PLATE V. INTAGLI, FROM THE RHODES COLLECTION, GREEK AND ROMAN. 1. SAGITTARIUS. Fine Roman work. Sard. 2. PROCESSION OF SILENUS, supported by a Faun. One of the finest Greek gems known, both for excellence of grouping and perfect finish of the figures. Sard. 3. MESSALINA. Contemporary portrait. Yellow Sard. 4. VENUS INSTRUCTING CUPID IN ARCHERY. Roman. Sard. 5. APOLLO DELPHICUS. Greek of the best period. 6. VENUS ROBING HERSELF. Roman. Sard. 7. FAUN POURING AN AMPHORA INTO A CRATER. 8. BACCHIC FESTIVAL. Roman. Sard. 9. BACCHUS WITH HIS PANTHER. 10. VENUS GUIDING HER SHELL. Greek, Sard. Jacinth. Greek. Sard. Modern Italian. Calcedony. 11. PRIAM BEFORE ACHILLES, Briseis raising him from the ground. Finest Greek style. Sard. (P. 157.) 12. MERCURY AND SCORPIO. 13. PALLAS. Finest Greek work. Astrological Roman. Plasma. 14. CUPID RACING. Excellent Roman work. 15. A DISCOBOLUS. A gem to be reckoned amongst the very finest Greek intagli extant. Sard. 16. AGRIPPINA JUNIOR. Contemporary portrait. Plasma. 17. PAN AND OLYMPUS before a fountain on the margin of which crawls a snail. (The emblem of voluptuousness.) A most minutely-finished Roman intaglio. Sard. 18. FAUSTINA MATER. Contemporary portrait. Sard. Formerly in Horace Wal pole's Collection. As most of the gems here given have been selected from the Mertens-Schaafhausen Cabinet, it has only been considered necessary to designate those introduced from other sources. Lion's head, signet of Theodorus: Archaic Greek. Sard (Rhodes). (p. 168.) individuality of expression, which, in addition to the Psyche-wings attached Apollo of Canachus: Roman. Sard. PAGE Title iii Vizored Helmet: Etruscan. Sard. Macedonian, or Syro-Macedonian, Helmet. Agate Prometheus making Man: Cameo, Onyx (Rhodes). Amymone: Early Greek, Sard. The pitcher in her hand signifies the gift of the fountain of Lerna by Neptune, and which gushed from the rock struck by the trident xxiv 1 Where no scale is attached the gems have been drawn to twice the diameter of the originals; the only way to produce the same impression of magnitude upon the eye as the cast itself from the intaglio creates by its spherical projection. This is the reason why drawings of gems if made exactly to the scale of the originals always appear much diminished, for though the outline of the figures remains equal in both, no allowance has been made for this projection, amounting often to half a diameter, where the work is in high relief. 2 Or perhaps Theumenes. Combe gives (Pl. 18, No. X), a drachma of Cnidus, with the type of a lion's head in a precisely similar style, and over it the magistrate's name ΘΕΥΜΕ . ... Alexander. Reverse, Venus and Apollo. Lapis-lazuli. Pronounced by Stein- .. .. PAGE XXX Xxxij xxxiii .. Late Sassanian Portrait-perhaps Chosroes II. Calcedony. Chosroes alone in the Sassanian series appears in front-face on his coinage (Author's Collection). Helmet of King Stanislas Poniatowsky: Greek. Jasper-Prase (p. 203, note) Maecenas: Intaglio by Solon, Topaz (Florence). Cupid on a Hippocampus: Roman Cameo. Onyx. lii .. Heads of Silenus (Sard) and of Socrates (Onyx), showing the actual distinction Livia. Red Jasper. A contemporary portrait (Rhodes). .. Male and Female Comic Masks: Roman. Sard. The inscription is-as upon most of these caprices-purposely obscure, and now unintelligible (Rhodes). Diomede and Ulysses carrying off the Palladium: Greco-Italian work. Agate. Medusa: Greek. Black Jasper. This was regarded by Madame Mertens as superior to any Medusa known-even to the Blacas; perhaps with justice.. Sappho Archaic Greek. Jacinth (p. 169). lviii lxiv 1 5 16 20 27 Augur taking the Auspices: Etruscan. Jacinth. He is dividing the sky into templa with his lituus. An unique representation (Rhodes). 225 Taras or Palæmon: Greco-Italian. Beryl. Winckelman (Pierres Gravées de Seals of Sennacherib and Sabaco II. (Layard). 38 41 63 81 96 101 3 Winckelman (Mon. Ined.) calls this Diomedes the Thracian exposing Abderus to be devoured by his savage horses; but on the gem the attendant figure is clearly a female, not Diomedes. Sacred Hawk: Greco-Egyptian work. Garnet... Sacred Animals. Green Jasper. This group consists of the cynocephalus, his .. PAGE 113 .. 113 115 118 119 Scarab with Mask. Agate. Winckelmann (Mon. Ined. i. pl. 13) figures an Assyrian Cylinders-First Period (all from Layard).. Persian-Third Period (Layard). 124 126 128 131 Signet of Sennacherib. Amazon-stone (Layard). 137 Assyrian Seal-Sacrifice to the Moon. Agate (Layard). 137 137 Persian Seal with Phenician legend. Calcedony. The inscription is indubitably Hebrew Jacinth of the Sassanian period (Eastwood)... 155 Proteus: Etruscan. Sard. The subject as uncommon as is the extraordinary perfection of the engraving itself 156 Archaic Greek. Calcedony. Lion pulling down a Bull; the type of the coins 4 The character beneath the chin of the portrait is the Persian S, and is seen thus singly beneath the Ram's head on the coinage of this city, also behind the head of Venus on the .. 156 159 unique gold piece of Menelaus king of Cyprus, minted at Salamis. See the Num. Cypriote of the Duc de Luynes. |