1.26 kg Floriated Jasper Female Alien – Destiny Leaves

In Cumae, on the coast of Campania, the Sibyl sang the fates in her rock cave. Virgil tells that she wrote her prophecies on leaves and arranged them in her cave. Yet when the door turned and a draft swept in, the leaves fluttered about, and she never managed to catch them again or reassemble the verses. If the god came over her, her face did not stay the same, nor her color, nor her hair, and her voice no longer sounded mortal. She was the one who led Aeneas living into the underworld. Nine books of her prophecies, so Roman tradition relates, were offered by an old woman to King Tarquinius for an immense price. He refused, and she burned three, demanding the same price for the remaining six. He refused again, she burned three more, and the king bought the last three for the full original price. For centuries they lay in a vault beneath the Jupiter Temple on the Capitol. Priests guarded them, men who held the office for life, and they were consulted only when Rome was in direst need, such as after the Battle of Cannae. When the temple burned in 83 BCE, Rome sent forth to Asia Minor and Africa to seek replacements. Augustus stored the new collection in the Apollo Temple on the Palatine, and only around 405 CE did the commander Stilicho have them burned. The Sibyl herself, as she tells it in Ovid, had begged so many years of life from Apollo as a handful of grains of dust counts, and had forgotten to ask for youth. She foresees that she will fade away until she is recognizable only by her voice. In Petronius, the rich Trimalchio boasts that he has seen her in Cumae with his own eyes hanging in a bottle. When boys asked what she wanted, she answered: “I want to die.” This head bears the face of such a seer, ancient and otherworldly. A brighter ochre-toned region crosses the eyes like a mask, as if sealing the bodily gaze to awaken true sight. The entire skull resembles an old, scholarly roll, immortalized in the one she bears and that generations have kept ready. Its patterns flow into each other like oil colors on water, carried by the silky gloss of the polish. At the same time they are full of playfulness, like calligraphy rising from the depths of writing itself. Despite the smooth polish, the script remains perceptible under the fingers, as if not only meant to be read but also felt. Its leaves are no longer swept by any wind. Material: Jasper-like stone (trade name “Floriated Jaspis”) with gray base mass, ocher-orange, darkly edged inclusions, as well as pink and white veins Origin: China Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.6 x 10.4 cm Weight: 1.26 kg Special features: Feminine-appearing alien form with large almond-shaped eyes; brighter pink-ochre zone that sits like a mask over the eye area; playful, calligraphy-like patterning in gray, ocher-orange, pink, and black; fine natural white veining, among others across the forehead, eye area, and chin; silky smooth polish with a subtly perceptible surface texture

Estimate:$1.12

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