Lost Owl "The Punishment of Cupid" Pendant
The Punishment of Cupid. What's that all about? This one is a little less romantic and a little more defiant. Cupid as a vanquished foe, temporarily defeated - restrained.
The winged, cherubic Cupid is bound, hands tied behind his back and behind him a tropaion, a battlefield shrine. He is defeated and he is captive.
The trophy looks like a suit of armour on a pole; when the ancient Greeks won a battle they would take the armour of the defeated foe and erect it on a monument on the site of the battle, dedicating it to a deity as a thanks for the victory. They were called a 'tro-pie-on' and its where we get our word for trophy.
So it’s saying, “Cupid you have led me astray me one to many times and you’ve got me in to trouble one too many times!
"I’m not following your whims and reckless desire any more, I just need to be single for a bit.”
This is the general vibe I’m getting from this one.
An amethyst paste seal like this one is known as a "Tassie". Where intaglio is carved stone, paste seals are made from leaded glass that is poured into a mould to create the seal. Often times they used an original intaglio, usually an important or famous example, to make the mould. The process was invented by James Tassie in the 18th Century (hence the name).
And this is exactly that: an exact replica of an intaglio currently in the British Museum that depicts the Punishment of Cupid. Interestingly, there's no academic consensus on whether the original is an ancient carving... some scholars think it is, and some think it’s 18th century neoclassicism.
What I really like is that you can see on the gem in the British Museum that there's a chip on the stone, and because they've used that very same stone as the mould, the chip is there on the bottom corner of our Tassie too.
And the inscription on the gem is ΑΥΛΟΥ, \"(of) Aulos?" I assume it's in the genitive case, relating to its carver or original owner.
The gold is recycled 18 carat inspired by Georgian era cut-down settings.
Part 2 of our three-piece series exploring love.
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[Last updated: 28th February 2026]
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