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Oblong gem with the fight over the body of Achilles
Italic or Modern
Hellenistic Period or Modern
3rd–2nd century B.C. or 16-17th century?
Medium/Technique
Sard
Dimensions
Length x width: 25 x 15 mm (1 x 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Julia Bradford Huntington James Fund and Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution
Accession Number10.174
CollectionsEurope, Jewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Gems
DescriptionPale brown sard. Oblong intaglio; slightly convex front and back; set in a modern gold ring. Three fully-armed Trojan warriors clash shields with a single Greek warrior wearing a pilos and brandishing a spear, probably Odysseus. Behind him, a partly-visible figure kneels behind his shield. At right, a warrior, probably Achilles, collapses on his shield with one hand to his wounded heel. A warrior stands over him in a protective stance while another leans away, holding a rope to drag the body away or pulling out the arrow. The warriors wear a helmet, short tunic and greaves with the exception of Achilles and the warrior dragging his body, both without tunics. Ground line and exergue with alternately hatched triangles. Small chip missing at right.
Provenance1623, probably Cardinal Francesco Boncompagni (b. 1596 - d. 1641), Rome [see note 1]; by descent to Prince of Piombino, Gaetano I Boncompagni Ludovisi (b. 1706 – d. 1777), Rome [note 2]. By 1910, Edward Perry Warren (b. 1860 – d. 1928), London; 1910, sold by Edward Perry Warren to the MFA [note 3]. (Accession Date: June 2, 1910)
NOTES:
[1]Plaster casts of the intaglio—with its idiosyncratic break at right—are found in two boxes containing impressions from the Ludovisi collection (Vatican Medagliere, Chigi, Vol. a III 67, reproduced in Gasparini, “Gemme antiche..,” Prospettiva VIII (1977), p. 31, note 25, and Jaffé, “Aspects of gem collecting..,” Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1079 (Feb. 1993), p. 110, note 4, and p. 115, fig. 67; Monaco, wooden box titled ‘Impronte gemmarie della collezione Piombino Boncompagni’). The plaster casts are probably from the late 18th or early 19th centuries and they do not indicate when the intaglio entered the Ludovisi Boncompagni collection. The original collection was assembled by Cardinal Francesco Boncompagni (1596-1641). An inventory of his collection dated 1623 does not provide any clear identification, although the intaglio may have been listed as "corniola bella grande con la battaglia di Oratio Cocle" (Rome, Bibliotheca Angelica, MS 1623, fols. 179-194; Jaffé, Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1079 (Feb. 1993), p. 114, note 61).
[2]J. J. Winckelmann illustrated the intaglio in his Monumenti antichi inediti (1767), pl. 128, and indicated that it was kept in Rome by the Prince of Piombino.
[3] For $4,000 (this figure is the total price for MFA 10.159-10.230).
NOTES:
[1]Plaster casts of the intaglio—with its idiosyncratic break at right—are found in two boxes containing impressions from the Ludovisi collection (Vatican Medagliere, Chigi, Vol. a III 67, reproduced in Gasparini, “Gemme antiche..,” Prospettiva VIII (1977), p. 31, note 25, and Jaffé, “Aspects of gem collecting..,” Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1079 (Feb. 1993), p. 110, note 4, and p. 115, fig. 67; Monaco, wooden box titled ‘Impronte gemmarie della collezione Piombino Boncompagni’). The plaster casts are probably from the late 18th or early 19th centuries and they do not indicate when the intaglio entered the Ludovisi Boncompagni collection. The original collection was assembled by Cardinal Francesco Boncompagni (1596-1641). An inventory of his collection dated 1623 does not provide any clear identification, although the intaglio may have been listed as "corniola bella grande con la battaglia di Oratio Cocle" (Rome, Bibliotheca Angelica, MS 1623, fols. 179-194; Jaffé, Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1079 (Feb. 1993), p. 114, note 61).
[2]J. J. Winckelmann illustrated the intaglio in his Monumenti antichi inediti (1767), pl. 128, and indicated that it was kept in Rome by the Prince of Piombino.
[3] For $4,000 (this figure is the total price for MFA 10.159-10.230).