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Scarab with Achle/Achilles drawing a cloak over his shoulders
Italic, Etruscan
Late Archaic Period
early 5th century B.C.
Medium/Technique
Banded agate
Dimensions
Legacy dimension: 0.013 L.
Credit Line
Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Accession Number27.720
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Scarabs and scaraboids
Catalogue Raisonné
Lewes House Gems, no. 039 (1920; 2002).
DescriptionWhite and sky-blue (bleached) banded agate. Scarab with a flat, oval base engraved in intaglio; pierced lengthwise. Nude youth in ¾ frontal view to left, leaning forward to draw a pleated cloak over his shoulders. A crested helmet rests on the ground before him. Exergue with egg-and-dart pattern. An Etruscan inscription in negative “Achile” runs clockwise before the figure’s head and around his back. Back carved as a beetle with a hatched border around the thorax, two lines dividing the elytra, and dotted head. Small winglets in relief. Detailed legs with spined front legs. Plinth decorated with a guilloche. Small chips missing on the beetle’s legs and head. Brown discoloration near the stringholes.
ProvenanceBy 1896-7: with Edward Perry Warren (according to J. D. Beazley, The Lewes House Collection of Ancient Gems, no. 39: bought in Perugia, 1896-7); April 5, 1926: loaned to MFA by Edward Perry Warren (as 124.26); November 17, 1927: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $ 161,000.00 (this figure is the total price for MFA 27.647-27.761)