The [V&A’s museum](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118271/ring-unknown/) note: “The bezel of this ring is set with a carved onyx cameo of a cat. Gem engraving and hardstone carving had seen a great revival in interest in the second half of the eighteenth century, in part encouraged by the French Emperor Napoleon I. In 1804, the prestigious Prix de Rome art competition had been opened up to engravers. The winner was allowed to spend five years studying in Rome at the expense of the French government.
Enthusiastic collectors put together cabinets of gems and engraved stones. This cameo has been reset in a ring by the Reverence Chauncey Hare Townshend (1798-1868). Townshend was a poet who was befriended by Robert Southey, William and Dorothy Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge. He was a friend of Charles Dickens and shared his interest in spiritualism and mesmerism. Dickens dedicated his novel ‘Great Expectations’ to him and gave him the manuscript copy as well as his crystal ball.
He left his collection of gems and minerals, over 200 pieces of jewellery and a large collection of prints and oil paintings to the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). A catalogue of the gemstones was published by A.H. Church in 1905.”
Szernet on
I love this and need this
erkness91 on
Love how humans have always been lil freaks for cats.
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The [V&A’s museum](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118271/ring-unknown/) note: “The bezel of this ring is set with a carved onyx cameo of a cat. Gem engraving and hardstone carving had seen a great revival in interest in the second half of the eighteenth century, in part encouraged by the French Emperor Napoleon I. In 1804, the prestigious Prix de Rome art competition had been opened up to engravers. The winner was allowed to spend five years studying in Rome at the expense of the French government.
Enthusiastic collectors put together cabinets of gems and engraved stones. This cameo has been reset in a ring by the Reverence Chauncey Hare Townshend (1798-1868). Townshend was a poet who was befriended by Robert Southey, William and Dorothy Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge. He was a friend of Charles Dickens and shared his interest in spiritualism and mesmerism. Dickens dedicated his novel ‘Great Expectations’ to him and gave him the manuscript copy as well as his crystal ball.
He left his collection of gems and minerals, over 200 pieces of jewellery and a large collection of prints and oil paintings to the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). A catalogue of the gemstones was published by A.H. Church in 1905.”
I love this and need this
Love how humans have always been lil freaks for cats.