Attributed to Giovanni Calandrelli (1784-1853), Italian, Rome, circa 1815-1830 | Intaglio with Aurora in her Biga

This beautiful intaglio depicts the goddess Aurora in her biga (chariot), a cupid before her holding a torch, bringing the dawn. Clouds beneath and a single star signify the evening. The model ultimately derives from ancient cameos and intaglios with Aurora (Eos) and Victory; see the 1st-century Roman gem with Aurora in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 29.175.3). The present intaglio compares glyptics by the Neoclassical engraver Giovanni Calandrelli. Note the intaglio with Zeus and Kapaneus by Calandrelli, with similar billowing drapery, in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (inv. no. 83.AL.257.9). The Getty intaglio is one of the Poniatowski gems. The present intaglio is very similar to one of the Poniatowski intaglios with the same subject, which was number I.286 in the Poniatowski catalogue and is in a private collection.