gems, engraved gems, agate, chalcedony, quartz, cameos, itaglios, turquoise, sard, onyx, coral, amethyst, glyptic

King continues his examination of the Blacas collection by treating three principal groups: signed gems, Etruscan scarabs, and ideal or historical portrait heads. He subjects celebrated “signed” gems to close stylistic, epigraphic, and material criticism, frequently rejecting traditional attributions of inscriptions to famous engravers such as Dioscorides, Pyrgoteles, Solon, and others. Among the pieces discussed are portraits of Germanicus, Hercules, Medusa, Aesculapius, Alexander, Pan, Augustus, Julius Caesar, and numerous mythological subjects; King repeatedly distinguishes genuinely ancient engravings from Renaissance or later imitations and argues that many inscriptions are owners’ names, later additions, or deliberate fabrications intended to enhance value. He then surveys the collection’s important Etruscan scarabs, including representations of Hercules and Cycnus, Sisyphus, Castor, Capaneus, Tantalus, Achilles and Patroclus, and Philoctetes, regarding these works as evidence for the transmission and development of artistic traditions from Asia through Greece into Italy. The final section examines portraits and ideal heads of gods, rulers, philosophers, and other figures, including Apollo, Jupiter, Livia, Augustus, Juba II, Posidonius, Germanicus and Agrippina, Herodes Atticus, and later Roman emperors. Throughout, King uses style, inscriptions, iconography, gemstone material, technique, provenance, and comparisons with coins and other ancient monuments to assess date and authenticity. The paper consequently combines a descriptive catalogue of notable Blacas gems with a broader critique of nineteenth-century connoisseurship, emphasizing how readily celebrated pieces and prestigious signatures had been accepted without adequate scrutiny.