Engraved Scaraboid with Charging Bull (Front)

This scaraboid is engraved with a muscular bull shown charging to the left with its head lowered and turned to the front, and its left foreleg raised. A groundline is indicated below. The device is framed by a linear border. The stone is strung with gold wire that passes through the stone and is wound around the terminals of the solid gold hoop.

A scaraboid is a simplified scarab. Rather than being carved as a beetle, the curved side of the stone is left plain and an intaglio design decorates the flat underside. This scaraboid form gradually replaced the scarab in Greece in the 400s B.C. Scaraboid gems were pierced and worn as a ring or pendant. When attached to a metal hoop and worn as a ring, the curved side faced out and the intaglio surface rested against the finger. When needed as a seal, the ring was removed, the gem swiveled, and the intaglio design was pressed into soft clay or wax to identify and secure property.