Scarab with a Centaur and Two Lions Set in a Swivel Ring

Description Most archaic Greek gems were carved in the form of a scarab beetle. The type is ultimately of Egyptian origin and is thought to have passed to the Greeks via the Phoenicians probably on the island of Cyprus, which served as a crossroads for the eastern Mediterranean. The intaglio design and careful articulation of the beetle suggest a date in the early 6th century. The hollow, round hoop, narrows to pass through the scarab; the shoulders are spirally wound with wire. The parts of the scarab's back are carefully articulated. The intaglio design depicts a centaur facing right with a raised right arm holding a club (?). To his right, one complete lion with its head turned back, and the foreparts of a second lion above the first; with a line border.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
8/22/1960	Examination	other

Exhibitions

• Jewelry - Ancient to Modern. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1979-1980.

Provenance Charles Newton-Robinson, London, by 1909 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Collection of Newton-Robinson Sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, June 22, 1909, lot 14 [as from Idalion, Cyprus]; Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris, 1909, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1909, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1909