Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Cataloguer · Scholar

C. W. King

fl. 1877 · United Kingdom

Gem scholar who wrote the appendix on the engraved gems of the Curium treasure for Cesnola's Cyprus (1877).

Biography

The catalogue of engraved gems in Luigi Palma di Cesnola's Cyprus was the work of a British gem scholar. Cesnola's preface thanks "the great kindness of Mr. C. W. King", described there as "the well-known author of 'The Natural History of Gems,' 'Antique Gems'", for the catalogue of gems from the Curium treasure vaults1. Cesnola printed the essay, "The Rings and Gems in the Treasure of Curium", on pp. 393-4301. In the main text he reports that "Mr. King" suggested that the four figures on the Amathus sarcophagus might be the Phoenician Pataiki1. In a letter cited by Marangou, Cesnola called King "the great living authority on such subjects"3. Ulbrich and Kiely place him with A. S. Murray among the British contributors to the book4. The preface gives his degree as M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. His forenames and dates are not given in the sources.

Life and work

  1. 1877
    Wrote the appendix 'The Rings and Gems in the Treasure of Curium' (cataloguing and classifying the engraved gems of the so-called Curium treasure vaults; Assyrian, Egyptian, Phoenician and Greek families) for Cesnola's Cyprus. Cesnola thanks him in the preface for 'the great kindness' of the catalogue.

    Cesnola 1878, pp. 393-430

  2. 1877
    Mr. King suggested, in the main text, that the four repeated figures at one end of the Amathus sarcophagus might be the Phoenician Pataiki described by Herodotus (III. 37) as pygmy-shaped.

    Cesnola 1878, p. 298

  3. 1877
    Cesnola's following 'List of Engraved Gems found at different places in Cyprus' (unsigned) comes after King's essay; Marangou's letter-based narrative (p. 277) says the appendix contained 'a list of the gems by C.W. King'.

    Cesnola 1878, p. 430Marangou 2000, p. 277

Connections

2 people

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Sources

  1. 1.L. P. di Cesnola (1878). Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples.
  2. 2.C. W. King (1877). “The Rings and Gems in the Treasure of Curium”. Cyprus: its ancient cities, tombs and temples, 393-430.
  3. 3.A. G. Marangou (ed.) (2000). The Consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1832-1904: Life and Deeds.
  4. 4.Anja Ulbrich, Thomas Kiely (2012). “Britain and the Archaeology of Cyprus. I. The long 19th century”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42. Online