| Summary: | Two Intaglii were retrieved excavations of the Roman fort at Bolham. One is of a horse, the other the god Apollo. The horse gem is likely to be early Flavian. It is of green jasper heliotrope, flecked with red. Oval, 12 x 10 x 1.5mm. In good condition apart from slight abrasion and chipping. It depicts a horse, engraved in 'small grooves' or 'Flavian' style. Comparanda include a jasper from Pompeii and an onyx in a Swiss private collection; but the best parallels come from Great Drain in Bath, and may have been produced by the same studio. The Apollo gem, set in an iron ring, may be late Neronian or early Flavian and the cutting may be compared with that of an intaglio depicting mercury from the fortress at Exeter dated c66-75AD, although there is no means of ascribing the stone to a particular workshop. |
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