Just like other ornamental arts, glyptics was used in the Roman Empire to glorify the royal family and, what is more, to justify its ascension to the throne. Being component parts of the device, the imperial cameo, large semiprecious stones carved in basrelief were made only for the court from Rome, while in the provences, the same purpose had the intaglio, sealing rings with hard rocks deeply engraved. Even pots made from semiprecious stones (which were rare because of the peril of rock cracking while manour labouring it) were representative for glyptics, having carved propaganda scenes.