Engraved Gems from Tbilisi, Georgia. The Natsvlishvili Family Collection. Volume III

This book presents nearly 200 objects of glyptic art from the Natsvlishvili Family collection, Tbilisi, Georgia. Their cultural, geographical and chronological diversity is considerable starting from the Near Eastern cylinder and stamp seals as well as amulets, through the Egyptian scarabs, Greek and Roman intaglios and cameos, the post-classical gems and contemporary forgeries. This eclectic collection was a base for an essay on the subject of how to differentiate genuine ancient engraved gems from their modern copies, pastiches and forgeries. That essay is an introduction to the detailed analysis of the objects discussed in the catalogue section. Overall, it is confirmed that the cabinet contains products of the local glyptics as well as the imported ones to the territory of Georgia from all over the world through ages. The book also gives a valuable insight into the role of Tbilisi as a hub for exchange and trade in antiquities and works of art in the second half of the 19th and 20th century. The publication is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Poland license (CC BY 3.0 PL) (full license available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/legalcode). ****** Książka prezentuje niemal 200 zabytków gliptyki z prywatnej kolekcji rodziny Natsvlishvili, znajdującej się w stolicy Gruzji, Tbilisi. Ich różnorodność kulturowa, geograficzna i chronologiczna jest ogromna, zaczynając od bliskowschodnich pieczęci cylindrycznych i amuletów, poprzez egipskie skarabeusze, greckie i rzymskie intaglia oraz kamee, a także wyroby nowożytne, na współczesnych fałszerstwach kończąc. Tak eklektyczny zbiór dał podstawę do napisania eseju na temat odróżniania antycznych gemm od ich nowożytnych kopii, naśladownictw oraz fałszerstw. Tekst ten stanowi wstęp do szczegółowego omówienia materiału zgromadzonego w części katalogowej książki. Analiza kolekcji potwierdza, że zawiera ona przykłady zarówno lokalnych produktów gliptyki, jak i tych importowanych na tereny Gruzji z różnych stron świata na przestrzeni wieków. Ponadto daje wgląd w funkcjonowanie Tbilisi jako centrum handlu sztuką i antykami w drugiej połowie XIX i w XX wieku. Publikacja na licencji Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa 3.0 PL (CC BY 3.0 PL) (pełna treść wzorca dostępna pod adresem: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/legalcode).

7 Introduction 9 Acknowledgments 10 History of the collection 13 Ancient or not ancient – that is the question 17 Provenance 18 State of preservation 19 Stones: type, shape, form, colour and quality 21 Techniques 23 Iconography 26 Style, composition and design 27 Inscriptions and signatures 28 Settings (rings and mounts) 29 History, documentation and structure of the collection 31 Collection’s assessment 41 Guidelines to the catalogue 45 Catalogue: ancient and possibly ancient objects 47 Near Eastern cylinder and stamp seals, amulets and related objects 47 Mesopotamian and Near Eastern amulet 48 Iranian spindle whorl 49 Mesopotamian cylinder seal 50 Mitannian/Cypriote cylinder seal 51 Neo-Babylonian cylinder and stamp seals 57 Neo-Assyrian cylinder, stamp and head seals 62 Egyptian scarabs, scaraboids and amulets 69 Greek Bronze Age seal 70 Graeco-Persian gems 73 Hellenistic gems 75 Roman Republican gems 84 Roman Imperial gems 101 Roman cameos and works in the round 107 Magical gems 112 Late Antique Roman gold glass medallion 115 Sassanian gems 121 Catalogue: modern gems 123 16th–17th-century intaglios 130 16th–17th-century cameos 133 18th–19th-century intaglios 148 18th–19th-century cameos 163 18th–19th-century Egyptian scarab imitations 167 Catalogue: contemporary forgeries 169 Near Eastern cylinder seals and amulets imitations 169 Near Eastern amulets imitations 171 Uruk cylinder seal imitation 172 Post-Akkadian cylinder seal imitation 174 Mitanni/Cypriote cylinder seal imitation 175 Kassite cylinder seal imitation 176 Neo-Assyrian cylinder seals imitations 179 Egyptian scarab and amulet imitations 181 Hellenistic gem imitation 182 Roman gems imitations 205 Sassanian seal imitation 207 Indices 210 Abbreviations 213 Literature