Advanced Search 
View: Obverse
Scarab with Herakles struggling against the Nemean lion
Greek, East Greek
Classical Period
about 450 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Carnelian
Dimensions
Legacy dimension: 0.018 L.
Credit Line
Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Accession Number27.722
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Scarabs and scaraboids
Catalogue Raisonné
Lewes House Gems, no. 086 (1920; 2002, additional published references).
DescriptionIntaglio. Herakles, nude, in profile to the right, is locked in combat with the Nemean lion. Both support themselves on one leg as they grapple. Herakles wraps his arms around the lion's neck as it tries to gore his stomach with its teeth. His right knee is raised to push the lion away as it tries to claw him with its paws. Hatched border.
ProvenanceBy date unknown: Count Michel Tyszkiewicz Collection; 1898: auction of the M. Tyszkiewicz Collection, Hotel des Commissaires-Priseurs, 9 rue Drouot, Paris, June 8-10, lot 256 (said to have been sent from Constantinople according to Froehner); by date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren; April 5, 1926: loaned to MFA by Edward Perry Warren (as 88.26); 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)