ATTRIBUTED TO THE GROUP OF THE BEAZLEY EUROPA, LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 500 B.C.

Details

A GREEK CARNELIAN SCARABOID WITH AN AFRICAN
ATTRIBUTED TO THE GROUP OF THE BEAZLEY EUROPA, LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 500 B.C.
9⁄16 in. (1.4 cm.) long

Provenance

Auktion XXVI, Frank Sternberg AG, Zurich, 16 November 1992, lot 521.
with Dr. Elie Borowski (1913-2003), Toronto and Jerusalem; thence by descent.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2011.

Literature

G.M. Bernheimer, Ancient Gems from the Borowski Collection, Ruhpolding, 2007, p. 37-38, no. EG-10.
H.C.L. Wiegandt, Die griechischen Siegel der klassischen Zeit: Ikonographischer Vergleich, Frankfurt, 2009, Katalog p. 29, no. Abc3, pl. XVI.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

hsolomon@christies.com +1 212 636 2256

Lot Essay

The underside is engraved with a squatting nude African man, depicted frontally but twisted to the right, with his head in profile, and with both hands resting on his left knee. The figure is enclosed within a hatched border.

For another scaraboid, identical in style but with an aryballos suspended from his lowered right arm, see no. 92 in E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Antike Gemmen in Deutschen Sammlungen, Band II, Staatliche Museen Preuβischer Kulturbesitz, Antikenabteilung, Berlin. The Berlin example also has a crosshatched exergue serving as a groundline. For the Group of the Beazley Europa, which takes its name from a gem in Oxford depicting Europa riding a bull, see J. Boardman, Archaic Greek Gems, pp. 106-110.

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