Intaglio with Apollo and Achilles Set in a Ring

Apollo appears on this intaglio in the process of stopping Achilles from pursuing the Trojans into the city of Troy. Achilles, on the right, is armed and looking away while holding a shield in his right hand and a sword in his left. Apollo, in the center, holds a bow in his right hand. An armored warrior, on the left, is going through an archway into Troy with only his leg and shield visible. Click on "Additional Views" to see an 18th-century drawing of this intaglio in Lorenz Natter's "A Treatise on the Ancient Method of Engraving on Precious Stones, Compared with the Modern" (Oxford 1754) p. 53, plate 34.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Gabriel Medina, Livorno and Leghorn, by 1742, [mode of acquisition unknown] [Medina no. I.97]; Sale, A Catalogue of the Genuine and Capital Collection of Antique Gems of Signor De Medina, Late of Leghorn, by Mr. Langford, Covent Garden, 10-12 February 1761, p. 11, lot 58; William Ponsonby, second Earl of Bessborough, Parkstead House, London, 1761, by purchase [Bessborough no. 21 M]; George Spencer, fourth Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, ca. 1765, by purchase [Marlborough no. 344]; George Spencer-Churchill, fifth Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, 1817, by bequest; George Spencer-Churchill, sixth Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, 1840, by bequest; John Spencer-Churchill, seventh Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, 1857, by bequest; Sale, The Marlborough Gems, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 28 June 1875, p. 55-56, lot 344; David Bromilow, Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, ca. 1875, by purchase; Julia Bromilow Jary, Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, 1898, by bequest; Sale, The Marlborough Gems Purchased by the Late David Bromilow, esq., Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 26 June 1899, p. 63, lot 344; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1899, by purchase [Dikran Kelekian as agent]; Sadie Jones (Mrs. Henry Walters), New York, 1931, by bequest; Joseph Brummer, Paris and New York, 1941, by purchase [Brummer inv. no. N5143a]; Walters Art Museum, 1942, by purchase.