Kleine Praser and Chromium-bearing Chalcedonies. About a small group of engraved gems

Abstract

As early as 1900, A. Furtwängler identified a small group of green gems under the heading “Gattung der kleinen konvexen Praser”; underneath various descriptive terms a rare gem is concealed, a variety of green translucent chromium-bearing chalcedony. The collection of the Berlin Antikensammlung contains a small group of such gems, but that number, very high in comparison with other prases so far published, offers a reference rich enough to validate Furtwängler’s classifying scheme.

Keywords

• Roman glyptics
• green gems
• «prases»
• Berlin Antikensammlung