A GREEK JASPER INTAGLIO OF A SOLIDER IN BATTLE SUIT, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.

拍品描述

A GREEK RED JASPER INTAGLIO OF A SOLDIER IN BATTLE DRESS, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C. Of oval form, the red jasper intaglio set within a later gilt-metal collet mount with a suspension loop, presenting on its polished face the finely incised figure of a soldier striding to the left. The warrior is shown in profile, helmeted with a tall crest that rises above the crown of the head, the long hair falling behind the neck in tapering locks. He wears a short military tunic with articulated pteryges at the shoulder and thigh, the folds of the garment described in close parallel cuts. In his lowered right hand he holds a sheathed sword, its point resting near the groundline, while before him stands a slender vertical element, probably a spear or standard. The stone shows patches of surface abrasion and minor chipping along the edges, and the mount is worn to the base metal in places. The figure follows a compositional type well established in Hellenistic glyptic, in which a lone warrior is shown at rest or preparing for combat, his weapon grounded rather than raised. The tall-crested helmet and pteryges identify him as a heavily armed infantryman in the tradition of the hoplite, though the rendering of the tunic and the elongated proportions place the figure in the vocabulary of the Hellenistic rather than the Classical period. Such single-warrior intaglios were carried as personal seals and amulets, the martial subject invoking the protection and prowess of the owner. Whether the figure was intended to represent a specific hero, a divinity such as Ares, or a generic soldier is often left deliberately open in this class of gem. Red jasper was among the favoured hardstones of the Hellenistic and later Roman gem-cutter, valued for its dense, even body, its capacity to take a high polish, and its association with vitality and protection. The colour was understood in antiquity to carry apotropaic power, and red jasper intaglios were worn against harm as much as they were used to seal correspondence. The reworking of ancient intaglios into medieval and post-medieval pendant mounts, as here, reflects the continuous prestige of engraved gems across later European treasuries, where antique stones were reset as devotional and heraldic jewels. This intaglio exemplifies the persistence of the armed-warrior type in Hellenistic hardstone glyptic, where the martial iconography of the Classical age was retained and refined for use in personal seals of the third century B.C. Its later mounting places it within the long tradition of antique gems preserved and revalued by successive generations of collectors. Dimensions: Height: 4cm

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