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_900x900.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
_200x200.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
_900x900.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
_200x200.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
_900x900.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
_200x200.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
.jpg "Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions")
LOT 0076
Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions
6TH-5TH CENTURY B.C. OR LATER
3/4 in. (4.25 grams, 19 mm).
Scaraboid type with incuse design to the underside of a nude hero facing, holding one lion by the neck and another by the hind leg; supplied with a museum-quality impression. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.
LiteratureCf. a similar (but not identical) gemstone with Herakles fighting a lion and a fox, in Boardman, J., Greeks gems and finger rings, Early Bronze Age to Late Classical, London, 1970, no.343; cf. also Spier, J., Ancient Gems and finger Rings, catalogue of the collections, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1992, no.103.
FootnotesThe gem could be considered a representation of Heracles, even if the iconography is unusual, and is influenced by the Mesopotamian environment, from where it borrows the frontal image of the hero (Gilgamesh or Enkidu) fighting with two beasts. The hero is beardless and holding an inverted lion. He is acting like a master of the animals, showing eastern traits reminiscent of Graeco-Phoenician art. In the Phoenician tradition, a similar image of the god Bes, holding two lions, as posis theron (‘Master of the Animals’), is common. The type is more frequent in the Eastern Mediterranean than in the West and is found on scarabs in carnelian and chalcedony.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0076
Eastern Greek Carnelian Scaraboid Gemstone with Nude Hero Holding Lions
Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
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Mycenaean Glazed Terracotta Conical Shaped Stamp Seal with Animal
Circa 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £299
Conical body pierced through the top, the underside with an incuse seated beast with open wings facing back; accompanied by a museum-quality impression. 4.55 grams, 20 mm wide
UK private collection before 2000. London collection, acquired on the UK art market. -
Mycenaean Painted Pottery Flask
14th-13th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,820
Comprising a circular body with a rounded base and two strap handles, a short neck with an everted rim; the body with a painted expanding cross motif with the arms separated by a band of pellets. 132 grams, 11.1 cm
Private collection, Switzerland, acquired in the 1994. Private family collection since the late 1990s. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13018-246795.
Mycenaean ceramics were influenced by Minoan shapes and decorative styles from the late Middle Helladic period. This close relationship – likely accompanied by the development of shared cultural practices and etiquette – creates the hypothesis that pilgrim flasks were introduced to Greece via Crete. Pilgrim flasks were produced in Mycenaean contexts from the Late Helladic IIA:1 period (1420-1390 B.C.). -
Greek Glass Head of an African Male
Carthaginian, 2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Moulded in the round in black glass with short hair, casting seam around the edges. 1.57 grams, 17 mm
Ex private collection of the late Mr S.M., London, UK, acquired 1979-1999, thence by descent. Accompanied by a previously illustrated catalogue card with provenance.
