A finely crafted Ancient Roman intaglio depicting the god Mercury stooping to adjust his winged sandals, engraved with detailed incisions. Mercury was the messenger of the gods, associated with merchants, travellers, communication, trickery and luck. His winged sandals are a staple of his depictions in ancient art, and sometimes, as in this example, he is also depicted with wings on his back. The reverse is highly polished and undecorated. This piece is supplied with a museum-quality impression. The term intaglio refers to a small image that has been engraved into a gemstone and usually set in a piece of jewellery, most commonly a ring. Such artistic form has its origin in Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with the appearance of cylinder and stamp seals, whereby decorations and patterns were engraved into soft stones. During the Hellenistic period and the early Roman Empire, the art of intaglio reached its apogee, with there being a steady decline in craftsmanship in the late Imperial Rome, until a revival of interest with the Byzantine and during the Renaissance. Measurements: Length ~1.1cm, Width ~0.9cm Provenance: from a Swiss collection, 1980s onwards. Property of a North London, UK, gentleman