Green jasper gem: Isis and Harpocrates

PP-ID:

PP-1654

Classification:

gem, magical

Collection ID:

DE_Kassel-HKH_Ge 154

Collection:

Kassel, Antikensammlung, Hessen Kassel Heritage

Collection Inventory:

Ge 154

Reference Numbers:

Capello 1702, no. 102; AGD III, no. Kassel 154; Michel 2001, no. 10; Michel, DMG, no. 30.1.a_3

Former Collections:

Patin, Charles (Paris, 1633 – Padua, 1693); Capello, Antonio (Venice, 1652–1729); Karl, Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel (Kassel, 1654–1730)

Material:

jasper, green to black

Dimensions:

14.7 × 11.6 × 3.1 mm

Iconography:

Isis lactans; crown, unspecified; unspecified long dress; throne; wreath; star; Harpocrates; stalks of grain (6); vessel, unspecified

Divine Names & Voces:

Ἰάω, variants

Green jasper. Upright oval, both faces flat, edge rounded and bevelled to the back. (Shape 9c). Chipped at the back.

Side A: Undecorated.
Side B: Isis enthroned to the right, holding Harpocrates in her lap. The goddess is clad in a long dress, a wreath (?) decorated her head, and there is a star in front of it on the right. She holds three stalks of grain in her left hand; three other stalks are visible at her feet, in a vessel. One line of Greek inscription below the baseline: ωαι → variant of Ἰάω.

Selected bibliography
• Capello 1702 >>, pl. 16, no. 102 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Montfaucon 1719 >>, vol. 2,2, 365, pl. 158 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Zazoff, AGD III >>, 234–235, no. 154.
• Michel 2001 >>, 26, no. 10; click here for the full-text excerpt.
• Michel, DMG >>, no. 30.1.a_3.