⁷⁄₈ in. (2.2 cm.) long

Paul Julius Arndt (1865-1937), Munich (Impression of gem preserved in In Memoriam: Collezione Paul Arndt).
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. 180, no. 166.

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Lot Essay

Under an arbor of grapes growing from either side and arching overhead are an old satyr and a maenad standing on a groundline. The satyr has a mantle around his waist and over his raised arm, his hand touching the maenad's head. She is nude but for a mantle around her legs that she holds in place with one hand. With the other, she pours a libation onto the ground from an oinochoe, with a beribboned thyrsus leaning against her shoulder. Behind her is a column surmounted by a lidded amphora. For the subject, which was popular on gems, see R.F. Brogli, Gemmen und Kameen mit ländlichen Kultszenen.