SEAL MATRIX

Dr Martin Henig of the Faculty of Classics, Oxford University, has provided the following report on the Roman intaglio:

The intaglio with which the seal is set is of red jasper and portrays Victoria, wearing a belted chiton standing on a globe in profile to the left. In her right hand is a palm branch which rests on her shoulders and in her left she holds out a wreath. In the field in front of her is a crescent moon and three stars.

The type of Victory on a globe seems to derive from the statue on the Curia Iulia in Rome dating from shortly after the Battle of Actium (Hölscher 1967, 6-47) and appears on coins of this time (Hölscher 1967, Taf 1, 1 and 3). The type is disseminated on gems (e.g. Pannuti 1983, 65 no. 97, a cornelian from Boscotrecase in Naples; Zazoff 1975, 181 no. 899, a cornelian in Hanover). The moon and stars evoke the cosmos and are a frequent glyptic device (Henig 1978, 237 no. 409; 295 no. App 81; Henig and Whiting 1987, 32 nos. 322-324) and signify aeternitas, eternity. Victories on globes and stars are part of the décor of the Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath (Henig 1999, especially figs. 2 and 3) where they allude to the Imperial cult probably in this case connected with the Flavian dynasty and Domitian. In its Roman context the gem, which is cut in the precise classicising style of the 1st century, most probably likewise alludes to the eternity of Imperial Victory.

Where did Walter obtain it? Although many Roman gems have been found in Britain (Henig 1978) gems of this quality are rare and the device is not a common one. Other gems serving as secreta (personal seals) in high quality settings are often of equally high quality and are often of Augustan date or earlier. The seals of Simon Passelewe and Adam of Newmarket in Cambridge (Henig 1994, 116-7 nos. 218, 218a) depicting respectively a head of Hercules and a head of Medusa, both in gold settings, are two of the finest Roman gems in the university's collections. It is likely that the best quality gems were bought at high prices and came from Italy or the East.

What did the gem mean to Walter? Although a well educated man in the Middle Ages would no doubt have known about the Classical Victory, it must have been very tempting to re-interpret the figure as an angel, perhaps Gabriel, and the stars as the Heavens glorying in the birth of the Saviour, Christ. This should be seen not as ignorance of the Roman past but as subtle reinterpretation of a fine piece of early Roman art which in fact dates not many years after the birth of Christ.

M. Henig. 1978. 'A Corpus of Roman Engraved Gemstones from British Sites'. BAR Brit. Ser. 8, 2nd. edn. Oxford.

M. Henig 1994. 'Classical Gems. Ancient and Modern Intaglios and Cameos in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge'. Cambridge.

M. Henig. 1999. 'A new star shining over Bath'. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 18, 419-25.

M. Henig and M.Whiting. 1987. 'Engraved Gems from Gadara in Jordan. The Sa'd Collection of Intaglios and Cameos'. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.

T. Hölscher. 1967. 'Victoria Romana'. Mainz.

U. Pannuti. 1983. 'Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Catalogo della Collezione Glittica I'. Rome.

P. Zazoff. 1975. 'Antiken Gemmen in Deutschen Sammlungen. IV Hannover, Kestner Museum'. Wiesbaden.