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Scarab with Herakles leading the horse of Diomedes

Greek
Archaic Period
550–500 B.C.

Medium/Technique Carnelian
Dimensions Length: 1.3 cm (1/2 in.)
Credit Line Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Accession Number27.670
NOT ON VIEW

Catalogue Raisonné Lewes House Gems, no. 021 (1920; 2002, additional published references).
DescriptionIntaglio. Pierced for stringing. Motif oriented horizontally. Herakles, wearing lion skin and carrying club in right hand, leads a horse by the bridle towards the right. Bow case in upper left corner. Pellet border. Chips along edges. Beetle: hatched line between thorax and elytra; spirals emerging from outer edge of thorax border. Dividing line between elytra ends in triangles at intersection with thorax line. Outer edge of each elytrum ends in spiral. Curved winglets. Head, clypeus, and back legs hatched. Almost no plinth. Some damage at edges.
ProvenanceDate unknown: Bruschi collection at Corneto (according to J. D. Beazley, The Lewes House Collection of Ancient Gems, no. 21); by date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren; April 5, 1926: loaned to MFA by Edward Perry Warren (as 127.26); 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)