A fine Byzantine bronze intaglio, featuring an oval shape with an unworked reverse. The image of a robed figure has been carved onto the obverse, depicted standing facing left and carrying a bow in the right hand. An inscription features vertically in the right field. Wear, patination and earthy encrustations to the surface consistent with age. The term intaglio refers to a small image that has been engraved into a material, mostly commonly a gemstone. Such artistic form has its origin in Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with the appearance of cylinder and stamp seals, whereby decorations and patterns were engraved into soft stones. During the Hellenistic period and the early Roman Empire, the art of intaglio reached its apogee, with there being a steady decline in craftsmanship in the late Imperial Rome, until a revival of interest with the Byzantine and during the Renaissance. Measurements: L 1.4cm x W 1.1cm Provenance: From an important collection formed before 1988, London and Geneva.