Awhile back the “Inataglio Blog” on our other site, “MyIntaglios.com” had a post entitled, “Tassie, Seals, and Keats” discussing the fondness of the poet Keats for Tassie seals. Recently, we came across a reference to the poet Shelley’s (1792-1822) similar sentiment for the small paste pieces.
In a letter written in Pisa to Thomas Love Peacock dated 21 Mar 1821 Shelley had the following request, “I want you to do something for me: that is, to get me two pounds’ worth of Tassie’s gems, in Leicester Square, the prettiest, according to your taste; among them the head of Alexander; and to get me two seals engraved and set, one smaller, and the other handsomer; the device a dove with outspread wings, and this motto around it:
Μάντις είμ’ εσθλών αγώνων
Mary desires her best regards; and I remain, my dear Peacock, ever most sincerely yours,
P. B. S.”
From: SELECT LETTERS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Edited with and Introduction by Richard Garnett, D. Appleton and Company, 1896, p157.
At the time Shelley penned this letter he had made the friendship of Prince Mavrokordatos, a Greek expatriate living in Pisa. Shelley was writing his verse drama, “Hellas” with a view to raising money for the Greek War of Independence, a cause for which he had become quite passionate.
The motto is a line from “Oedipus at Colonus” the largest of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles written about 400 B.C. (this sounds more like we know what we’re talking about than we do). Depending on the translation used, it translates as:
” I am a mantis (seer) who predicts noble struggles” or
“I become a fortune teller now and I predict glorious struggle.”
The next several lines address the dove with outspread wings:
“Oh, to be a dove with the strength and swiftness of a whirlwind, that I might reach an airy cloud, and hang my gaze above the agōnes!” or
“Let me be a dove, faster and from the age, flying high in the ethers clouds, my eye the spectacle to see of this battle.”
The motto was also used as the motto for the “Hellas” — included immediately after the Title
In the book, “The Life of Percy Shelley”, 1887, author Edward Dowden opines,
“In March (1821), Shelley had ordered from London an engraved seal, having the device of a dove with outspread wings, and the motto round it, Μάντις είμ έσθλών αγώνων, words taken from that chorus of the “ Edipus at Colonos, ” in which the old men , eager to know the issue of battle, long to gaze down on earth from a cloud like a swift-winged dove. The seal was perhaps intended for Alexander Mavrocordato, to whom also a Tassie gem , having on it the head of Alexander, ordered at the same time, was probably given. To Prince Mavrocordato the ” Hellas ” is dedicated in words of admiration and ardent sympathy, and the drama has for motto the same words from the “ Edipus at Colonos ” chosen by Shelley as motto for the seal. The last stanza of the final chorus of the drama is a prayer that the brooding wings of the bird of peace -the dove, and not the eagle— “ prophet of brave struggles,” may soothe our weary world to rest. “
In a more recent article in the Greek publication, “Taathinaika” on 10 June 2021 the writer, Eleftherios G. Skiadas, praisess Shelley’s love of Greece and writes, “The spiritual crown of P. Shelley’s life and intellectual production is the poem ‘Hellas’, a result of the intensity of his love for freedom. He wrote it in 1821, when he met Alexandros Mavrokordatos in Pisa and gave him the proclamation of Ypsilantis for the Struggle. Then he exclaimed excitedly and addressed his wife: “Μαίρη, Μαίρη, Μάντις είμ’ εσθλών αγώνων”, ie the verse from Oedipus at Colonus, which he also wrote in his ‘Greece’ ” The quote is the same motto prefaced by, “Mary, Mary….” his wife. We are trying to determine the source of this quote in order to put it in context and further ascertain Shelley’s interest and apparent affection for it.
It’s unknown to us whether Peacock ever carried out the request, especially with regard to the unique Greek motto seals requested. Tassie’s 1830 Catalogue of Mottos and Devices for Seals, etc. does not include any such seal, either with the Greek motto or with a dove with outstretched wings (or flying),which one would expect to find if an original had been created.
]]NOW TO TASSIE: Shelley’s reference to “Tassie’s gems, in Leicester Square” is no doubt to the Tassie firm, headed at the time by William Tassie, James Tassie’s nephew who, himself an engraver of some note, took over the Tassie business after the death of James in 1799. This interest by Shelley, who was in Italy at the time, further attests to the popularity of these gem impressions and seals in the first part of the 19th century.
It’s not clear, however, what Shelley means when he requests that Peacock get him, “…two pounds’ worth of Tassie’s gems…”, because Tassie sold the impressions in several forms. It does not appear that he is referring to the glass seals with mottos and devices because he wants to include one of Alexander whose likeness is only found in the larger impressions not on the smaller glass seals.
The Tassie gem impressions were normally sold singly as pastes (a type of glass) for 1 to 3 shillings each, depending on size (see Tassie letters to Wilson). Shelley would therefore have been purchasing about 20 of them. The much cheaper plaster or sulfur impressions (2 pence each) were normally just referred to as “impressions” or specifically as to type and sold as sets of a larger number. The larger impressions were also produced in an opaque white paste material, which Tassie called “enamel”; they were more expensive, selling for 3 shillings on up. [MyI: 12 pence = 1 shilling; 20 shillings = 1 pound.]
With regard to the engraving work for the seals that Shelley requested, Peacock could have gone to Tassie or to any one of quite a few other engravers working in London at the time.
Below, left to right, are a sampling of Tassie seals, a paste impression, a sulfur impression, and an enamel.
The affinity for and use of the Tassie “gems” and seals by Keats and Shelley, both buying several at a time, attest to the popularity of the intaglios both to seal letters and for collections. This period (1810 – 30) was also the height of the sales for Italian intaglio plaster and sulfur producers as evidenced by the popularity of such collections from the Paoletti and Liberotti firms in Rome.
In England, however, it’s probable that sales of the impressions had already started to decline as the demand for the seals picked up. This is evidenced by the fact that William Tassie a producer of both, having an inventory of almost 20,000 intaglio impression molds from which to choose, decided not to issue a catalogue for them but instead, in 1830 issued a catalogue of mottos and devices for seals, etc only.
Tassie was still selling the impressions. The long title of the 1830 Catalogue demonstrates that, but his attentions were clearly directed toward the sale of the seals.
The issue of the decline in interest is commented on by Duncan Thomson in his “THE LETTERS OF JAMES AND WILLIAM TASSIE TO ALEXANDER WILSON 1778 TO 1826”. In a note to the letter by William Tassie dated 15 Nov 1825 wherein he addresses the topic of the catalogue, Thomson states, “This is presumably the catalogue which did not appear until 1830: … It is a book of 152 pages, containing 1,559 items. Its long title encapsulates an era of taste which by this time, as William Tassie sensed, had had its heyday. He did, however, continue in his business until 1840…”
Poetry lovers will note that we now have Tassie connected to Keats and Shelley. All we need to do is find a connection to Lord Byron, who was a close acquaintance of both of them, and we will have the troika completed.
