1960.637: Scaraboid Gem with Youth, Bow, and Arrow

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1960.637

Title

Scaraboid Gem with Youth, Bow, and Arrow

Classification

Gems

Work Type

gem

Date

c. 480-460 BCE

Places

Find Spot: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Cyprus

Period

Classical period, Early

Culture

Greek

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/290489

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Carnelian set in gold ring

Technique

Intaglio

Dimensions

Diam: 1.5 cm (9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

W.L. Nashe, (before 1903) sold; through [Sotheby, London, July 1, 1903, lot 96]; to James Carnegie, Ninth Earl of Southesk, Scotland. David M. Robinson, Oxford, Mississippi, (after 1949 - 1960), bequeathed; to Harvard Art Museums.


Reportedly from Polis tes Chrysochous (Marion/Arsinoe), Cyprus.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson

Accession Year

1960

Object Number

1960.637

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Scarab carnelian (intaglio gem in the form of a scarab beetle) set into a modern gold ring. The gem design shows a nude, kneeling youth, framed by a hatched border. The youth holds an arrow with both hands, apparently testing its quality; a bow is slung over one of his wrists.

Commentary

Crouching, kneeling, sitting, and stooping figures are quite common for gems of this period and fill the field quite well. The motif of testing an arrow occurs similarly on other examples.

Publication History

• Lady Helena Carnegie, Catalogue of the Collection of Antique Gems Formed by James Ninth Earl of Southesk K.T., Bernard Quaritch (London, 1908), no. A42
• David M. Robinson, "Unpublished Greek Gold Jewelry and Gems", American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America (New York, 1953), vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 5-19, p. 17, fig. 48, pl. 24
• Fogg Art Museum, The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities, A Special Exhibition, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1961), p. 42, no. 381
• John Boardman, Archaic Greek Gems: schools and artists in the sixth and early fifth centuries B.C, Thames & Hudson (London, 1968), no. 281

Exhibition History

• The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961
• Echoes from Mount Olympus: The Minor Arts of Classical Antiquity, University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley
• 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/19/2015 - 05/05/2016

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