Roman Agate Intaglio of Mercury with Purse and Caduceus

Roman, Imperial period. A small oval intaglio cut from banded agate. The engraver set the design so that the cut passes through a pale, milky top layer into the deeper red stone below, and the result is a russet figure against a white field. It shows Mercury standing nude in a relaxed pose, wearing the petasos, the brimmed traveler's hat. His left arm reaches out holding a heavy money bag (marsupium). Drapery falls over his right arm, which also holds the caduceus, the herald's staff. The carving is economical and sure, giving a compact, muscular body in very little space. Gems like this were most likely set in finger rings and used as personal seals, and the image of the god of commerce may also have been meant to bring the owner luck in trade and travel. The purse is the attribute most typical of the Roman Mercury, rather than his Greek forerunner Hermes. Mercury was worshipped as the protector of merchants, profit, and safe journeys, and on Roman gems the money bag often appears together with the caduceus, as it does here, to show him as a bringer of prosperity. A seal stone with this image did practical work, marking property and sealing documents, and it also called on the god's favor. That would have suited a trader, a traveler, or anyone hoping to grow rich. Item # 204677

Estimate:£227.02

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