Bertolami Fine Art - Bertolami Fine Art, 1 Harewood Place 1, W1S 1BU Londra
ASTA 107 - Glittica Sessione Unica
Friday 22 April 2022 hours 15:00 (UTC +00:00)
A roman three-layered agate intaglio. Hybrid sea creature. 1st century B.C. - 1st century A.D.
A roman three-layered agate intaglio. Hybrid sea creature.
1st century B.C. - 1st century A.D.
This unusual intaglio depicts an hybrid creature with a bearded man head and a dolphin body, facing left. In the Greek and Roman mythology dolphins were considered as divine creatures associated to the gods such as Neptune, Jupiter, Eros. The hybrid character of this one may symbolized a metamorphosis of a god, yet the lack of attributes regarding the male head do not allow a further identification (the face here used is the type of the Silenus, the same for the Gryllos). Use of globular elements for the beard, fin and tail of the creature. Nice mirror polishing for the engraving and wear marks.
Parallels: AGKM (Kunst Museum, Wien), n. 2106-2107; AGDS n. 209-210. See also AGDS n. 1115 and 1113.
17x23x6 mm