Intaglio with Heads of a Man and a Woman Set in a Ring

This intaglio shows the heads of a bearded man, on the left and balding, and a woman, on the right and veiled, in profile and facing each other. These may be depictions of Silenus and a woman or the philosopher Socrates and his wife Xantippe.

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.15]; 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. 2, lot 1? [with incorrect description?]; William Ponsonby, second Earl of Bessborough, Parkstead House, London, 1761, by purchase [Bessborough no. 17 M, as “Socrate” and “Xantipe”]; George Spencer, fourth Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, ca. 1765, by purchase [Marlborough no. 660]; 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. 103, lot 660; 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. 114, lot 660; 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.