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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.1.153
Title
Intaglio: Lion
Classification
Gems
Work Type
gem
Date
1st-4th Century
Period
Roman Imperial period
Culture
Roman
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/72426

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Jasper
Technique
Intaglio
Dimensions
1.5 cm (9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: on the reverse, a name in Greek characters,
    TIBEPEINOC
    [The line below this is illegible.]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Eleftherios Sossidi, Hamburg, (between 1955-65 - 1990's), sold; [through Sotheby's sale 7742, New York, December 7, 2001, lot 314]; to The Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University (2001-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Note: E. Sossidi (1913-1992) worked in Cairo from 1958-1968.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.1.153
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Yellow jasper intaglio with lion. On one side, the lion walks right on a straight groundline, rosette in the field to the left, star and crescent above flanking an eye symbol or "theta", and a plant growing below the animal. On the other side is a Greek inscription "TIBEREINOC" followed by a row of characters surrounded by a beveled edge.
Commentary
The name on the reverse is a Greek spelling of the Roman cognomen "Tiberinus."

Publication History

  • Simone Michel, Die magischen Gemmen: Zu Bildern und Zauberformeln auf geschnittenen Steinen der Antike und Neuzeit, Akademie Verlag (Berlin, Germany, 2004), 306, no. 3.A.1.a (as Sossidi 9), pl. 48.1.

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu