Roman Gemstone Collection

1ST-3RD CENTURY A.D.

1/4 - 1/2 in. (2.9 grams total, 9-13 mm).

Including profile bust, advancing lion, two fish and other types; each supplied with a museum-quality impression. [6]

Provenance

From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

Literature

Cf. Kaić, I., ‘Engraved gems as part of the Augustan Propaganda. Some examples from Croatia’ in Milićević Bradač, M., Demicheli, D., The century of the brave, Roman conquest and indigenous resistance in Illyricum during the time of Augustus and his heirs, proceedings of the international conference Zagreb, 22-26,9,2014, Zagreb, 2018, figs.5,8, for similar.

Footnotes

One of the rings, representing a seahorse with a trident swimming beside a dolphin, could be connected with the Legio X Fretensis, whose symbol was Neptune and the dolphin, adopted after the battle of Actium.

CONDITION

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LOT 0869