GRECO-ROMAN, 1ST CENTURY B.C./ 1ST CENTURY A.D. OR LATER | INTAGLIO WITH HERAKLES WEARING THE SKIN OF THE NEMEAN LION

Joseph Anton Gabaleon von Wackerbarth-Salmour (1685–1761);

Countess Francesca Cheroffini (1709–1778):

Private collection, United States of America

P. D. Lippert, Dactyliotheca Universalis signorum exemplis nitidis redditae, 1755, no. 1,300 [without material or owner], 1767, no. 626 [including material and owner];

J. J. Winckelmann, Description des pierres gravées du feu Baron de Stosch, Florence, 1760, II, p. 242, no 1513;

R. E. Raspe, A descriptive catalogue of a general collection of ancient and modern engraved gems, cameos as well as intaglios, London, 1791, no. 5515;

T. Cades, mss, German Archaeological Institute, Rome, 1830 (as referenced by Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli), 23, III A, no. 84;

T. Cades, Gemme antiche con I nomi degli Incisori, German Archaeological Institute, Rome, 1830 (as referenced by Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli), I, no. 23;

A. Furtwängler, Gemmen mit Künstlerinschriften” in Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, vol. IV, 1889, p. 72;

H. Brunn, Geschichte der griechischen Künstler, Stuttgart, 1889, vol. ii, p. 379;

L. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, La collezione Paoletti, Rome, 2012, vol. iv. II, no. 72

This beautiful intaglio, the Cheroffini Hercules, is carved with a head of Hercules dressed in the skin of the Nemean lion. It is of a Hellenistic type illustrated by Plantzos (op. cit., 85f, pl. 59) and likely dates to around the 1st century BC-1st century AD. The gem is recorded in 1755 by Lippert, who, in the 1767 edition, describes it as being in the collection of Joseph Anton Gabaleon von Wackerbarth-Salmour (1685–1761), the Italian-born Saxon envoy to Rome between 1730-1731. The gem was subsequently recorded and illustrated in Raspe/ Tassie (1791) as having been in the possession of the Countess Francesca Cheroffini (1709-1778).

The Countess Cheroffini was the lover of Cardinal Albani (1692-1779) by whom she bore two daughters. Considered a beauty in her youth, Cheroffini possessed a wit and intelligence that was admired by her contemporaries, amongst them Angelika Kauffman, and she herself amassed a significant art collection. One of her prized gems was the fragmentary 1st-century BC cameo with Orestes and Pylades now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. no. 21.1221).

The Cheroffini Hercules is signed ΑΞΕΟΧΟΣ (Axeochos), a name that exists on an amethyst intaglio in the British Museum, the so-called Strozzi Faun (inv. no. 1913,0307.111). Adolf Furtwängler argued that the BM amethyst was modern and was copied from an impression published by Stosch (1724, op. cit., pl. 20). Furtwängler also considered the present gem to be post antique (a view shared by Brunn, op. cit.) and suggested that the signature was taken from the Stozzi impression.

Zwierlein-Diehl, however, has convincingly argued that, ‘in all probability, the Herakles head and the signature are ancient’ (private correspondence). She argues that both the Strozzi impression and the BM gem are modern and suggests that the relationship with the present gem could possibly be reversed. Though it cannot be proven, she proposes that the Cheroffini Hercules may be the source for the signature on the Stosch impression.

There has been debate about the veracity of the signature ΑΞΕΟΧΟΣ (Axeochos). Zwierlein-Diehl has asserted that the Strozzi inscription cannot be ancient since 'there are no ancient signatures with foreshortened ep(oiei)' (private correspondence as above). The name itself has been considered to be a modern invention (see the BM online cataloguing for inv. no. 1913,0307.111). However, Zwierlein-Diehl has argued that the present signature is probably ancient, a view also expressed by Dimitris Plantzos (private correspondence). For the signature with sigma composed of four strokes, Zwierlein-Diehl finds a precedent in the Solon signature of the Medusa Strozzi (Glaspasten Würzburg I, op. cit., no. 153).

Zwierlein-Diehl notes the Hellenistic Hercules type (as illustrated in Plantzos, op. cit.) but points out the difficulty of determining authenticity. The Cheroffini Hercules is a beautiful example of its type and the arguments for it being antique are compelling. It is distinguished by its illustrious provenance and publication history. There is a glass paste of the present intaglio possible made by James or William Tassie in the British Museum (inv. no. OA.2665).

RELATED LITERATURE

A. Furtwängler, ‘Studien über die Gemmen mit Künstlerinschriften’, in: Johannes Sieveking – Ludwig Curtius (Hrsg.), Kleine Schriften von A. Furtwängler II, 1913, 275 = JdI 4, 1889, 72; E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Glaspasten im Martin-Wagner-Museum der Universitat Würzburg I, Würzburg, 1986, no. 153; D. Plantzos, Hellenistic Engraved Gems, Oxford, 1999

Sotheby's would like to thank Professor Erika Zwierlein-Diehl and Dr Dmitiris Plantzos for their kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.