Engraved on this large ringstone is a dancing maenad with her head thrown back in ecstasy. She wears a long chiton with deep, wavy parallel folds revealing the form of her body beneath. In one hand she holds a thyrsus and in the other a fillet. The subject was popular in the Greek world already in the 5th century, as seen on Attic vases (see for example the red-figured amphora by the Kleophrades Painter, now in Munich, no. 36 in I. Krauskopf and E. Simon, "Mainades," in LIMC, vol. VIII). The subject was also a favorite with Neo-Attic sculptors (see the marble reliefs, nos. 144a-e in Krauskopf and Simon, op. cit.) and with gem engravers, beginning in the Hellenistic Period and continuing into the Roman era (see nos. 424-430 in D. Plantzos, Hellenistic Engraved Gems). That the Sangiorgi gem is Republican in date is confirmed by the numerous small drilled pellets for the details.
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Masterpieces in Miniature: Ancient Engraved Gems formerly in the G. Sangiorgi Collection Part III
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