REPUBLICAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Name: A ROMAN STRIPED GLASS RINGSTONE WITH ACHILLES AND PENTHESILEIA
Brand: REPUBLICAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.
Price: 1800.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised USD 2,268

Estimate

USD 1,000 - USD 1,500

Closed: 14 Apr 2022

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A ROMAN STRIPED GLASS RINGSTONE WITH ACHILLES AND PENTHESILEIA

REPUBLICAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Price Realised USD 2,268

Closed: 14 Apr 2022

Price Realised USD 2,268

Closed: 14 Apr 2022

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

³⁄₄ in. (1.8 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. 114, no. 102.

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Lot Essay

During the Roman Republic, several workshops specialized in making colorful glass gems, usually green with bands of white and blue, with the designs cast from stone intaglios. On this example, Achilles takes pity on the dying Amazon Queen Penthesileia. Her arm is over his shoulder and his around her waist. Both are nude, with the hero wearing a crested helmet and a chlamys over his shoulders. Their shields, his circular, hers pelta-shaped, are at their feet. As Boardman and Wagner inform, the subject was popular on Etruscan and Italic gems. Another glass example in Vienna may be cast from the same stone (no. 670 in E. Zwierlein-Diehl, ).