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Scaraboid gem with a nude youth and a horse
Epimenes (Greek)
Greek
Late Archaic Period
about 500 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Chalcedony
Dimensions
Width x height: 1.6 x 1.1 cm (5/8 x 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Accession Number27.677
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Scarabs and scaraboids
Catalogue Raisonné
Lewes House Gems, no. 028 (1920; 2002, additional published references).
DescriptionIntaglio. Pierced for stringing (horizontal). Motif oriented horizontally. Naked youth seen in three-quarters backview, leaning back on right leg while holding the bridle of a restive horse. Hatched border. Inscribed in Greek: 'Epimenes made (me).'
ProvenanceBy date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren (according to J. D. Beazley, The Lewes House Collection of Ancient Gems, no. 28: from the Tyszkiewicz collection. Count Tyszkiewicz told the present owner that it was certainly found in the Egyptian Delta and perhaps at Naucratis); April 5, 1926: loaned to MFA by Edward Perry Warren (as 90.26); November 17, 1927: purchased by MFA from Edward Perry Warren for $ 161,000.00 (this figure is the total price for MFA 27.647-27.761)