The cameo bears a medallion with a portrait of Augustus supported on the horns of a double-headed goat. The imagery represents the constellation Capricorn, which was adopted by the Emperor Augustus as his own lucky star sign and was used as an imperial symbol on such things as coins and legionary standards.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Sardonyx cameo of a double capricorn with a portrait of the emperor Augustus
Period:Early Imperial, Augustan
Date:ca. 27 BCE–14 CE
Culture:Roman
Medium:Sardonyx, gold
Dimensions:H. 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm)
Classification:Gems
Credit Line:Gift of Milton Weil, 1929
Object Number:29.175.4
Said to be from Egypt
[With Dr. Philp Lederer]; [purchased by Milton Weil from Dr. P. Lederer]; until 1929, collection of Milton Weil; acquired in 1929, gift of Milton Weil.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1948. Roman Portraits, 2nd edn. p. 25, p. ii, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1949. "Glyptic Portraits of the late Republic and early Empire in the Metropolitan Museum." Hommages à Joseph Bidez et à Franz Cumont. p. 300, Brussels: Latomus, revue d'études latines.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1956. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. no. 649, p. 130, pl. 73, Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Megow, Wolf-Rüdiger. 1987. Kameen von Augustus bis Alexander Severus, Antike Münzen und geschnittene Steine, XI, Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, ed. no. A 12, p. 164, pl. 7.21, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
Milleker, Elizabeth J. 2000. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West no. 48, pp. 59, 61, 206, New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 2006[1956]. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, 2nd edn. no. 649, p. 130, pl. 73, Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 385, pp. 333, 482, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Zwierlein-Diehl, Erika. 2007. Antike Gemmen und ihr Nachleben. p. 431, fig. 605, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
Draper, James David. 2008. "Cameo Appearances." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 65(4): p. 14, fig. 19.
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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.
