2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

Details

A GRAECO-EGYPTIAN RED JASPER MAGICAL BIRTHING INTAGLIO
2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
The obverse carved with a naked woman with unbound hair depicted in crouching position, both hands held to her genitalia, a groundline beneath, the name "Omphale" inscribed in Greek lettering around her, the reverse with a running ithyphallic quadruped (probably a donkey or ass), 1.7 x 1.2 cm., 1.9 cm. across inner hoop; and a Romano-Egyptian haematite magical intaglio with a standing anguipede holding a shield and whip, encircled by Ouroboros, with four lines of Greek inscription on the reverse, CEXI/I*IN/OAP*/I*IA, 2nd-3rd Century A.D., 2.3 x 1.8 cm., 2.1 cm. across inner hoop, both in later ring settings (2)

Provenance

Item one: Alischan collection, Constantinople.
Collection of James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk (1827-1905); acquired 1878.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Item one: Lady Helena Carnegie (ed.), Catalogue of the antique gems formed by James, Ninth Earl of Southesk, K.T., London, 1908, I, p. 151, no. N21.

Item one: cf. S. Michel, Magische Gemmen, München, 2001, pp. 79-80, nos. 82-83 for similar.
Magical talismans were used as protection against inumerable conditions, not least pregnancy. According to Egyptian texts and magical papyri Seth in the form of a donkey, often ithyphallic, was feared as an Incubus threatening pregnancies. In order to fight like with like, the club - principal attribute of Heracles - was used as an apotropaic symbol, the Greek word for club, skytale, also being employed in colloquial Greek to mean phallus. Omphale was a queen of Lydia to whom Herakles was in service for a year during which she appropriated his lion skin and club. The wearer of an amulet bearing Omphale's name would identify herself with the bearer of a club, the protection against Seth.
Item two: cf. Michel, Magische Gemmen, pp. 59-63, nos. 55-60 for similar.

See illustration on previous page.

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