Veneres uti observantur in gemmis antiquis
An antiquarian plate volume of Greco-Roman engraved gems with erotic and Bacchic subjects, compiled by Pierre d'Hancarville and issued in 1771 under a false Leiden imprint (probably printed in Naples) for collectors and students of classical antiquity. The 46 plates are hand-coloured intaglio impressions set as circles and ovals against solid black grounds, each ringed by gold fillets and hatched or laurel bands, with pale nude figures, satyrs, herms and small trees arranged in shallow friezes — useful for medallion frames, roundel borders and silhouetted figure groups.
