Roman Carnelian Gemstone with Mars

With hinge at the cross-bar and pin beneath, deep bow with vertical channel; notched detailing. 12.9 grams, 47 mm



Found East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, UK. Ex private Merseyside, UK, collection. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme report no.SWOR-A26E93.

The oval intaglio engraved with a man driving a pair of oxen with plough to left, a detailed tree with branches in the background, ground line under the oxen. 0.38 grams, 10 mm



Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Important North West London collection.

The gem could refer to the Augustan program of restoration of peace and security in the empire, after the agitated period of civil wars, with the possibility for men to return peacefully to their lands in a now peaceful empire. However, we cannot exclude that the image also refers to the well-known episode of Greek mythology, when Odysseus, to escape the call to arms in Troy, feigned madness by ploughing the fields without interruption, until he was unmasked by Palamedes, cousin of Agamemnon, who placed Odysseus' infant son Telemachus in front of the plough, forcing Odysseus to stop and reveal feigned insanity.

Mould-blown with elliptical body, short neck and thick everted rim in amber-tinted glass, the body with modelled wrinkles to resemble a date. 30.3 grams, 64 mm high



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.