CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.

The hoop is composed of two thick plain wires spiral twisted together with a beaded wire, the ensemble tapering toward the circular loops at each end, where a wire is threaded through the perforation of the beetle. The slender beetle is well detailed with hatching on the lower edge of the thorax and upon the plinth. The underside is engraved in the a globolo style with a winged griffin in profile to the left, beak open, enclosed within a hatched border. The subject was popular on Etruscan scarabs engraved in the a globolo style in carnelian, banded agate and glass (see the carnelian scarab in Oxford, no. 234 in J. Boardman and M.-L. Vollenweider, Catalogue of the Engraved Gems and Finger Rings).