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Scarab with a Three-Horse Chariot and Driver (Main View, front)

Unknown

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

The gem is engraved in the "a globolo" style, with drilled globular cuttings and straight lines depicting few individual details. On the underside of this gem, the simple technique effectively renders a complex illustration of an equestrian competition. At right and wearing a long chiton, the charioteer of an Etruscan triga, a three-horse racing chariot, leans forward, holding the reins and raising a short goad to spur the horses forward. Framed by a hatched border, the scarab has finely detailed winglets and a thorax with a hatched edge. The hoop is formed of twisted gold wire.

The Romans adopted triga-racing from the Etruscans, and equestrian events took place in Rome at the Campus Martius in an area designated the Trigarium. The carving, with drilled globular cuttings and straight lines used to render figures that show few individual details, is the most frequent style used on Etruscan gemstones in the later 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.

Details

  • Title: Scarab with a Three-Horse Chariot and Driver (Main View, front)
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: 400–300 B.C.
  • Location Created: Etruria
  • Physical Dimensions: 0.8 × 1.5 × 1.2 cm (5/16 × 9/16 × 7/16 in.)
  • Type: Scarab
  • External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
  • Medium: Scarab: cornelian; ring: gold
  • Terms of Use: Open Content
  • Number: 81.AN.76.161
  • Culture: Etruscan
  • Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California
  • Creator Display Name: Unknown
  • Classification: Jewelry

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