CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.

A Genius in Roman mythology was a higher power that served as a guardian spirit for an individual man, families, societies, cities or a peoples. A statue of the Genius of the Roman people (Genius Populi Romani) stood in the forum, and took the form of a bearded man crowned with a diadem, holding a cornucopia and a scepter. The Genius on this gem stands on a short groundline with a mantle draped around his waist, holding a cornucopia in one hand and a phiale in the other positioned over a cylindrical flaming altar. For the subject, compare the dark glass example in a bronze ring, no. 3082 in H.B. Walters, Catalogue of Engraved Gems & Cameos, Greek, Etruscan & Roman in the British Museum. Related iconography is seen for depictions of the Genius Augusti, the protective spirit of the Emperor, as employed on the reverse of Roman coins (see for example no. 368 in H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. 1: Augustus to Vitellius). The gem is mounted as a ring in a circa early 19th century gold setting.