A GREEK BANDED AGATE SCARABOID WITH A MAN AND A DOG
A GREEK BANDED AGATE SCARABOID WITH A MAN AND A DOG
A GREEK BANDED AGATE SCARABOID WITH A MAN AND A DOG
2 More
PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK CITY PRIVATE COLLECTION
A GREEK BANDED AGATE SCARABOID WITH A MAN AND A DOG

LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA EARLY 5TH CENTURY B.C.

Details
A GREEK BANDED AGATE SCARABOID WITH A MAN AND A DOG
LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA EARLY 5TH CENTURY B.C.
11⁄16 in. (1.8 cm.) long
Provenance
Art Market, London, early 1990s.
with Dr. Elie Borowski (1913-2003), Toronto and Jerusalem, acquired early to mid 1990s; thence by descent.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2011.
Literature
G.M. Bernheimer, Ancient Gems from the Borowski Collection, Ruhpolding, 2007, pp. 36-37, no. EG-8.

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox Solomon
Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

Lot Essay

The underside is engraved with a nude man bending forward to pet a dog. The man stands with his weight on his left leg, the right bent with his toes resting on the hatched border. He stoops forward, touching the dog with his lowered hand, his right arm bent acutely with his hand resting atop a staff.

The subject of a man and dog was popular on gems beginning in the Archaic Period (see for example nos. 285 and 286 in J. Boardman, Archaic Greek Gems). For a similar example, see the chalcedony scaraboid in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Boardman, op. cit., no. 317). The subject was also popular on contemporary and later Greek marble grave stelai (see for example the stele from Thespiai, no. 329 in N. Kaltsas, Sculpture in the National Archeological Museum, Athens).

More from Antiquities

View All
View All