Bidspirit auction | AN AGATE SCARABOID EAST GREEK

AN AGATE SCARABOID EAST GREEK WITH A STAG, CIRCA 500 BC - A dark amber coloured agate scaraboid engraved with a reclining stag on an exergual line. A very finely engraved stag with some oriental features such as the elongated body suggests a point of manufacture within the Persian Empire, possibly Ionia. The head is very realistically shown which the treatment of the legs betrays an inspiration which is not wholly Greek. Brown amber coloured agate with some variation. 14.5 by 12 by 7.5 mm. PROVENANCE From a European collection formed in the 1980's.