Signet Ring with Gem Depicting Apollo and Cassandra

Artist Son of Alexas Aulos (Roman, 2nd half of 1st century B.C.E.)

Date40-20 B.C.E.

MediumCarnelian with gold

DimensionsOverall: 3/4 × 13/16 × 1 3/8 inches (1.91 × 2.06 × 3.49 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Everitt

Object numberF93-22

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Ancient Art

Terms

DescriptionA carnelian gem set into a gold ring. The intaglio portrays Apollo (our right) standing beside a laurel tree (center), looking down at a nymph (our left) who sleeps against a rocky background. A raven stands over her. Apollo is laureate and his mantle hangs behind him; the nymph wears a cloak around her legs alone.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Discovery and Deceit: Archaeology and the Forger’s Craft, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 3, 1996-January 5, 1997; Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, February 8, 1998-May 18, 1997.

Provenance

Trebizond [1];

With Michael L. Ward, Inc., New York, by 1993;

Purchased from Michael L. Ward, Inc. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1993.

NOTES:

[1] According to Wilhelm Froehner, Collection de la Comtesse R. de Béarn 4 (1912), 83.

Published References

Wilhelm Froehner, Collection de la Comtesse R. de Béarn 4 (1912): 83, plate 21. 4.

Antiquités et Objects d’Art: Collection de Martine, Comtesse de Béhague provenant de la Succession du Marquis de Ganay (Monaco: Sotheby’s, December 5, 1987), 19, lot 31, 20, plate 31.

Marilyn Stockstad, Art History (New York: Harry Abrams, 1995), 20, fig. 8.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 15, fig. 40.

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