| Description | This collection consists of approximately 1,700 miniature gem casts and moulds created in the late eighteenth century by RCPI Past President Henry Quin (1717-1791) and James Tassie (1735-1799), the renowned gem engraver and modeller from Scotland.
The gems are made of several different types of material including wax, sulphurous compounds, glass and stone. They depict subjects from the visual cultures of Classical Antiquity, with figures such as Medusa, Hercules and the Three Graces featuring prominently. The collection also contains examples of the raw materials used in the manufacturing process, wooden trays originally used for storage/display, and related manuscript notes.
As a young man travelling in Italy, Quin collected ancient cameos and intaglios. Good quality specimens were in short supply thus creating a market for high grade copies, which were made using glass pastes. Quin set up his own laboratory in Dublin to experiment making these materials. It was at this point that he hired Tassie as his assistant and together they developed their own glass recipe before Tassie, with Quin’s encouragement, moved to London where he found great success. His reputation became internationally renowned, and his gems were collected by Catherine the Great of Russia amongst others. The two men kept in contact for the remainder of Quin’s life, frequently exchanging technical information and samples of their creations.
The collection was donated to RCPI in 1926 by descendants of Quin. |
| Custodial History | Recorded in Register of Donations and Bequests (RCPI/8/3/2/1) as presented by Dr Blackwell Morison |