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拍品專文
This substantial gold ring has a broad hoop, flat on the interior and slightly rounded on the exterior, expanding to the high shoulders that flare into a projecting molding. The sloping bezel is bisected by an unusual hatched band. Set within the bezel is a bright red cabochon garnet finely engraved with a figure of Danae.
Danae was the only child of King Akrisios of Argos. When the king consulted the Oracle at Delphi, it was prophesied that he would eventually be killed by his grandson, so he locked his daughter in a sunken chamber of bronze in the palace courtyard. Zeus impregnated her in the guise of a golden shower. When the king learned that Danae was with child, he placed her in a chest and tossed her into the sea. Zeus asked Poseidon to intervene, who calmed the seas until the chest was found by a friendly fisherman. Danae's son was the hero Perseus, who killed the Gorgon Medusa. Perseus and his mother returned to Argos only to learn that Akrisios had gone to Larissa, and so Perseus followed. While participating in an athletic competition, he accidently struck an observer with a discus, who turned out to have been his grandfather, thus fulfilling the prophesy.
Depicted on this gem is the moment of the golden shower. Danae leans against a column, her upper torso nude, with a himation wrapped around her waist and legs. With her lowered hands she holds the himation away from her body to catch Zeus' golden shower. Her hair is bound in a sakkos and she wears a simple necklace. The style is still Classical in flavor, and is nearly identical to a carnelian gem in Vienna, no. 33 in J.-J. Maffre, op. cit.
Danae was the only child of King Akrisios of Argos. When the king consulted the Oracle at Delphi, it was prophesied that he would eventually be killed by his grandson, so he locked his daughter in a sunken chamber of bronze in the palace courtyard. Zeus impregnated her in the guise of a golden shower. When the king learned that Danae was with child, he placed her in a chest and tossed her into the sea. Zeus asked Poseidon to intervene, who calmed the seas until the chest was found by a friendly fisherman. Danae's son was the hero Perseus, who killed the Gorgon Medusa. Perseus and his mother returned to Argos only to learn that Akrisios had gone to Larissa, and so Perseus followed. While participating in an athletic competition, he accidently struck an observer with a discus, who turned out to have been his grandfather, thus fulfilling the prophesy.
Depicted on this gem is the moment of the golden shower. Danae leans against a column, her upper torso nude, with a himation wrapped around her waist and legs. With her lowered hands she holds the himation away from her body to catch Zeus' golden shower. Her hair is bound in a sakkos and she wears a simple necklace. The style is still Classical in flavor, and is nearly identical to a carnelian gem in Vienna, no. 33 in J.-J. Maffre, op. cit.