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Scarab with a man bathing
Italic, Etruscan or Modern
Classical Period or Modern
late 5th–early 4th century B.C.
Medium/Technique
Carnelian
Dimensions
Length: 11.5 mm (7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Mrs. Gardner Brewer
Accession Number98.1123
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Scarabs and scaraboids
DescriptionCarnelian (reddish orange for the scarab; orange-red for the intaglio). Scarab composed of two glued parts: a beetle pierced lengthwise; and a flat, oval intaglio with hatched plinth. Nude man, frontal body and profile head, leaning to the right to wash his hair over a tall vessel or bassin. In between stands a thin object, either a sword or a staff. Cable border. Back carved as a beetle. A hatched line separates the thorax from the elytra, which are divided by three lines. Winglets are indicated with two diagonal lines. Linear and hatched legs. Hatched plinth. The intaglio is cracked vertically.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: Mrs. Gardner Brewer Collection; bequest of Mrs. Gardner Brewer to MFA; accessioned: November 1898