A Hellenistic beryl intaglio with a portrait of Arsinoe III

LATE 3RD CENTURY B.C.

Details

A Hellenistic beryl intaglio with a portrait of Arsinoe III
Late 3rd Century B.C.
The elongated oval intaglio carved with a draped portrait bust of the Ptolemaic queen in profile to the left, with fleshy neck and cheeks, large heavy-lidded eye and prominent nose, the curling hair caught back under a broad fillet with two taenia at the back, wearing earrings and an ornate necklet
1in. (2.6cm.) long

Lot Essay

Cf. E. D. Reeder, Hellenistic Art in the Walters Art Gallery, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1988, pp. 240-241 and 245-247, nos. 135-136 and 140-142, for examples of Ptolemaic portraits on gems; "It is believed that rings with Ptolemaic portraits were exchanged as gifts, possibly with a distinction in metal or type of gem according to class or rank. Plutarch tells us that in the first Century B.C. the Roman general Lucullus received from Ptolemy X an emerald that was set in gold and carved with the monarch's image (Plut. Lucullus, 3). Also, cf. R. R. R. Smith, Hellenistic Royal Portraits, Oxford, 1988, p. 12 for a commentary on Ptolemaic gem portraits and pl. 75,8 for the coin type of Arsinoe III.

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