Intaglio with Bust Wearing Aegis

Description This intaglio depicts a bust with wings in its hair and wearing armor in profile to the left. The image has been historically identified as Medusa but may also represent a ruler in the guise of a conqueror.

Provenance Arthur Evans, Oxford, by 1938 [mode of acquistion unknown] [Evans inv. no. 138; said to be from Rome]; Jacob Hirsch, Munich, 1941 [executor of Evans' will]; Walters Art Museum, 1942, by purchase.

Credit Museum purchase, 1942