Roman Chalcedony Gemstone with Muse Euterpes

1ST CENTURY A.D.

5/8 in. (0.77 grams, 14 mm).

The muse standing on a baseline with her head in profile, resting her left arm on a cithara, carrying a laurel branch in her extended right hand, the weight of the body resting on the right leg.

Provenance

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

Literature

Cf. similar images of Apollo in Behemerid, A.G., ‘La coleccion Cluniense de Gliptica’, in BSAA arqueologia, LXXI, 2005, pp.185-208, pl.I, no.6.

Footnotes

The muse is Euterpe, the muse of music as well as lyrical poetry. The motif can be related to numerous representations of Apollo, in which he appears leaning on a column on which the lyre or tripod is placed. It is a serial representation, based on statuary prototypes, which were widely copied by Hellenistic-Roman artisans, where the figure of Apollo, here, is transformed in that of the muse of music.

CONDITION

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LOT 0157