CIRCA 7TH-8TH CENTURY A.D.

Details

A BANDED AGATE INTAGLIO WITH SACRED BULL
CIRCA 7TH-8TH CENTURY A.D.
The large oval cut stone finely carved with the figure of a crouching humped bull, hind legs and right foreleg bent under, left foreleg forward, on groundline, below a four character Nagari or old Sanskrit inscription, in 19th Century gold ring setting with French import mark dating 1819-1838
2.5 x 1.8 cm.; 2.1 cm. across inner hoop

Provenance

Collection of James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk (1827-1905); acquired from Hunt and Roskell, London, 1878.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Lady Helena Carnegie (ed.), Catalogue of the collection of antique gems formed by James, Ninth Earl of Southesk, K.T, London, 1908, I, pp. 7-8, no. P17, pl. 1.,

A catalogue note reads: "Widely differing from the others in its class, this is very fine and valuable, and apparently a known gem, for Mr Story-Maskelyne, if I rightly remember, expresses himself to that effect when asking me for an impression... The engraving is decidedly good, of the wheel-work kind, and the stone is a beautiful black onyx more than an inch in length."

The above publication also notes that the first character is "blundered" but that the inscription was probably intended for the proper name "Matideva".

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