Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art

Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 81. ITALIAN, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY |  CAMEO WITH A FRONTAL BEARDED THEATRE MASK, A MARLBOROUGH GEM.

Property of a Gentleman: Glyptics from the Renaissance to the 19th Century (Lots 81-90 and 99-103)

ITALIAN, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY | CAMEO WITH A FRONTAL BEARDED THEATRE MASK, A MARLBOROUGH GEM

Auction Closed

July 2, 02:29 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property of a Gentleman: Glyptics from the Renaissance to the 19th Century (Lots 81-90 and 99-103)

ITALIAN, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY

CAMEO WITH A FRONTAL BEARDED THEATRE MASK, A MARLBOROUGH GEM


sardonyx, set in gold ring mount with shell shoulders

the shank with French owl import mark

cameo: 1.5cm., 9/16 in.

ring size: N½

Gabriel Medina, Livorno and Leghorn, acquired by 1742;

A Catalogue of the Genuine and Capital Collection of Antique Gems of Signor De Medina, Late of Leghorn, Merchant, Deceased, Langford, Covent Garden, 10-12 February 1761, lot 51,1;

William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough (1704-1793), Parkstead House, Roehampton;

by descent to his son, Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough (1758-1844);

George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (1739-1817), Blenheim Palace Oxfordshire; 

thence by family descent to John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (1822-1883), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire;

David Bromilow, Bitteswell Hall, Lutterworth, until 1898;

by descent to Julia Harriet Mary Jary (née Bromilow);

Christie, Manson and Woods London, Catalogue of the Marlborough Gems: Being a Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, 27 June 1899, lot 677, purchased by A. Wertheimer for £7.10S. (probably Asher Wertheimer (1844-1918), the prominent London art dealer)

M. H. Story-Maskelyne, The Marlborough Gems: Being a Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, London, 1870, no. 677;

J. Boardman, D. Scarisbrick, C. Wagner, and E. Zwierlein-Diehl, The Marlborough Gems, Oxford, 2009, p.151, no. 328

This evocative cameo is one of the famed Marlborough Gems. It was catalogued by Story-Maskelyne as ancient Roman and was recently published as 'Renaissance?' by Boardman, Scarisbrick, Wagner and Zwierlein-Diehl (op. cit.). Assembled by the 4th Duke of Marlborough, the Marlborough Gems included around 800 pieces and included the gem collections of the Gonzaga Dukes of Mantua (later acquired by the Earl of Arundel in the 17th century); William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough (1704-1793); Gabriel Medina, a Livorno-based Jewish merchant; and those acquired disparately by the 4th Duke himself. The gems were sold as a collection in the 19th century to David Bromilow, whose daughter later took them to public auction at Christie's in 1899. A number of Marlborough gems have appeared at auction over the past few years. These include, recently, one of the stars of the collection, a 1st-century black chalcedony intaglio with Antinous, which fetched $2,115,000 at Christies New York on 29 April 2019, lot 37.