Images from the theater were popular in all media with the Greeks and the Romans. Masks in particular were common motifs for jewelry, especially for seal rings and decorative cameos, as here. The two layers of this sardonyx were artfully exploited by the sculptor to make the white mask of a bearded and balding satyr stand out from the rich red background. For another sardonyx theater mask cameo, now lost, compare no. 327 in J. Boardman, et al., The Marlborough Gems.
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