ClassificationsGreek and Roman Art
Intaglio Gem Depicting Faustulus and the She-Wolf
CultureRoman
Periodlate Republic
Date1st Century BCE
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Michael J. Shubin
Dimensions1/2 x 7/16 x 1/16 in. (1.3 x 1.1 x 0.2 cm)
Object number2008.031.020
Label TextDepictions of the mythological lupa romana (She-Wolf) suckling the infants Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars and the Italian princess Rhea Silvia, were extremely popular on engraved gems during the late Republic and early Empire. It was Romulus who would go on to found the city of Rome, and during the Augustan period the motif was used to establish Augustus’s mythical lineage and political supremacy as Romulus’ claimed descendant – an ancestry that also linked him, via Rhea Silvia, to Venus and the Trojan hero Aeneas. On this gem, the shepherd Faustulus watches over the wolf as she feeds the babies beneath a tree, evoking a bucolic setting that likens Augustus’s Rome to a pastoral idyll.Exhibition HistoryMaking an Impression: The Art and Craft of Ancient Engraved Gemstones, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 27 - November 27, 2022
ProvenanceEx coll. Michael Shubin (1950-2008), Montebello, California, purchaed from Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, Munich, Germany, February 10, 1996.
Status
Not on viewCollections
- Greek and Roman Art
mid 2nd Century CE
ca. 14 CE
1st Century BCE
1st Century CE
883-859 BCE
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1750
ca. 14 - 37 CE
late 1st Century BCE-early 1st Century CE
3rd Century CE
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1756
second half 1st Century BCE
