170, Herakles seated on his lionskin, dress at his lap, resting his head and hand on a staff, looking down. Behind him his bow. Before him his club, a sphinx seated on a base within which is shown the head of a boar, and by his feet three apples (of the Hesperides). Ground line. The boar could be the Erymanthian but the hero had no dealings with a sphinx. Story-Maskelyne remarks that this copies an Orléans cornelian (Reinach, pl. 127.86; now St. Petersburg, Neverov 1982, nos. 86-7) inscribed with a reference to Herakles' resting from labour. On the latter he may be holding a sword, not a staff as here, as so in the Ajax pose - see the following and Marlborough 299.
Description: Herakles seated on his lionskin, dress at his lap, resting his head and hand on a staff, looking down. Behind him his bow. Before him his club, a sphinx seated on a base within which is shown the head of a boar, and by his feet three apples (of the Hesperides). Ground line. The boar could be the Erymanthian but the hero had no dealings with a sphinx. Story-Maskelyne remarks that this copies an Orléans cornelian (Reinach, pl. 127.86; now St. Petersburg, Neverov 1982, nos. 86-7) inscribed with a reference to Herakles' resting from labour. On the latter he may be holding a sword, not a staff as here, as so in the Ajax pose - see the following and Marlborough 299.
Last Recorded Collection: Boardman, J., Scarisbrick, D., Wagner C., Zwierlein-Diehl, E: The Marlborough Gems (2009): no. 170
Previous Collections:
Story-Maskelyne, M.H.: The Marlborough Gems (1870): no. 298
Size: 29x22
Link to this record using the address https://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/BF823A90-9E95-45F8-93BA-F6075C8BF667
