Green jasper gem: Solar child on lotus with baboon in papyrus boat

PP-ID:

PP-1658

Classification:

gem, non-specified

Collection ID:

DE_Kassel-HKH_Ge 146

Collection:

Kassel, Antikensammlung, Hessen Kassel Heritage

Collection Inventory:

Ge 146

Reference Numbers:

Capello 1702, no. 62; AGD III, no. Kassel 146; Michel 2001, no. 15; Mastrocinque, SGG I, 37; Michel, DMG, no. 19.3.d_5

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:

15.9 × 12.7 × 2.2 mm

Iconography:

solar child sitting on lotus flower; solar child seated with knees drawn up; side-lock of youth; solar disk; hand raised to mouth; lotus flower; lotus buds (2); baboon; orant / greeting gesture; ithyphallic posture; falcons (2); double crown (of Egypt); moon, crescent; star; boat, papyrus

Green jasper gem. Transverse oval, both faces flat. (Shape 8). Small chipping, otherwise intact.

Side A: The solar child sitting to the right with knees drawn up on a lotus flower with two buds. He is crowned with the solar disk, side-lock of youth visible. Left hand bent at the elbow and raised to the mouth, right hand placed on the hip. Facing him, an ithyphallic baboon, also crowned with the solar disk, standing with both paws raised in greeting. The figures are placed within a papyrus boat; two falcons perch at its prow and stern, both crowned with the double crown of Egypt. A six-pointed star and a crescent, open to the top, appear between the young deity and the baboon.
Side B: Undecorated.

Selected bibliography
• Capello 1702 >>, pl. 11, no. 62 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Montfaucon 1719 >>, vol. 2,2, 3, pl. 158, 13 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Zazoff, AGD III >>, 232, no. 146.
• SGG I >>, 173, no. 37. (with earlier literature).
• Michel, DMG >>, no. 19.3.d_5.