From Stosch through Carafa to Hamilton and the British Museum: Provenance and study of some Egyptian scarabs and Near Eastern cylinder seals in the eighteenth century

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses several rare Egyptian scarabs and Near Eastern cylinder seals, together with their visual documentation in the form of drawings made for Philipp von Stosch (1691–1757) in the 1720s and 1730s. These records have proved important in research on the provenance of the original objects, which entered the British Museum in 1772 from the cabinet of incised gems belonging to Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803). They also demonstrate that, in his collecting and studies of glyptic art, Stosch not only focused on Graeco-Roman gems but tried to cover all aspects of glyptics, despite the limited availability of some varieties. The drawings deliver proof of the claim that he regarded Egyptian scarabs and Near Eastern cylinder seals as the most ancient glyptic products and began work on the chronological systematization of engraved gems well before Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) presented his vision of the development of ancient art.