Archaeological Museum of Bologna

On the gem is depicted a Muse: holds an eight-stringed lyre and leans to a pillar on which is placed a statue of Hercules naked. In front of the Musa is engraved in greek characters, from the bottom to the top, the artist's name in genitive: DIOSKOURIDOU.

More info

It is a modern object, may be of the second half of 18th century, which reproduce, quite the same, the decoration on a yellow glass paste of Onessas, now in Florence. The addition of the false signature of Dioscurides to the modern copy was intended as a guarantee of authenticity to collectors. Since the second half of 18th century a great factory production of copies increased, due to the growing presence of private gems' collections. 

Provenance: donation Hamma
Datation: 18th century AD
Material: amethyst
Dimensions: mm 23,7 x 17,2 x 2,4
Inventory #: Gl 173