Intaglio Gem Depicting Faustulus and the She-Wolf

AAT Object Form/Functionfigures (representations)

AAT Object Techniqueintaglios (sculptural objects)

AAT Object Form/Functiongems (worked stones)

CultureRoman

Periodlate Republic

Date1st Century BCE

MediumMicrocrystalline quartz, var. carnelian

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 view

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