Gem design: Solar child on lotus, lion (A) Greek inscription (B)

PP-ID:

PP-2763

Classification:

amulet design; gem, magical

Collection ID:

Ad_Pignoria 1605_4.C

Collection:

Whereabouts unknown

Collection Inventory:

Pignoria 1605_4.C

Reference Numbers:

Chifletius–Macarius, no. X 40; Mastrocinque, SGG I, 24; Michel, DMG, no. 19.2.c_5; CBd, no. 2763

Former Collections:

Pignoria, Lorenzo (Laurentius Pignorius, Padova 1571–1631)

Date:

post-antique

Iconography:

solar child sitting on lotus flower; solar child seated with knees drawn up; hand raised to mouth; whip; lotus flower; lotus buds (2); lion; star; moon, crescent

Divine Names & Voces:

Ἀβρασάξ; Ἰάω; voces, unidentified

Upright oval, design made after a cast.

Side A: The solar child ('Harpocrates') is seated on a lotus flower with knees pulled up, to left. His right hand is raised to his mouth, there is a whip in his left hand. A lion runs towards the left on a baseline. Psi-like character below the belly of the lion, six-pointed star above its head, and a crescent to the right of the solar child. Greek inscription around the figure, starting at the bottom left: αβρασα ξσισι ριμ → Ἀβρασάξ, unidentified vox.
Side B: Greek inscription in five lines: αρχε|οιαω|μερμ|ενν|ω → unidentified voces including Ἰάω.

For two gems in the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst in Munich that were presumably made after this design, see PP-322 and PP-326. Another piece that follows this design is preserved in the University Museum of Pennsylvania.

Selected bibliography
• Pignoria 1605 >>, pl. 4 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Kircher 1652–55 >>, 463, fig. 12 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Chifletius–Macarius, Abraxas >>, X 40 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Montfaucon 1719 >>, vol. 2,2, pl. 149F (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• SGG I >>, no. 24 (with earlier literature).
• Michel, DMG >>, 272, 19.2.c_5. pl. 107, 1.