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Scaraboid gem with Theseus wrestling a sow
Greek
Classical Period
mid-5th–mid-4th century B.C.
Medium/Technique
Carnelian
Dimensions
Length x width: 24 x 19 mm (15/16 x 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Accession Number21.1205
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Scarabs and scaraboids
Catalogue Raisonné
Lewes House Gems, no. 061 (1920; 2002, additional published references).
DescriptionIntaglio. Set in modern gold bezel. Motif cut on the convex side of the scaraboid. Motif oriented vertically. Thesesus, naked, wrestling with a sow. His hat (petasos) hangs at the back of his neck. His left foot is on the ground, while he presses his right knee into the sow's back, and he appears to be withdrawing a trident from the sow's neck. The seal is broken at the bottom, obscuring the sow's head, snout, and legs.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: Count Michel Tyszkiewicz Collection (according to J. D. Beazley, The Lewes House Collection of Ancient Gems, no. 61: Tyszkiewicz said he obtained it from Greece: it is further known that he had it from Rhousopoulos.); by date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren; April 7, 1921: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for
$ 30,000.00 (this figure is the total purchase price for MFA 21.1193-21.1221)
$ 30,000.00 (this figure is the total purchase price for MFA 21.1193-21.1221)