Lot 128
Roman, Imperial period, ca. 1st century BCE to 1st century CE; Europe, Neoclassical period, ca. 19th to early 20th century CE. A stunning Roman jasper intaglio featuring Venus Victrix or Venus Victorious set in a Neoclassical gold ring to be wearable. Displaying mottled hues of forest green and creamy beige, the convex stone shows the goddess with her back to the viewer as she leans on a pillar facing left. A shield lays at her feet as she holds out a helmet with her left hand and a spear rests on her shoulder. Size of intaglio: 0.5" L x 0.3" W (1.3 cm x 0.8 cm); of ring: 0.8" L (2 cm); US ring size: 5.25; metal quality: 36.3% silver, 33.1% copper, 30.6% gold; weight: 2.4 grams
Venus Victrix ("Venus the Victorious") was a Romanized aspect of the armed Aphrodite that Greeks had inherited from the East, where the goddess Ishtar "remained a goddess of war, and Venus could bring victory to a Sulla or a Caesar." Pompey vied with his patron Sulla and with Caesar for public recognition as her protege. In 55 BC he dedicated a temple to her at the top of his theater in the Campus Martius. She had a shrine on the Capitoline Hill, and festivals on August 12 and October 9. A sacrifice was annually dedicated to her on the latter date. In neo-classical art, her epithet as Victrix is often used in the sense of 'Venus Victorious over men's hearts' or in the context of the Judgement of Paris (e.g. Canova's Venus Victrix, a half-nude reclining portrait of Pauline Bonaparte).
Provenance: ex-Dr. Corinne Bronfman estate, Washington D.C., USA, acquired via descent; ex-Marjorie Bronfman collection, Montreal, Canada, acquired March 31,1966; ex-Sotheby's, London, United Kingdom, "Catalogue of the Story-Maskelyne Collection of Ancient Gems, the Property of W.E. Arnold Forster, Esq.," 4-5 July 1921, lot 119; ex-William Arnold-Forster (1886-1951), Cornwall and London, United Kingdom; ex-M.H. Story Maskelyne (1823-1911), Wroughton, Wiltshire, United Kingdom; (probably) ex-Paul von Praun collection (1548-1616), Nuremberg, Germany
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#186631
- Condition: Ancient intaglio set in a Neoclassical ring to be wearable. Light patina to ring setting, but otherwise, ring and intaglio are intact and in overall excellent condition. Nice remaining detail.
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