CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C./A.D.

Details

A ROMAN CHALCEDONY RINGSTONE WITH SILENOS ON A DONKEY
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C./A.D.
1 7/16 in. (3.6 cm.) wide

Provenance

Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland, late 1930s; thence by continuous descent to the current owner.

Literature

J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 182, no. 168.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The large, shallow stone with the figure of drunken, wreathed Silenos leaning back with feet outstretched, riding on a donkey, holding a ribboned thrysos over his shoulder and a kantharos down by his side. The old satyr is represented with his lower body draped in a himation and his rounded stomach visible above, riding the despondent looking donkey with head down and ears akimbo. This popular motif is known on gems either as a single figure, as above, or surrounded with the retinue of Dionysos. For a similar scene cf. M. Henig, Classical Gems, Cambridge, 1994, p. 100, no. 181.

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