CIRCA LATE 18TH-EARLY 19TH CENTURY

This gem depicts a youthful Hercules, depicted nude, standing on a groundline, holding his lionskin in his hands. Behind him is a column from which is suspended a laurel wreath. The gem is a faithful copy of a now-lost carnelian once owned by Baron Philipp von Stosch (1691-1757), who gifted it to Comte de Caylus (see A. Furtwängler, Die Antike Gemmen, vol. I, pl. XXXIX, no. 20). The gem is mounted as a ring in a 19th century gold setting.