Roman Sapphire Gemstone with Crescent Moon and Star

THIRD QUARTER OF 1ST CENTURY B.C.

3/8 in. (1.05 grams, 10 mm).

Cushion-shaped greenish-blue intaglio engraved with a large crescent moon and star.

Provenance

Formerly in a private collection of an European lady, 1970s-1980s.
Private collection, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13305-257800.

Literature

Cf. for the use of sapphire in Roman jewellery, Altamura, F., Tomei, N., Cerino, P., ‘Characterization and provenance of ancient gemstones: Case study of a gold-and-sapphire jewel dating from the Roman imperial period and found in a tomb in Colonna, Italy’ in Proceedings of 3rd IMEKO International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology, Lecce, Italy, October 23-25 2017, pp.312-31, figs.4-5.

Footnotes

Basaltic sapphires used by the Romans came from surface deposits in northern Ethiopia, which were already known and productive in ancient times. This hypothesis is supported by comments by Pliny the Elder (23–79 A.D.) and Solinus (early 3rd century A.D.), both of whom referred to gems from Ethiopia named ‘hyacintos’, which is generally accepted in archaeology to be the ancient name of sapphire. The moon and stars have been, since the 4th century BC, symbols of the city of Byzantium and were also linked with Spartan military culture.

CONDITION

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LOT 0094