ROMAN DOUBLE CABOCHON INTALIA. BUTTERFLY AND BUNCH OF GRAPES. Amethyst cut into a double cabochon. Dimensions: 1.3 × 1 × 0.4 cm Roman art, 1st century BC. Provenance French private collection, acquired on the art market, before 2000 Intaglio engraved on a violet amethyst cut into a double cabochon (lentoid). The design combines, in the upper part, a butterfly with outstretched wings and protruding antennae and, below, a bunch of grapes with globular berries attached to a vine shoot with a tendril. Beyond its ornamental quality, the combination carries symbolic meaning: the amethyst — from the Greek amethystos, ‘not intoxicating’, reputed to protect against drunkenness — bears an engraving of the Dionysian grape, the fruit of wine; whilst the butterfly, psychē in Greek, symbolises the soul and its metamorphosis. Stone, vine and butterfly thus form an ancient meditation on temperance, the soul and transformation. A Roman amethyst cabochon intaglio. Butterfly and grape. 1st century BCE