Magical gem: Pantheos on Ouroboros (A) Greek inscription (B)
Download PDF
CBd-Number:
CBd-983
ID-Number:
GB-BM-MMEu_G 13, EA 56013
Collection:
GB_London, The British Museum
Inventory:
G 13 (EA 56013)
References:
Chifletius–Macarius, no. VI 24; Bonner 1951, no. 70; Michel, BM, no. 624; Michel, DMG, no. 41.1_28
Former Collections:
Towneley Collection
Material:
carnelian (colour unspecified)
Dimensions:
23 x 14 x 5 mm
Dating:
17th c. AD (Michel)
Iconography:
Pantheos; Ouroboros; tail of bird; scepter, unspecified; scepters (2); scorpion; flail; scarab
Divine Names & Voces:
Μιχαήλ; Γαβριήλ and variants; Κουστιήλ?; Ῥαφαήλ and variants
A: Pantheos standing nude in three-quarter view to right upon a small Ouroboros. Right hand lowered beside the body and holding a flail, left hand slightly outstretched and holding a scorpion. A bird’s tail projects from the back to the left, two pairs of wings attached at the height of the shoulders and the hips. A tall scepter on each side, the one on the left is crossed by two notches at the top. The Pantheos has shoulder-length hair and a beard. In the free field on the left, a scarab from above, crawling to top.
B: Inscription in six lines in mirror writing, with the names of the archangels: μιχα|ηλγλκρ|ιηλκου|στιηλ|ρα+α|ηλ → Μιχαήλ, Γαβριήλ, Κουστιήλ, Ραφαήλ. (Michel interprets the cross-shaped letter in line five as a phi, thus reading Raphael.)
Post-antique. The gem may have been designed after a drawing in Chifletius–Macarius, Abrasax, see CBd-2911. For a parallel piece in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, see CBd-2190.
Bibliography
Michel, BM on CBd-983
Michel, DMG, 317, 41.1_28, pl. 102, 1.2
www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?currentpage=1&toadbc=ad&objectid=60858&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&partid=1&searchtext=Michel+2001+624&fromadbc=ad&numpages=10" target="_blank">The British Museum Collection database on CBd-983
Images
Cast of CBd-983 obverse and reverse in the Gems Database of the Beazley Archive, Oxford.
Last modified: 2017-08-27 23:25:56
Link:cbd.mfab.hu/cbd/983
CITE THIS PAGE
CBd-983. The Campbell Bonner Magical Gems Database (2010-), developed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, editor-in-chief: Á. M. Nagy.
Retrieved from: cbd.mfab.hu/cbd/983 on 14-09-2024.
Zoom
