Italian, 16th century | Cameo with Abundance

This beautifully carved cameo representing abundance is very close to another which follows the same model in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (inv. no. K-85). The hair arrangement is very similar to that seen in medals depicting Ippolita Gonzaga (1535–1563) by Leone and Pompeo Leoni and Jacopo de Trezzo. Ippolita Gonzaga the daughter of the Italian condottiero, Ferrante I Gonzaga (1507- 1557). It is possible that the Hermitage and present cameos could be portraits of noblewomen in the guise of abundance; Ippolita Gonzaga is a possible candidate given the similarity to the Leoni and Trezzo medals.

Compare also with the Italian 16th-century cameos with personifications of Philosophy in the Medici collections in the Museo degli Argenti at Palazzo Pitti in Florence (inv. nos. 29 and 130).