CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A ROMAN GLASS CAMEO OF HERCULES
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.
25 mm. high

Provenance

Acquired by the present owner, 23 March 1980.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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Lot Essay

It has been suggested that this cameo represents the Ptolemaic minister Sosibius in the guise of Hercules. As advisor to both Ptolemy IV and V he held great power at court for over thirty years. For a similar intaglio see M.-L. Vollenweider, Camées et intailles, I, Les portraits grecs du Cabinet des Médailles. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1995, p. 91, nos 75 and 75a.

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