The “Horned Hunter” on a Lost Gnostic Gem

• Published in: The Harvard theological review 1995-07, Vol.88 (3), p.315-337
• Main Authors: Kotansky, Roy, Spier, Jeffrey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amulets; Analysis; Ancient Greek; Classical antiquities; Deities; Gem stones; Gems; Gnosticism; Greek civilization; Greek language; Historic artifacts; Horned god; Hunting; Inscriptions; Judaism; Occitan language; Papyrus; Peiresc, Nicolas Claude Fabri de; Precious stones; Religion; Statues; Theology
• ISSN: 0017-8160; 1475-4517
• DOI: 10.1017/S0017816000030832

The noted Provencal antiquarian Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637), perhaps the most dedicated of an international circle of acquaintances studying and collecting classical antiquities in the early seventeenth century, took an especially keen interest in ancient gems. With his friend, the painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), he planned an extensive publication on the subject that unfortunately never saw completion. Although Peiresc focused most of his attention on collecting Roman gems portraying classical iconography, he was also intrigued by the enigmatic series of magical gems—as were many others in the Renaissance, who considered the gems to be the products of early Gnostic heretics. A correspondence between Peiresc and Rubens in 1623, frequently cited in the modern literature, discusses the putative meaning of an amulet in Rubens's collection depicting a bell-shaped object thought to represent the “divine womb.” The gem is a Renaissance forgery based on genuine ancient examples; the concurrent—and correct—identification of this puzzling type as a uterus, however, contrasts markedly with the fanciful interpretations later fashionable in the nineteenth century.