LOT 0033

Eastern Greek Carnelian Scarab Seal

6TH-5TH CENTURY B.C.

5/8 in. (2.29 grams, 16 mm).

Modelled with semi-naturalistic anatomical detailing, the base displaying a battle showing a mature and muscular naked man grappling with a winged gryphon; drilled for suspension.

Ex F.A., Brussels, 1980.
Private collection of a London antiquarian.

Cf. a comparable scene in Boardman, J., Greek Gems and finger rings, early Bronze Age to Late Classical, London, 1973 (2001), no.361.

Combat between a man and gryphon is a well-attested subject matter on Greek scarabs. A faience factory was found in Naukratis by Flinders-Petrie, with innumerable faience and discarded moulds. The motifs on the bottom surface are repetitive and hurriedly worked. They depict lucky symbols or representative subjects (lions with sun disc, ibex, Horus falcons, lotus flowers); such motifs had already been adopted into Greek art but are generally considered typically Egyptian. Here the subject of a fight against a gryphon is Greek, although the style of the fighting character seems Phoenician, which points to Eastern Mediterranean workmanship, possibly on the Island of Rhodes.