Seal-amulet in the shape of a lion in repose, underside with a dolphin-headed man in waves

Images(4)

Seal-amulet in the shape of a lion in repose, underside with a dolphin-headed man in waves

Datesecond half of 6th to the 5th c. BCE

Periodlate Archaic to early Classical

MediumCarnelian with modern gold setting

Dimensions5/16 x 11/16 x 5/16 in. (0.8 x 1.7 x 0.8 cm)

ClassificationsGems

Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936

Object numberSN1435.143

Lion images served as protective, guardian figures. The underside of this lion-shaped amulet, carved as a seal, references another protective creature, a dolphin. It depicts a dolphin-headed man plunging into the waves. In one myth, the god Dionysus transformed pirates into dolphins when the pirates attempted to reroute his ship.

On View

Not on view

Collections

Bibliography

de Witte, J. 1875 “Dionysus et Silene,” Gazette archéologique: Recueil de monuments pour server à la connaissance et à l’histoire de l’art antique 1: 5–13, pp. 11–12, drawing on p. 13 shows frontal view of lion and engraved underside.

Molinier, Émile 1889 Collection Émile Gavet: Catalogue raisonné precede d’une etude historique et archéologique sur les oeuvres d’art qui composent cette collection. Paris: D. Jouaust, p. 225, cat. no. 995.

McCarty, Ronald R. and Virginia Brilliant 2009 “Carved Gemstones,” pp. 163–177 in Virginia Brilliant ed., Gothic Art in the Gilded Age: Medieval and Renaissance Treasures in the Gavet-Vanderbilt-Ringling Collection. Sarasota, FL: The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, p. 176, no. 134.125 with photo.

Cartwright, Sarah and Joanna S. Smith in press “Gems in The Ringling’s Gavet Collection,” in Ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Engraved Gems in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea Area (AOAT).