This is a rare depiction of an artist at work. In his right hand, he holds a stick-like object that has a round knob at one end and is pointed at the other and slightly thickened, likely a brush. In his left hand, he holds another object, which is evidently not a mallet but perhaps a palette seen in perspective. Ancient marble sculpture was often brightly painted. The artist holds his tool lightly and is probably painting rather than modeling.
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Ring stone enlarged, and reversed in a modern impression
Artwork Details
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Title:Carnelian ring stone
Period:Imperial
Date:ca. 1st–3rd century CE
Culture:Roman
Medium:Carnelian
Dimensions:Length: 1/2 in. (1.2 cm)
Classification:Gems
Credit Line:Gift of John Taylor Johnston, 1881
Object Number:81.6.48
Between 1845 and 1865, acquired by Reverend Charles William King; until 1878, collection of Rev. C. W. King, Cambridge, England; 1878, purchased by John Taylor Johnston from Rev. C. W. King; 1878-1881, collection of John Taylor Johnston, New York; acquired in 1881, gift of John Taylor Johnston.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1920. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style. no. 118, p. 84, pls. 32–33, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1956. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. no. 434, p. 97, pls. 54, Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 2006[1956]. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, 2nd edn. no. 434, p. 97, pls. 54, Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Østergaard, Jan Stubbe and Anne Marie Nielsen. 2014. Transformations: Classical Sculpture in Colour no. 5, pp. 4, 47, 319, Copenhagen, Denmark: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
Skovmøller, Amalie. 2020. Facing the colours of Roman portraiture: Exploring the materiality of ancient polychrome forms. pp. 124, 126, fig. 120, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
Hemingway, Seán and Sarah Lepinski. 2025. "Chroma : Ancient Sculpture in Color and Anceint Polychromy at The Met." Chroma : Sculpture in Color from Antiquity to Today, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Symposia, Seán Hemingway, Sarah Lepinski, and Vinzenz Brinkmann, eds. pp. 44, 46, fig. 15, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
