[Rarebooks] fs: 1816 Trade Catalogue of Tassie Cameos

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

"DESCRIPTIVE Catalogue of Devices and Mottos English, French, and Italian, 
 From Engraved Seals, formed in composition paste, and sold by William 
Tassie, Leicester-Square"

London; William Bulmer and Co.: 1816.

William Tassie was the nephew of James Tassie, whom Eliza Meteyard called 
"one of the most remarkable artistic characters of the eighteenth century" 
(Life & Works of Wedgwood). The elder Tassie was a Scottish stonemason 
turned artist/entrepreneur who found fame and fortune amidst the Classical 
Revival by creating an excellent series of casts of antique gems, cameos 
and intaglios in colored paste, enamel and sulfur. James Tassie developed 
his techniques using colored potash-lead glass in plaster-of-Paris moulds 
in the 1760s and 70s. He modeled various lines including one of portrait 
busts, did some on-off work for Wedgwood, and eventually created copies of 
more than 15,000 antique classical carved gems and cameos using originals 
borrowed from the great private collections.

James Tassie and Wedgwood became business rivals and eventually started 
sniping at each other's productions. Wedgwood praised Tassie's skill while 
also noting that his own seals and cameos were better, to which Tassie 
countered that his were better because his glass paste and sulfur 
productions were not subject to the distorting effects of shrinkage which 
affected Wedgwood's works.

The Adam-era marketplace would prove big enough for both men, and for many 
years well-to-do collectors filled cabinets with paste and pottery cameos 
and intaglios, and indeed Tassie's nephew William would carry on the work 
into the 1840s. This small trade catalog lists 421 mottoes and saying to be 
found on Tassie cameos, along with a very brief description of the design. 
The Tassies issued several catalogs; an updated and expanded version of 
this one was issued in 1820.

Hardcover. 4"x7", [3] 43 pages; bound in old pasteboard covers with a 
printed title and decorative design, parchment spine, newer endpapers; 
bookplate removed; penned ownership signature of "RD Shepard - London 27 
Sept. 1818" on the title page.  [06799]  $700.00

  Illustrations->
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