5th/6th Century 

Northern Mesopotamia

4×3 Cm

A SASSANIAN CAMEO SHOWING THE TORAH ARK AND RELATED JEWISH SYMBOLS, 5TH-6TH CENTURY AD

A large cameo in dark red/brown variegated agate. This large oval cameo shows the ‘Torah Ark’ of the Temple of Jerusalem flanked with Jewish symbols under cloth canopy. The type can be parallel with the extant gold glass vessel bottoms which are known from fragments mainly found in the catacombs of Rome. The fact that here we have a Sassanian parallel of the subject shows a universal dispersal of the iconography of religious subjects within the Jewish community. The fact that the Jewish community flourished in the Sassanian Empire is attested to by the relative frequent occurrence of personal seals with Hebrew inscriptions. This cameo is a significant addition to the corpus Jewish objects from the late Antique period.Here we have the flanking lions, menorah, vases, shofar and trog represented as seen on the gold glasses. The cameo one assumes would have been mounted and worn as a pendant.

As expected scratches  on surface due to its  old age as viewed.

Acquired in 1975 from Oliver Hoare Collections.