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Lot Essay
The crouching nude woman on this gem is exceptionally three-dimensional despite the shallow depth of the engraving, with the volume created by the well-observed overlapping of her legs and feet. Her arms cross over her breasts, and her head is partially turned into a three-quarter frontal position. She wears a simple necklet, and her center-parted hair falls loosely onto her shoulders. The use of a scarab beetle, here only summarily carved, is unusual for the 4th century B.C., when the the form had been abandoned in favor of the scaraboid.
The subject was popular on gems and rings during the 4th century B.C. (see nos. B.b.c. 1-21 in H.C.L. Wiegandt, Die griechischen siegel klassicher zeit), but none are as ambitiously executed as the present example. The pose is well-known from the numerous Roman marble statues, all copies of a type traditionally attributed to the 3rd century B.C. sculptor Doidalsas, which our gem anticipates (see 1018 ff. in A. Delivorrias, "Aphrodite," in LIMC, vol. I).
The gold swivel setting, original to the stone, has a solid hoop, somewhat oval in section, with conical terminals. The beetle is secured by a wire which passes through its perforation and those of the terminals, and then coils around each shoulder.
The subject was popular on gems and rings during the 4th century B.C. (see nos. B.b.c. 1-21 in H.C.L. Wiegandt, Die griechischen siegel klassicher zeit), but none are as ambitiously executed as the present example. The pose is well-known from the numerous Roman marble statues, all copies of a type traditionally attributed to the 3rd century B.C. sculptor Doidalsas, which our gem anticipates (see 1018 ff. in A. Delivorrias, "Aphrodite," in LIMC, vol. I).
The gold swivel setting, original to the stone, has a solid hoop, somewhat oval in section, with conical terminals. The beetle is secured by a wire which passes through its perforation and those of the terminals, and then coils around each shoulder.