Etruscan Variegated Agate Scaraboid Gemstone with Dancing Satyrs

Columnar bead with sheet-gold cap to each end, each with beaded circlets and applied granule clusters, domed end with loop; possibly assembled. 17.44 grams, 60 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.

The very elaborate versions of earrings with large domes and pendants composed of clusters of hollow spheres and granulation are most typically Romano-Syrian, but they begin to be produced in the Late Hellenistic Age. They were diffused in the Levant, Egypt and on the frontier area between the Roman and the Arsacid Empire.

Achaemenid or Parthian oval intaglio engraved with a style standing at the threshold between natural and stiff rigid linear style, depicting a goat-headed rhyton, the vessel terminating in the forepart of a wild goat with the front leg tucked under the body, the head rendered in profile with elegantly arched horns, pronounced muzzle, and carefully incised eye; the neck of the conical rhyton decorated with diagonal and cross-hatched incisions suggesting ribbing or chased metalwork; set in a modern gold ring with a small triangular area at the top left of the stone filled in with gold; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 8.51 grams, 24.02 mm overall, 21.18 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P, USA 7 1/2, Europe 16.23, Japan 15)



Acquired on the European art market. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13356-257945.

The subject, a rhyton terminating in an animal protome, belongs to a well-established tradition in Eastern Greek and Achaemenid art of the late Archaic and Classical periods, in which zoomorphic libation vessels were used in ritual and ceremonial contexts. Goat-headed rhyta, though less commonly preserved in glyptic media, are attested in silver and ceramic examples, notably from Asia Minor and Thrace. The stylised horned animal, here likely a wild goat or ibex, is associated with vitality and mountain symbolism, while the rhyton itself signals elite drinking culture and votive use. The use of carnelian is typical of high-quality glyptic production in the 6th to 4th century BC, valued for its durability and ability to take a fine polish. The style and iconography suggest an Eastern Mediterranean origin, most probably Ionian or Anatolian.

Featuring a round-section hoop and a large oval bezel with a seated goddess holding a dove with open wings. 6.35 grams, 23.20 mm overall, 19.55 x 12.60 mm internal diameter (approximate size British I, USA 4 1/4, Europe 7.44, Japan 7)



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.