According to Ancient Roman mythology and religion, the goddess Victoria, whose counterpart is Nike in Ancient Greek mythology, was the personified goddess of victory. The high number of artistic and architectural dedications to her bear witness to the popularity of the goddess’ cult: Victoria widely appears on Roman coins, jewellery, architecture, and other works of art. This high quality intaglio is carved in garnet, a semi-precious stone extremely popular in Classical Times. In Ancient Greek and Roman mythology, Hades gave pomegranate seeds to his lover Persephone, as a token of safety, while she was leaving the underworld to join her mother Demeter in the human world. The semi-precious stone, recalling the colour and the shape of the pomegranate seed, became a typical gift exchanged between separated lovers.
To discover more about Intaglios, please visit our relevant blog post: Intaglios: Miniature Masterpices.
