'Gems of heaven': Recent Research on Engraved Gemstones in Late Antiquity, AD 200-600 (British Museum Research Publications) - Softcover

9780861591770: 'Gems of heaven': Recent Research on Engraved Gemstones in Late Antiquity, AD 200-600 (British Museum Research Publications)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0861591771 ISBN 13: 9780861591770

Publisher: British Museum, 2011

This is the companion volume to one devoted to recent research on Byzantine jewellery published in 2010 and forms part of a series organised under the auspices of the British Museum Byzantine Seminar Series. The conference brought together leading scholars from Europe, the USA and the Middle East to discuss Late Antique gems and cameos. This is the first time that so many diverse papers, interdisciplinary in nature, have been assembled in a single volume and includes scientific papers addressing issues such as typology and sourcing of gemstones.

Table of Contents

1. Non-destructive Gemmological Tests for the Identification of Ancient Gems (Cigdem Lule)
2. A Case Study on Gemstone Origins: Chrysothrix, a Group of Roman Magical Gems (Lisbet Thoresen)
3. Archaeologies of Magical Gems (Richard Gordon)
4. Text, Image and Medium: the Evolution of Graeco-Roman Magical Gemstones (Chris Faraone)
5. The Colours of Magical Gems (Attilio Mastrocinque)
6. Magic and Medicine: Gems and the Power of Seals (V�ronique Dasen)
7. Magical Gems and Classical Archaeology (�rp�d M. Nagy)
8. Studies on Magical Gems in the British Museum (Simone Michel)
9. Grylloi (Ken Lapatin)
10. Intaglios in Military Contexts in 2nd-4th Century AD Palestine: the Case of Legio and Aelia Capitolina (Orit Pelegand and Yotam Tepper)
11. Selected Antique Gems from Israel (Shua Amorai-Stark and Malka Hershkovitz)
12. The Christian Gems from Portugal in Context (Gra�a Cravinho)
13. Intaglios and cameos from Gaul in the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD (H�l�ne Guiraud)
14. Late Roman Gems from Tilurium in Croatia (Bruna Nardelli)
15. Three Degrees of Separation: Detail Reworking, Type Updating and Identity Transformation in Roman Imperial Glyptic Portraits in the Round (Elisabetta Gagetti)
16.Gem Portraits of Soldier Emperors (Erika Zwierlein-Diehl)
17. Gods or mortals? – Images on Imperial Portrait Gems, Medallions and Coins in the 3rd century AD (Adrian Marsden)
18. Love and Passion: Personal Cameos in Late Antiquity (Helen Molesworth and Martin Henig)
19. The Belgrade Cameo (Antje Krug)
20. Late Antique Gems: some Unpublished Examples (Jeffrey Spier)
21. The Argument from Silence – Iconographical Statements of 1981 on Faked Gems Reconsidered (Josef Engemann)
22. The Constanza Cornelianand the Development of Crucifixion Iconography in Late Antiquity (Felicity Harley McGowan)
23. Seals in Transition: their Change of Function and Value in Late Antiquity (Gertrud Platz-Horster)
24. Myth Revisited. The Re-use of Mythological Cameos and Intaglios in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Gemma Sena Chiesa)
25. Inscriptions on Portrait Gems in Late Antiquity (4th – 6th centuries) (S�bastien Aubry)
26. Some Engraved Gemstones from Late Antiquity in Atlanta (Jasper Gaunt)
27. Can Ringstones and Cloisonn� Tell Us Anything About Gem Sources and Trade? (No�l Adams)
28. Roman Intaglios Oddly Set: the Transformative Power of the Metalwork Mount (Genevra Kornbluth)
29. The Re-use and Re-interpretation of Gemstones in Medieval Hungary (Tam�s Gesztelyi)
30. The Fight of Athena and Poseidon and its Depiction on Glyptics Across the Centuries (Hadrien Rambach)

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Chris Entwistle has been the curator of the Late Roman and Byzantine Collections at the British Museum since 1985. Dr Noel Adams is an independent scholar who has published widely on the metalwork and jewellery of the Early Middle Ages.