CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 5TH CENTURY B.C.

Name: A GREEK ORANGE ONYX BARREL SEAL WITH A HERON
Brand: CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 5TH CENTURY B.C.
Price: 140000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised USD 176,400

Estimate

USD 10,000 - USD 15,000

Closed: 14 Apr 2022

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A GREEK ORANGE ONYX BARREL SEAL WITH A HERON

CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 5TH CENTURY B.C.

Price Realised USD 176,400

Closed: 14 Apr 2022

Price Realised USD 176,400

Closed: 14 Apr 2022

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

1³⁄₈ in. (3.4 cm.) long

Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland, late 1930s; thence by continuous descent to the current owner.

J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 63, no. 55.

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Lot Essay

Most gems of the Classical Period are either in the form of a scarab or a scaraboid. More rarely the Greeks used a sliced cylinder or a barrel, as in the example presented here. Despite the cylindrical form, Greek barrel seals were not meant to be rolled in the Near Eastern manner but instead were engraved to function as a stamp seal, similar to the more popular scarabs and scaraboids. Several other barrel seals are also engraved with a heron, a subject well suited for the elongated available field (see pp. 199-200 and pls. 518-519 in Boardman, ). Here the heron stands on one leg on a short groundline, with the other slightly raised, its head lowered as if foraging.