Lot 162
Ancient Mediterranean, Italic cultures, ca. 2nd to 1st century BCE. An intriguing Italic intaglio of a wounded Philoctetes carved into calcified carnelian and set in an octagonal gold setting. The stone shows a bandaged Philoctetes facing left, limping and leaning on a stick with his right hand, his left arm is draped with a chlamys slightly obscuring his treasure: the large bow and arrows of Heracles (Roman Hercules). The stunning gem is set in an octagonal bezel with a groove on its outer edges and is believed to have been worn by the writer and antiquary William Beckford (English, 1760-1844). Size of bezel setting: 0.54" L x 0.49" W (1.4 cm x 1.2 cm); band opening: 0.69" Diameter (1.8 cm); US ring size 6.75; metal quality: 69.8% to 70.8% (equivalent to 16K+ to 17K) gold, 13.9% to 14.4% silver, 15.5% to 14.9% copper; weight: 2.6 grams
Philoctetes was the son of Poeas, king of Meliboea in Thessaly. He came into possession of the bow and arrows of Heracles after assisting the hero in ending the agony of the shirt of Nessus. Philoctetes, or in some versions his father, lit the pyre on which Heracles immolated himself and became immortal. Philoctetes then received the favor of the newly deified Heracles.
Philoctetes had been one of the many eligible Greeks who competed for the hand of Helen, the Spartan princess; as such, he was required to participate in the expedition to reclaim her for Menelaus that became the Trojan War. However, on the way to Troy, Philoctetes received a wound or snake bite on his foot on the island of Lemnos. The wound became infected, emitting a foul odor, which led to him being abandoned by the Greek forces on Lemnos where he remained marooned for 10 years, harboring a grudge against Odysseus.
As the Trojan War dragged on, Helenus, the prophetic son of King Priam of Troy, was forced under torture to reveal that one of the conditions for the Greeks to win the war was possession of the bow and arrows of Heracles. Upon hearing this, Odysseus and a group of men rushed back to Lemnos to recover Heracles' weapons. Surprised to find the archer alive, the Greeks balked on what to do next. Odysseus tricked the weaponry away from Philoctetes, but Diomedes refused to take the weapons without the man. The divine Heracles came down from Olympus and told Philoctetes to go and that he would be healed by the son of Asclepius and win great honor as a hero of the Achaean army.
This gem was published as part of the collection of Prince Stanislas Poniatowski (1754-1833), which consisted of about 2,500 pieces, the majority of which he commissioned and encouraged the belief that they were, in fact, ancient. Though some gems, like this one, were from antiquity, the greater part was crafted by a group of engravers in Rome who drew inspiration from Classical literature, rather than from ancient Classical art. Poniatowski published a summary catalogue in 1830, with more detailed versions in 1833. After his death, the collection was sold at a Christie's auction in 1839. The majority was acquired by John Tyrrell, and the collection has since been widely dispersed. Today, nearly 200 years after their creation, the Poniatowski gemstones are considered highly collectible.
Impression of gem published in two books: A. Furtwangler, "Die Antiken Gemmen Geschichte Der SteinschneidekunstIm Klassischen," Leipzig, 1900, pl. XXI, no. 22.
G. Lippold, "Gemmen und Kameen des Altertums und der Neuzeit; in Vergrosserungen," Stuttgart, 1922, taf. XLII, no. 8.
Also published in University of Oxford's Beazley Archive under record number 40002023 (reference number 1839-1303 and Cades impression p. 38. 263).
Provenance: ex-Dr. Corinne Bronfman estate, Washington D.C., USA, acquired via descent; ex-Marjorie Bronfman collection, Montreal, Canada, acquired March 31, 1966; ex-Christie's, London, 1839; ex- Poniatowski collection.
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