Grand Tour' Intaglio/cameo Book - Italy/france - 19th Century

Charming and rare set of intaglio and cameo prints, presented in an antique volume bound in full leather, from the 19th century, in the spirit of Grand Tour souvenirs.

The work, with brown leather binding richly decorated with gilded irons (with framing and crowned central motif), conceals a small amateur cabinet in a carefully arranged cavity. The interior is lined with polychrome marbled paper, in which several oval and circular impressions are arranged.

These impressions, made in (red) wax and plaster or clear paste, reproduce antique-inspired intaglios and cameos: mythological scenes, classical figures, antique-style profiles. They are mounted in fine gilded brass mounts, imitating the presentation of real engraved gems.

This type of set was particularly prized during the Grand Tour (late 18th - 19th century), a voyage of initiation for Europe's elites, particularly in Italy. Travelers brought back these collections of impressions as scholarly souvenirs of the great antique collections (Rome, Naples, Florence), enabling the models of famous gems to be studied and preserved.

A fine object of curiosity, at the crossroads of archaeology, art history and neoclassical taste, testifying to the infatuation with Antiquity and the spread of classical models in the 19th century.