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.
Sard.

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.)
Agave: Cameo. Plasma. A splendid example of the Roman style in flat relief
Plato: contemporary work. Sard (Rhodes). This rare portrait has a marked

individuality of expression, which, in addition to the Psyche-wings attached
behind the ear, sufficiently distinguish it from the heads of the Indian Bac-
chus (see next No.). It is worked out very carefully in a flat style upon
a pale Sard, and belongs to a much earlier period than the signet of Saufeius,
the portrait upon which it identifies in a most striking mauner. To this
most interesting intaglio we can apply in their fullest extent the words
of Winckelmann (Pierres Gravées, p. 420) speaking of a similar, if not
the same, gem-"La gravure de cette pierre est fort antique, et elle est
exécutée avec grande finesse; elle parait si antique qu'on la croirait faite du
tems de Platon même" (See Mon. Ined. iii. pl. 169)

Apollo of Canachus: Roman. Sard.

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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-
büchel a contemporary portrait of this prince, but see p. 44, note.
Priest adoring the Winged Bull: Early Assyrian. Limestone (Layard)
Egyptian Scarabs in Steaschist (Layard). ..
Demetrius Soter. Sard (Rhodes.) (p. 159.)
Nereid and Hippocampi: Cameo.

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XXX

Xxxij xxxiii

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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)
(Eastwood).

Maecenas: Intaglio by Solon, Topaz (Florence).
Mercury: Greek Cameo. Onyx. This is one of the finest works in relief-of
unquestionable antiquity-that has ever come under my notice. The head
is in the low flat relief that invariably marks the productions of an early
Greek artist, and is also entirely cut out upon the black stratum by the
diamond-point alone. It possesses the additional and historic interest of
having once belonged to Caylus, who has figured it Recueil, vol. i. pl. lii.,
where he notes the fact that it is a fragment from a larger group cut down
to the size of a ring-stone (Rhodes).

Cupid on a Hippocampus: Roman Cameo. Onyx.

lii

..

Heads of Silenus (Sard) and of Socrates (Onyx), showing the actual distinction
between these portraits, so frequently confounded with one another
Greco-Italian intaglio upon a scarab-a Lion pulling down a Bull-of some-
what later work than the same subject given at p. 156. Sard of the
most beautiful quality, resembling a Carbuncle. The beetle itself is skil-
fully cut, though of small dimensions. Scarabs of this highly-finished
class are usually much inferior in magnitude to the genuine Etruscan sort
(Rhodes)

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
Stosch, p. 353) calls the antique paste of this gem a precious monument of
Etruscan art, and equal to the Tydeus of the Berlin Cabinet)
Apollo: Greek work. Amethyst. Engraved in a very shallow and early manner
Hercules: Roman work. Obsidian (Rhodes).

Seals of Sennacherib and Sabaco II. (Layard).
Hercules Mad: Etruscan scarab. Crystal..
Horses of Achilles mourning over the slain Patroclus 3 (p. 157): Greek. Yellow
Sard (Rhodes).

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
tail formed into the asp, supporting on his paw the ibis; over his head is
the beetle; behind him the hawk; and looking up to him the jackal. This
gem is of the Roman period, rude, and deeply cut.
Portrait of a Ptolemy: Greco-Egyptian. Dark Sard (formerly Herz's).
Signet of Sabaco II. (Layard).
Di-drachm of Sybaris

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113

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113

115

118

119

Scarab with Mask. Agate. Winckelmann (Mon. Ined. i. pl. 13) figures an
antique paste of Stosch's, a fly-shaped mask, exactly agreeing with that
cut upon the back of this scarab. He plausibly enough explains it as refer-
ring to Jupiter Apomyios, or "the Chaser away of flies," to whom Hercules
instituted sacrifices at Elis in gratitude for the service he once rendered to
him in that capacity. Baal-zebub, the Tyrian god, "the Lord of flies," was
so named from the same prerogative. Hence, taking into account the Phe-
nician style marking the intaglio itself, as well as its subject—a Thundering
Jupiter-we may regard this insect-formed visage as designed for the type
of that redoubtable divinity. The turretted head also, introduced as a dis-
tinctive symbol into the field-a frequent obverse on the coinage of Pheni-
cian cities (Aradus, Berytus, Orthosia, Sidon, &c.)-strongly confirms this
attribution

Assyrian Cylinders-First Period (all from Layard)..
Pure Babylonian-Second Period (Layard).

Persian-Third Period (Layard).

124

126

128

131

Signet of Sennacherib. Amazon-stone (Layard).

137

Assyrian Seal-Sacrifice to the Moon. Agate (Layard).
Assyrian Seal the Babylonian Dagon. Agate (Layard). .

137

137

Persian Seal with Phenician legend. Calcedony. The inscription is indubitably
of equal antiquity with the intaglio itself, the strokes forming the characters
being manifestly cut by the same tool as the figures, and both equally worn
by use..
Narses. Garnet. This inscription is imperfect, the gem having been broken
and cut round. The true reading, therefore, may be "Nowazi Shah," and
refer to Sapor I. Certainly the extreme beauty of the work would seem
to indicate the earliest times of the Sassanian sovereignty (Pulsky).
Pirouzi Shapouhri (Sapor II.). Sardonyx (p. 144). ..
Varanes (Bahram). Nicolo, perforated. The legend reads, VRHANPI.
Assyrian and Persian Seals in Agate and Calcedony (Layard).
Satrap of Salamis. Sard (p. 146) (Author's Collection)...
Persian: Serpentine. The King contending with two Andro-Sphinxes: Ormuzd
hovering above the Tree of Life (Layard). ..

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
of Acanthus. The work of this intaglio shows much of the Assyrian
manner, and is probably Asiatic Greek (Author's Collection).
Youthful Hercules: Greek. Sard. He wears the hide of the Citharonian lion,
which he slew at the age of nineteen. This he afterwards discarded for
the invulnerable skin of the lion of Nemea. Such youthful heads are
usually, but wrongly, described as of Iole or Deianira, but the short curly
locks stamp them of Hercules (Rhodes).

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.