3 Roman Carnelian and Jasper Intaglios - Minerva, Hercules, Libation Deity

Roman, Imperial period. Three small unmounted ringstones, each removed from its original setting long ago and cut in intaglio so the design reads correctly only in the impression. The largest, a domed oval carnelian, shows a nude helmeted figure shouldering a club, possibly Hercules or Mars. The second, also carnelian, shows Minerva helmeted and in a long robe, her sword raised and shield beside her. The smallest, a jasper, shows a robed deity wearing a fillet or crown, holding a long staff in one hand and extending a patera for a libation with the other. All three are cut in the simplified, linear style of provincial workshops, with a few wheel strokes suggesting drapery, muscles and attributes. Stones like these served as personal seals, closing letters and contracts and naming the owner’s chosen divine protector. The patera-and-staff type on the jasper is deliberately elastic, a formula Roman gem cutters applied to a whole family of standing deities: Jupiter, Fortuna, Salus, Ceres, Genius, and the imperial Pietas among them. Weight on one leg, one arm lowered to pour over an altar, it was a workshop pattern rather than a portrait of a single god, which is exactly why it suited sealstones sold ready made and chosen by a buyer for the protection implied. Minerva appears on engraved gems more often than almost any other divinity of the Roman pantheon. As Minerva Victrix she guaranteed success in arms and in argument alike, and her image on a signet made an unambiguous claim about its owner's competence. The club-bearing nude belongs to the Hercules repertoire, the hero's labors furnishing a shorthand for endurance that soldiers and merchants alike found congenial, though a helmeted reading pulls the same figure toward Mars. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 204646

Estimate:$400

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