Getty Museum

Engraved Scaraboid with Head of a Woman

Date

480–470 B.C.

Medium

Cornelian

Culture

Greek

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

This scaraboid is decorated with the head and neck of a woman in right profile. Her hair is rolled over her forehead and covered by a sakkos, or head-cloth, which is pulled tight behind her ears. She also wears a necklace. Her facial features are carefully modelled, with large eyes, full cheeks, and rounded chin. The engraved head is framed by a linear border. A scaraboid is a simplified scarab, with a plain curved back and an intaglio design decorating the flat underside. 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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