CIRCA EARLY 5TH CENTURY B.C.

Name: AN ETRUSCAN CARNELIAN SCARAB WITH A DRAPED FIGURE
Brand: CIRCA EARLY 5TH CENTURY B.C.
Price: 17000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised USD 21,420

Estimate

USD 5,000 - USD 7,000

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AN ETRUSCAN CARNELIAN SCARAB WITH A DRAPED FIGURE

CIRCA EARLY 5TH CENTURY B.C.

Price Realised USD 21,420

⁷⁄₁₆ in. (1.1 cm.) long

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

J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 90, no. 78.

Conditions of Sale
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This lot is offered by Christie's Inc

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox SolomonHead of Department, Specialist

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hsolomon@christies.com +1 212 636 2256

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Lot Essay

The scarab is finely detailed with a palmette on the back and incised winglets. The underside is engraved with a long-haired figure wearing a chiton and a himation over the shoulders and holding a flower, perhaps a lily. The scene is enclosed within a hatched border. Boardman and Wagner consider the figure male, while Sangiorgi thought female, and compared her to later Roman depictions of the goddess Spes (Hope), for whom there is no Etruscan equivalent. For Spes on a bronze sestertius holding a similar flower see pl. 67, no. 235 in J.P.C. Kent, Roman Coins.