Lost Heirloom

Georgian Rebus Intaglio Seal Fob "Time is on the Wing"

Name: Georgian Rebus Intaglio Seal Fob "Time is on the Wing"
Brand: Lost Heirloom
Price: 850.0 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

Gorgeous Regency period seal fob in 15 carat gold with deeply carved floral motifs decorating the body and a rebus puzzle seal set into the base. The puzzle is thus:

⏳ is on the 🪽

Which translates to: Time is on the Wing. An ancient adage rooted in Roman and Renaissance literature. Tempus fugit, "time flies" (or more literally, "time flees") from Virgil's Georgics serves as a poetic reminder that we should make the most of our time since it, invariably, slips away. A natural pair to the somewhat more well-known Carpe Diem.

But let us travel a little further forward in time, from Virgil to this seal (circa 1810) to August 29th 1863 when William Billington publishes his poem, Time is on the Wing, in The Blackburn Times... "The poem refers to both the ‘working classes’ and the wealthy, and adheres to the familiar Victorian moral trope that they will all be judged in the end, and must ultimately suffer the same fate." And here it is:

My lot is cast amid the lowly masses

Whose joys and sorrows I full oft have sung,

And through the glooms which cloud the working classes

Some feeble gleams of sunshine may have flung;

But whether this be fact or fancy, lo!

Once more my lowly harp I humbly string

To teach them what they each full well must know,

But oft forget, that time is on the wing!

Life is not made of days alone, but duty;

And they that would its greatness gauge aright

Must measure by its merit; moral beauty

Alone is lovely in the angels’ sight!

Then, as a stately barque, when onward bound,

Doth to the breeze of heaven her canvass fling,

Spread we our spirit-wings and spurn the ground,

Nay, scale the sky, for Time is on the wing!

Those master spirits who have won success

And gained the goal for which they strongly strove,

Great souls, who breathed their brotherhood to bless,

Or snatched the thunder from Immortal Jove,

And bloated empires, warrior, poet, sage,

Around whose names such fadeless glories cling.

Rendering refulgent history’s ample page

Like Time, were workers, ever on the wing!

When we contemplate death without a name –

To leave no light among the sons of men,

Are we not sorely tempted to exclaim, -

“Would God I could my time begin again?”

Then keen reflection cutteth like a knife;

And deep and deadly as the scorpion’s sting,

While Memory murmurs of a wasted life,

Smites Conscience, whispering, Time is on the wing!

True Happiness hath Virtue for her guide,

And walketh but in wisdom’s peaceful path;

Apart from hatred, envy, pomp, and pride,

Unscathed by sin, and hence unscar’d by scath;

She leans to neither high nor low degree,

But hold the beggar equal to the king!

With hopeful heart, and purpose pure, shall we

Not tread her track, while Time is on the wing.

That tide recedeth swiftly from the shore;

The sand falls briefly through the brittle glass;

Occasion gone, returneth nevermore;

The days are dead that deedless we let pass;

Each moment hath its opportunity;

Each hour its field for action still doth bring;

We wait, debate, and hesitate but we

Forget that time is ever on the wing!

The present, ever golden with the gay,

Are streaming rainbow bright, doth fade as fast;

The brave to-morrow, like the brief today,

Soon peeps within the portals of the Past;

But pace ye through her dim and shadowy bower,

And, seated, hear that ancient sibyl sing –

“Man knoweth not the day, nor yet the hour

When Death shall come, but Time is on the wing.”
[Source]

Era: Georgian, circa 1810

Stone: Citrine Intaglio

Height: 2.7cm

Base: 1.6cm by 1.3cm

Marks: None, tested as 15ct gold

Condition: Great antique condition

More details

Georgian Rebus Intaglio Seal Fob "Time is on the Wing"

From Vintage to Ancient

Links

FAQs

Newsletter