Sardonyx cameo on an enamelled gold ring. Photo Benjamin Chelly Sicily, 13th century. Intaglio on a carnelian scarab, gold mounting. Photo Benjamin ChellyĮngraved stones carry multiple meanings: A distant echo of the beginnings of writing (intaglio, cylinder seal, seal) material witness to commercial exchanges and daily agrarian concerns a reminder of beliefs and the understanding of the world a tribute to illustrious men and finally a luxury object made into an ornament. When one stops to observe this multitude of details finely engraved by slow abrasion of the stone, one would feel time stop. Set on rings, brooches and pins, glyptic art put into image the vast panorama inhabited by the Egyptian, Greek and Roman pantheon gods, populated by Homeric or Ovidian characters, figures of temporal power, sometimes from the Bible, and various animals escaped from the fables of Aesop.
Sardonyx cameo on a gold box by Gabriel Morel.
Photo by Didier Loireįor forty years Guy Ladrière has collected intaglios (stones engraved in hollow relief) and cameos (stones which, because they have superimposed layers of different colors, are engraved in relief and respond in miniature proportion to ancient bas-reliefs, monumental Greco-Roman sculptures and medieval polychrome woods). On the ruby intaglio, the Virgin Mary and Child are closely sheltered by what appears to be an oratory or small chapel. The image is reminiscent of the gothic sculpture of the Virgin Mary nursing her Child in the Cluny Museum or the Louvre. Today he is wearing a rare ruby intaglio set in a heavy gold ring on his right finger. Touchingly, the engraved gemstone depicts the Virgin Mary carrying the baby Jesus and gazing at him. Except for the most fragile, the collector wears them on his fingers every day. Eclectic, it gathers today more than four hundred pieces of which the majority are rings. Remarkable in many ways, his collection embraces a vast geographical area (Asia, Africa and Europe) and covers nearly three millennia of the art of glyptics. The Ladrière Collection unites the eye and the exquisite taste of a man, a passionate expert: Guy Ladrière. I met with Guy Ladrière at Quai Voltaire for an interview about his private collection of glyptics – the ancient art of engraving gems- which will be exhibited from May 12 to Octoin Paris at the École, School of Jewellery Arts. Interview with Guy Ladrière, the Prince of Rings Pour lire cet article en français, veuillez cliquer sur ce lien.
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