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Cameo with centaur holding a goat on his shoulder
Roman
Imperial Period
late 1st century B.C.–mid 1st century A.D.
Medium/Technique
Sardonyx
Dimensions
Diameter: 2.1 cm (13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number98.759
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Cameos
DescriptionWhite on dark-brown layered sardonyx. Cameo; pierced horizontally. A centaur walking to the left looks backwards and grasps the foreleg of a goat in his left hand. The goat appears to be slung over the centaur’s shoulder. A lion-skin cloak flutters behind the centaur, and his right hand holds a wine cup (kantharos) upside down, from which wine pours out. It is possible but not probable that the goat and the lion’s head on the cloak are instead meant to represent a chimera, a hybrid creature that combines features from both a goat and lion. The centaur stands on a ground line. There are brown incrustations in crevices of the carving, and minor chips along the edges of the cameo.
ProvenanceBy 1897, Michal Tyszkiewicz (b. 1828 - d. 1897), Rome; June 8 - 10, 1898, posthumous Tyszkiewicz sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, lot 278; 1898, Edward Perry Warren (b. 1860 - d. 1928), Rome and London; 1898, sold by Warren to the MFA for $69,618.13 [see note]. (Accession Date: September 20, 1898)
Note: This is the total price for MFA accession nos. 98.641-98.940.
Note: This is the total price for MFA accession nos. 98.641-98.940.