Ancient Roman Carnelian Intaglio with a Sacrifice

£ 300.00

A fine Ancient Roman carnelian intaglio featuring a sacrificial scene. A female figure is depicted semi-nude and bent over, with a cloth draped over her lower half and her hair done up in a bun. Her right hand holds up the head of a goat, while her left holds a sacrificial instrument by its throat. The goat’s forelegs are raised up from the ground and its shaggy coat has been rendered with much care. A bowl has been placed below this scene, in order to catch the blood of the animal. Behind, a statuette has been raised up and placed on the top of a pillar, a representation of the god to whom the female figure is sacrificing. A tree curves and branches out above the scene, enriching the upper register of this intaglio. The entire scene has been rendered naturalistically, with much attention paid to the curves of the composition, creating a sense of flowing movement. The reverse is unworked and unadorned. The carnelian presents with a beautiful translucency and red-orange colouring.

This piece is supplied with a museum-quality impression. The weight listed below includes the impression.

Date: Circa 1st – 3rd Century AD
Provenance: From a Swiss collection, 1980s onwards. Property of a North London, UK, gentleman.
Condition: Excellent condition. Minor encrustations and slight scratching. The image is detailed and clearly visible.

In stock

SKU: CF-84 Category: Tags: , ,

The term intaglio refers to a small image that has been engraved into a gemstone and usually set in a piece of jewellery, most commonly a ring. Such artistic form has its origin in Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with the appearance of cylinder and stamp seals, whereby decorations and patterns were engraved into soft stones. Intaglios with fine detailing were highly desired with one reason being that the intricacy making wax seals difficult to forge. The earliest intaglios were produced by hand using simple iron tools along with abrasive emery powders. Common scenes used during the Roman period were animals, mythological creatures and portraits. During the Hellenistic period and the early Roman Empire, the art of intaglio reached its apogee, with there being a steady decline in craftsmanship in the late Imperial Rome, until a revival of interest with the Byzantine and during the Renaissance.

Sacrifices were a key part of the Ancient Roman religion and every-day life. Their sacrificial practices, though distinguishable from the Greek and Etruscan traditions, were not functionally different, and took place both as an act of its own and as part of larger celebrations. The Roman sacrifice had six main stages: the pompa (procession) of the victim to the altar; the praefatio, the prayer and the libation of wine, incense, and other such offerings at the altar; the immolatio, the pouring of the wine and meal over the animal’s head; the killing of the animal; the examination of the animal sacrifice’s entrails for omens, and finally the burning of the animal, which was typically followed by a banquet from the meat of the animal. Sacrifices were performed both publicly and privately for good omens from the gods.

Weight 1.14 g
Dimensions L 1.2 x W 0.9 cm
Culture

Region

Semi-Precious Stones

Reference: For a similar item depicting a sacrificial scene in glass paste,The British Museum, item 1859,0301.148

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