⁷⁄₈ in. (2.3 cm.) wide

Webb Collection, U.K., acquired by the 19th century (impression by William Tassie (1777-1860), London, housed in Edinburgh, National Portrait Gallery, and recorded in his manuscript of impressions collected after 1791, now in Cambridge (Fitzwilliam 41.NK5517.T2), no. 1586).
Arthur Bernard Cook (1868-1952), Cambridge.
Property of Professor A.B. Cook; Antiquities, Sotheby's, London, 15-16 January 1952, lot 74.
Ascher, acquired from the above (according to auctioneer's book; probably Ernest Ascher (1888-1953), Paris).
Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland; 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. 150, no. 137.

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

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

On this highly convex ringstone, an entourage of three satyrs and a maenad work to raise an archaistic herm of Bacchus onto a circular plinth. The bearded herm wears a short chiton and holds a kantharoid jug. To the right a crouching nude satyr pulls on a rope tied around the statue, while his companion grips the herm at the base and by its arm. Behind the herm another satyr leans into it with his back, while a draped maenad pushes it from the shoulders. In the center of the background rises a tree, and the scene is on a groundline curving along the contour of the stone.

The same configuration of figures is present on a sarcophagus panel dating to circa 140-160 A.D. once also in the Sangiorgi Collection and now at Princeton (see no. 42 in J.M. Padgett, ed., Roman Sculpture in The Art Museum, Princeton University) and on a lamp (in reverse) in Berlin (no. 179 in C. Gasparri, "Dionysos/Bacchus," in LIMC, vol. III). Boardman and Wagner suggest the subject is based on a Hellenistic original, perhaps from a relief or painting, and that the Sangiorgi gem is likely the earliest surviving representation known.