An incredibly well sized amethyst intaglio with deep faceted back. They don’t get much prettier.

Featuring imagery of that intaglio classic, Pliny Doves.

These doves, known as the Capitoline Doves or Doves of Pliny, appear frequently as the subject of intaglios. The image comes from a Roman floor mosaic discovered in 1737 at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, which in turn is believed to be a copy of a lost ancient Greek mosaic at Pergamon. The original is described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, completed in 77AD. (Credit: V&A)

Doves themselves represent gentleness and beauty, they are the proper animal of Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love.

Her son Cupid (Eros) has the wings of a dove. Doves are also, along with the butterfly, ancient symbols of the soul, spirit, or human life force, and represent this in some allegorical and mourning compositions. The Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, is represented as a radiant dove in religious compositions.

Pliny himself was apparently some sort of journo type and snuffed it at Pompeii when he thought it’d be a grand idea to go watch Vesuvius blow her load. Error. (Thems my words, not those of the V&A, obvi).

So now you know my little Treasure Troves!