Roman Sard Gemstone of a Panther

1ST CENTURY A.D.

3/8 in. (0.32 grams, 11 mm).

With intaglio profile image of a large cat prone to the left; supplied with a museum-quality impression.

Provenance

Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s.
Private collection, London, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12951-246458.

Literature

Cf. Sagiv, I., Representations of Animals on Greek and Roman Engraved Gems, Oxford, 2018, fig.30, a panther with a thyrsus on nicolo gemstone, for a similar but not identical panther.

Footnotes

This depiction clearly belongs to a series of renderings of felines as the mounts, draught animals, and companions of Dionysus/Bacchus, and of the personages connected with him. Lions, panthers and leopards are among the attributes of the god Bacchus and a part of his thiasos (retinue).

CONDITION

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LOT 0091