FOR IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO THE 1820 CATALOGUE CLICK HERE.
William Tassie (1750-1860) took over the business of his uncle James Tassie (1735-1799) upon the latter’s death in 1799. Most of the work of the Tassies up until about 1800 involved production of impressions of engraved gems. James collaborated with Rudolf Erich Raspe to publish a Catalogue of his Gem Impressions in 1791, in Volume I and Volume II; it included15,800 items. After 1791 an additional 5,000 gem impressions were added to the collection, as documented by the Classical Arts Research Centre (CARC) at Oxford University.
There was an another, less reported, aspect of the Tassie collection that was very popular and flourished in the early 19th century – the production of intaglio seals of devices (adages, sometimes with related symbols or characters) and mottos. (The production of coin impressions also grew during this period). While William Tassie sometimes mentioned working on a supplement to the 1791 Catalogue of Gem Impressions, one was never produced.
What he did produce, however, were several catalogues of the collection of devices and mottos. They were:
- 1816 — 43 pages; 421 items numbered 1-421 ( This catalogue can be accessed here).
- 1820 — a catalogue in two parts (The newly released digitized copy of this catalogue can be accessed here) :
- Part 1 – 48 pages; 421 items numbered 1-421 (This part is essentially identical to the 1816 catalogue)
- Part 2 – 76 pages; 580 items numbered 422-1,002. Copies of this catalogue have not been found online (by me)
- 1830 — 150 pages; 1,559 items numbered 1-1,559. This catalogue is readily available online.
These catalogues are fully described in John Gray’s biographical publication, “JAMES AND WILLIAM TASSIE, A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SKETCH”
The seals were quite popular during the first 1/3 of the nineteenth century, being used to close and “seal” correspondence that was usually a simple piece of folded paper. This popularity quickly died out with the advent of the envelope with a pre-glued flap!
ENJOY
