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Intaglio with Abraxas and Magical Inscriptions
(Byzantium and Early Russia)
This oval intaglio depicts the rooster-headed, snake-legged deity Abraxas with a whip in his right hand. In place of a shield on his left arm, there is a very large space bounded by irregular curves and crossed by a horizontal line. This space is covered with letters, not all of which are legible, and most of which are vowels. At the bottom is an angel name and a variant spelling of the name Israel. There are also Greek vowels around the head of Abraxas and in the field. On Abraxas' body the seven Greek vowels are arranged in an inverted pyramid with all of the vowels on the first line and only omega on the last. The reverse is plain.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Henry Walters, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sadie Jones (Mrs. Henry Walters), New York, 1931, by inheritance; Mrs. Henry Walters Sale, Joseph Brummer, New York, 1942; Walters Art Museum, 1942, by purchase.
Exhibitions
| 1947 | Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. |
Measurements
H: 13/16 x W: 5/8 x D: 1/8 in. (2 x 1.6 x 0.3 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase [formerly part of the Walters Collection], 1942
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
42.871