THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965) was a principle of the most renowned art-dealing family in Rome. The firm was located at 117 via Ripetta at Palazzo Borghese and was famous for many important auctions, with catalogues written in collaboration with leading scholars. The galleria specialized in ancient art, furniture, ceramics and textiles. As a private collector, Sangiorgi assembled an important ancient glass collection, which he published in 1914. Masterpieces from it were sold in the 1960s and are now the pride of numerous institutions such as the Toledo Museum of Art and the Corning Museum of Glass; the bulk of the collection was sold here at Christie’s New York in June 1999, “Ancient Glass formerly in the G. Sangiorgi Collection.” As with the glass collection, many of the objects in his personal collection, such as the gems presented here, were acquired throughout Europe and never imported into Italy.

THREE ROMAN STONE RINGSTONES

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

THREE ROMAN STONE RINGSTONES
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Including one of red jasper with Mercury, the god depicted standing frontally with his head in profile, nude but for a short mantle over his shoulders and right arm, holding his caduceus in his right hand and a money bag in his left, on a short groundline; one of carnelian with a swan, its wings upraised, its head lowered; and one of sard with a crouching nude male with a pile of shields to the right, on a groundline
Largest: 9/16 in. (1.4 cm.) long

Provenance

G. Sangiorgi Collection (1886-1965), Rome.
Private Collection, Monaco, 1970s; thence by descent.

Brought to you by

G. Max Bernheimer

mbernheimer@christies.com +1 212 636 2247

Lot Essay

The crouching figure before a pile of shields may be the Spartan hero Othryades. For a related example see no. 172 in C. Wagner and J. Boardman, A Collection of Classical and Eastern Intaglios, Rings and Cameos.

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