CIRCA MID 5TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

AN ETRUSCAN CARNELIAN SCARAB WITH THE RAPE OF CASSANDRA
CIRCA MID 5TH CENTURY B.C.
5/8 in. (1.5 cm.) long

Provenance

Alfred Morrison (1821-1892), London.
Catalogue of the Valuable and Important Collection of Camei, Intagli, Gold Rings, Formed by Alfred Morrison, Esq.; Christie's, London, 29-30 June 1898, lot 56.
with Francis E. Whelan (1848-1907), London, acquired from the above (according to the auctioneer's book).
Wyndham Francis Cook (1860-1905), London; thence by descent to his son, Humphrey W. Cook (1893-1978), London.
An Important Collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities and Antique and Renaissance Gems, the Property of Humphrey W. Cook, Esq.; Christie's, London, 14-16 July, 1925, lot 48.
Beazley, acquired from the above (according to the auctioneer's book).
Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland, late 1930s; thence by continuous descent to the current owners.

Literature

A. Furtwängler, Die antiken gemmen, Leipzig, 1900, vol. 1, pl. 24, no. 13; vol. 2, p. 119, no. 13.
C. H. Smith and C. A. Hutton, Catalogue of the Antiquities (Greek, Roman and Etruscan) in the Collection of the Late Wyndham Francis Cook, Esq., London, 1908, p. 16, no. 50, pl. 2.
J. Davreu, La Légende de la Prophétesse Cassandre, Paris, 1942, p. 179, pl. 41,80.
P. Zazoff, Etruskische Skarabäen, Mainz, 1968, pp. 45-46, pl. 15, no. 47.
O. Toucheffeu, "Aias II," in LIMC, vol. I, Zurich and Munich, 1994, no. 94.
J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 99, no. 87.

Lot Essay

While the scarab beetle is only summarily carved, the engraved scene on its underside is an exceedingly dynamic depiction of the Rape of Cassandra from the Sack of Troy. Cassandra is depicted nude but for a mantle wrapped around her legs, as she crouches in back view beside the statue base for the ancient cult statue of Athena, the Palladion. Her profile head gazes up at the statue, as she pulls it towards her. The statue is shown in a peplos and a crested Corinthian helmet, holding a circular shield and spear. The statue base has hatched borders along its upper and lower edges. From beyond approaches Ajax, wearing a crested Attic helmet, a corselet with Pegasos in relief, and greaves. His circular shield has a facing head of Medusa as the blazon. A near duplicate of the scene is on an Etruscan banded agate ring stone in Naples, no. 46 in P. Zazoff, op. cit. The gold hoop now attached to the scarab is likely from the 19th century.

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