of oval form, finely carved with a mask of Eros, his face with dimpled chin and large eyes with dotted pupils, his hair with braided top-knot falling over the forehead, the reverse slightly convex; pierced length and width for attachment.

Nicolas Landau (1887-1979), Paris
Sotheby's, Paris, Collection de Nicolas Landau et Jacqueline Goldman, April 8th and 9th, 2013, no. 108, illus. (part)

A marble relief decorating a Roman soldier’s tomb from Rubiera near Modena shows how several phalerae of this exact type could be strung together in a square pattern across the chest, all centering a figure of Nike (J. Ortalli, “Un sepolcro cilindrico con rappresentazioni di ‘dona militaria’ da Rubiera [Reggio Emilia],” Miscellanea di studi archeologici e di Antichita, vol. II, 1986, pp. 89-132). Phalerae made of chalcedony were military decorations, probably awarded for acts of valor, and were probably perceived to have talismanic powers similar to those of Medusa heads or gorgoneia.

For a drawing of a closely related phalera sold at auction in 1895 (Reimbold Collection) see M. Feugère, “Phalères romaines en calcédoine,“ Miscellanea di studi archeologici e di Antichita, vol. 3, 1989, p. 49, fig. 9. For another close example, which was mounted by Luigi Valadier together with several other phalerae on a circular socle designed for a cameo bust of Augustus, see Luigi Valadier au Louvre, ou l’Antiquité exaltée, exh. cat., Paris, 1994, p. 95, fig. 6.