A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Τρύφων), artists.

1. An eminent engraver of precious stones, whose beryl, engraved with a figure of the sea-nymph Galene, is mentioned in an epigram by Addaeus (No. 6, Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 242), who appears to have lived in the time of Alexander the Great and his successors. There is a very celebrated gem by him in the collection of the Duke of Marlborough, representing the reconciliation of Eros and Psyche (Bracci, 2.114), of which there are several copies; one of the best of these is in the Museum at Naples (Visconti, Op. Var. vol. ii. p. 192, No. 114). There is also a carnelian, engraved with a figure of Eros riding on a lion, bearing the inscription ΤΡΥΦΩΝ, in the Museum of the Hague (De Jonge, Notice, p. 148, No. 16); and another gem, mentioned by Raspe (Catal. de Tassie, No. 15454), with the inscription ΤΡΥΦΩΝ ΕΠΟΙΕΙ. His name also occurs on another gem, in the Museum of the Hague (De Jonge, p. 151, No. 12; Caylus, Recueil, v. pl. liii. No. 5, p. 148); but in this case the inscription is certainly a modern forgery. (R. Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, pp. 157. 158.)