James Tassie  1735 – 1799

“Tassie was a gem engraver and modeller known for reproductions of engraved gems and for portrait medallions, both made from a hard, fine-textured substance that he developed with a physician, Henry Quin. Having trained as a stonemason, in 1763 Tassie moved to Dublin, where he worked as laboratory assistant to Quin. Together they devised a white enamel composition especially suited for gemstone replicas. In 1766, Tassie moved to London, where he received commissions to duplicate many famous gems, both ancient and modern. Tassie’s portrait medallions, his best-known original works, included many eminent contemporaries among their subjects. They were modelled from life in wax and cast in white paste.”  National Portrait Gallery.  http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07619/james-tassie

References:

• DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE of ENGRAVED GEMS by JAMES TASSSIE by R. E. RASPE, 1791 Raspe Vol I   Raspe Vol II
• JAMES AND WILLIAM TASSIE. A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SKETCH WITH A CATALOGUE OF THEIR PORTRAIT MEDALLIONS OF MODERN PERSONAGES  By John Miller Gray · 1894
• A DACTYLIOTHECA BY JAMES TASSIE AND OTHER COLLECTIONS OF GEM IMPRESSIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN  by Daniel Graepler   2010
• A CATALOGUE OF IMPRESSIONS IN SULPHUR, OF ANTIQUE AND MODERN GEMS FROM WHICH PASTES ARE MADE AND SOLD BY J. TASSIE  1775
• JAMES TASSIE, 1735-1799,  MODELLER IN GLASS,  A CLASSICAL APPROACH, by John P. Smith  1995
•  POETRY, PASTE, SEALING-WAX, AND TASTE: SOME RESPONSES TO CLASSICAL GEMS IN EIGHTEENTH- AND NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN  by Richard Aronowitz   2019
• THE LETTERS OF JAMES AND WILLIAM TASSIE TO ALEXANDER WILSON 1778 TO 1826  by Duncan Thomson   Source: The Volume of the Walpole Society, Vol. 65 (2003), pp. 1-87.  Available to read online for free or download with subscription at https://www.jstor.org/stable/41829656
• A PASSION FOR GEMS  by E. Bryding Adams  1994