating corn, 1.8cm wide; a white paste profile of the head of Admiral Nelson, signed, 1.5cm high; an oval purple example depicting Venus in a scallopshell drawn by tritons, 2cm wide; a clear rectangular example, A WEATHERCOCK ON TOP OF A BUILDING, "Je ne change jamais la premiere", (no.1143), 1.5cm high; a tapered cylindrical purple example, VITE, 1cm high; another example; and a small carved wood seal stamp Provenance: The Miller-Williams Collection of Tassie Intaglios The avid and erudite Dorset collector Mrs Margaret Miller-Williams, forms her fascinating collection of Tassie glass intaglios, related seals and imprints. The group, assembled over many years of sharp eyed hunting in shops and markets in the UK and abroad, is a small but strongly representative part of William Tassie's (1777 - 1860) huge output. Miller-Williams' original interest in the Tassie Neoclassical phenomenom was originally fired by a close friend who as a great great great great niece of Tassie's had inherited a large collection of the engraver's own intaglios, and who gave Miller-Williams her duplicates, to get the collection started William Tassie himself, nephew of James Tassie (1735 - 1799) who was also a gem engraver, had a famed collection of over 20,000 intaglios. It is thought that between them, the Tassies could reasonably be credited with the reintroduction of the ancient skill of Intaglio gem engraving, and their work meshed perfectly with the newly fashionable Grand Tour and the general and ubiquitous vogue for all things Neoclassical. The sheer quality of their work brought great acclaim, and their intaglios found their way into many great collections, including that of Catherine the Great of Russia -that cumulation now held at the State Hermitage Museums The bracketed numbers in the following lots relate to the full listing 'A CATALOGUE OF THAT PART OF MR WILLIAM TASSIE'S EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF IMPRESSIONS FROM ENGRAVED GEMS, CONSISTING OF DEVICES AND EMBLEMS...', printed by W.Nicol, London 1830
