Medallion of Mago and Cassius Dionysius of Utica
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
ca. 1774-1780
This oval medallion is made of black basalt ware mounted in a gilt metal frame fitted with a small top loop. Produced by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons in Etruria around 1774–1780, it features moulded cameo bust portraits facing right. The overlapping portraits represent the ancient Carthaginian agricultural writer Mago and Cassius Dionysius of Utica, the translator of his agricultural work.
Beneath the relief portraits, the names 'MAGO' and 'DIONYSIUS' are impressed. The medallion also bears the impressed mark 'Wedgwood & Bentley'. It measures 5.7 cm in length and 4.8 cm in width.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
The medallion reflects the eighteenth-century enthusiasm for classical antiquity, during which Wedgwood produced cameos and medallions copying ancient portraits. The double portrait derives from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European printed sources, including a 1685 publication by Giovanni Pietro Bellori copying an ancient gem once in the collection of Fulvio Orsini.
The piece was first listed in 1774 in Wedgwood catalogues as 'Mago and Dionysius of Utica'. Formerly held in the Museum of Practical Geology on Jermyn Street, it was transferred to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1901.
Physical characteristics
- Material
- Black basalt ware in a gilt metal frame
- Dimensions
- Length: 5.7 cm; Width: 4.8 cm
Technical characteristics
- Inscriptions
- Date: Text: Research required; Latest: Research required; Earliest: Research required; Note: Impressed below the bust; Type: Research required; Medium: Research required; Method: Research required; Script: Research required; Content: 'MAGO'; Language: Research required; Position: Research required; Inscriber: Name: Id: Research required; Text: Research required; Association: Id: Research required; Text: Research required; Description: Research required; Translation: Research required; Interpretation: Research required; Transliteration: Research required Date: Text: Research required; Latest: Research required; Earliest: Research required; Note: Impressed; Type: Research required; Medium: Research required; Method: Research required; Script: Research required; Content: 'Wedgwood & Bentley'; Language: Research required; Position: Research required; Inscriber: Name: Id: Research required; Text: Research required; Association: Id: Research required; Text: Research required; Description: Research required; Translation: Research required; Interpretation: Research required; Transliteration: Research required Date: Text: Research required; Latest: Research required; Earliest: Research required; Note: Impressed below the bust; Type: Research required; Medium: Research required; Method: Research required; Script: Research required; Content: 'DIONYSIUS'; Language: Research required; Position: Research required; Inscriber: Name: Id: Research required; Text: Research required; Association: Id: Research required; Text: Research required; Description: Research required; Translation: Research required; Interpretation: Research required; Transliteration: Research required
- Maker recorded
- Josiah Wedgwood and Sons
- Place recorded
- Etruria
Identification
- Source note
- Transcribed from the Victoria and Albert Museum collection record for this single object; how far it represents a wider collectible type has not been independently verified.
- Museum object name
- Medallion
- Museum object number
- 5007-1901
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.