Details
78 in. (2.3 cm.) long
Provenance
Private Collection, France (Dr. B and M.C.).
Objets Antiques: Marbres, orfèvrerie, verrerie, céramique, bronzes, ivoires, Collection du Dr. B. et de M.C., Me. Lair Dubreuil, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19-21 May 1910, lot 300.
Paul Julius Arndt (1865-1937), Munich (Inv. no 1483; impression of gem preserved in In Memoriam: Collezione Paul Arndt).
Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland, late 1930s; thence by continuous descent to the current owner.
Literature
J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings, London, 1970, pp. 197, 283, fig. 202, p. 426. no. 69.
H.C.L. Wiegandt, Die griechischen Siegel der klassischen Zeit: Ikonographischer Vergleich, Frankfurt am Main, 2009, p. 202, no. Bbb5, pl. XXXII.
J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 53, no. 45.
Brought to you by
Hannah Fox SolomonHead of Department, Specialist
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Lot Essay

Noteworthy for its swirling and circular black inclusions, this unusual stone features a woman seated on a diphros juggling. She is balancing a ball on the back of her hand, while a second ball floats high in front of her head. The woman is nude but for a himation draped around her legs, and the scene is enclosed within a hatched border. For the subject and style, compare the Nike similarly occupied on a coin minted circa 430 B.C. at Terina on the western coast of Calabria, no. 711 in C.M. Kraay, Archaic and Classical Greek Coins. The subject was also popular on Attic vases (see for example the red-figured lekythos in the National Museum, Athens, pl. VIb in S.P. Karouzou, “Vases from Odos Pandrosou,” The Journal of Hellenic Studies 65). Karouzou suggests that the balls in question were made of thread or wool.
More from
Masterpieces in Miniature: Ancient Engraved Gems formerly in the G. Sangiorgi Collection Part III
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