Jupiter in form of an Owl at the feet of Juno on Mount Thornax [T17] - $0.00 : Mon Coeur Gallery, New Orleans,

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Jupiter in form of an Owl at the feet of Juno on Mount Thornax

The Mon Coeur collection consists of four hundred early 19th Century engraved intaglio gem proof impressions. They are being offered individually. These miniature master pieces are part of a major corpus of original Neo-Classical art created by a select group of Roman gem-engravers. These artists were commissioned by the late Prince Stanislas Poniatowski (1754-1833). By the time of his death, in 1833, his collection included about twenty-five hundred gem-engravings. The Poniatowski engraved-gems were inspired from reading literature about Classical mythology. The commissioned artist interpreted and created these magnificent hand engravings depicting the tales of the many gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, monsters, demi-gods, etc. from the available literature of the time. They did not copy ancient art. They created using their own. Throughout Prince Poniatowski life, his gem collection was thought to be from ancient origins. However, after his death, his collection was found to be of modern origins. Sold at a Christie’s auction in April 1839, the collection was not well received. It had the stigma of being a fraud; the collection was sold individually and sold at a fraction of its value. John Tyrell acquired the majority of the collection. Fast forward to mid-October of 2009, the financial market was at its scariest and this collection came available. I had little time to consider it. I had studied mythology and admired the beauty of the collection. I made the offer and the rest is history. I have since discovered that the Poniatowski Collection of gems is actively being illustrated and catalogued by The Classical Art Research Centre in The Beazley Archive at The University of Oxford. You may go online and research for yourself at www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/gems/poniatowski/default.htm The Mon Coeur collection consists only of the PROOF IMPRESSIONS OF THE GEMS. They are made of a proprietary recipe which I do not know exactly what the material is. I believe it is a plaster of paris recipe that has a matte-polished finish on the top and sides of each piece. On the bottom of each, there is an inscribed number and on the top bottom portion is the same number written very small in pencil. One of the previous owners of this collection was General Sir Alexander Walker (1794-1831) and/or his son William Stuart Walker(1831-1896), at Bowland House, Whitehall, near Stow, Midlothian, Scotland. He or his son could have written on these impressions. The original and incredible wood cabinet that the collection came in has the same pencil writing in each tray. To the best of my knowledge, I think that the proof impressions were created when the gems were. I do not know how many proof impressions exist. What I do know is that my collection includes four hundred of these little master pieces. THIS early 19th Century plaster-impression is NUMBER 17 Jupiter in the form of an Owl at the feet of Juno on Mount Thornax in the Storm. Reference Number: T17, Signature: Gnaios, Material: Cornelian, and Literary Source: Pausanias

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