Getty Museum

Engraved Scaraboid with Chimaera

Date

about 400 B.C.

Medium

Blue chalcedony

Culture

Greek

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

This finely-carved scaraboid is engraved with a chimaera advancing left, with right foreleg raised. A flame issues from the goat’s mouth, which, unusually for Classical gems, is shown with forelegs included. The head and body of the lion are finely modelled, and its mane rendered as a series of incised, overlapping triangles comparable to lions on other gems of the same period. A line below marks the groundline. A scaraboid is a simplified scarab, with a plain curved back and an intaglio design decorating the flat side. The form gradually replaced the scarab in Greece in the 400s B.C. Like scarabs, they were typically pierced and worn either as a ring or pendant. When attached to a metal hoop and worn as a ring, the curved side faced out and the intaglio surface rested against the finger. When needed as a seal, the ring was removed, the gem swiveled, and the intaglio design was pressed into soft clay or wax to identify and secure property.

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