Beautiful Talisman: Agate Pendant With A Passage From Ezekiel In Hebrew.

Talisman: Agate pendant with a passage from Ezekiel in hebrew.

19th century.
Veined agate and gold wire.
91.54 x 55 mm. 47.11g.

Passage from the Book of Ezekiel engraved in intaglio in Hebrew. A collector's label on the back reads "21:25 hepatoscopy".

Hepatoscopy is a divinatory art practiced by ancient haruspices by analyzing the liver of sacrificed animals. It is mentioned in the Bible, in the book of Ezekiel, about King Nebuchadnezzar: "For the king of Babylon stands at the crossroads, at the head of the two roads, to take omens; he shakes the arrows, he questions the teraphim, he examines the liver. The lot, which is on his right hand, is for Jerusalem, where they must raise battering rams, command slaughter, and shout war; They will set battering rams against the gates, they will raise terraces, they will form entrenchments. They see only vain divinations, they who have made oaths. But he remembers their iniquity, so that they will be taken. "

Beautiful variety of agate. Uncommon of this size. A similar model but smaller in size was in the collection of Charles Kettaneh (3rd sale, Bijoux archéologue. Islam. Glyptique, Paris, February 29 and March 1, 1988, nos. 639 and 640).

Provenance: Private collection, Paris, 1960s (label on the back).