PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.

This large layered onyx intaglio, opaque white over light brown in color, is cartouche shaped, sculpted with a figure of a god or king striding to the left. He wears a kilt with a slanted extension below and holds a scepter. Beneath him is a heb-sign, meaning festival. For the unusual form of the kilt, see the figures of Thoth in similar garb on a gold and silver inlaid bronze jug, no. VI.23 in E.A. Arslan, et al., Iside, Il Mito, Il Mistero, La Magia, which was found in Egyed, Hungary, and is thought to be of Alexandrian workmanship. Perhaps from the same workshop as the Sangiorgi fragment is a Ptolemaic sardonyx ringstone, now in Berlin, engraved with a Horus falcon whose wing feathers compare to the details seen on the kilt worn by the god or king. The falcon likewise stands above an identical heb-sign (see pl. 1, no. 2 n H. Philipp, Mira et Magica, Gemmen im Ägyptischen Museum der Staatlichen Museen). While the large scale of this intaglio does not preclude it from being used in jewelry, it is also possible that it was set into a wall or furniture, in the manner of contemporary mosaic glass inlays.