Southern Italian, probably Sicily, circa 1220-1240 | Cameo with a lioness

This beautiful little cameo is one of the small group of engraved gems carved in the court of Frederick II Hohenstaufen. Several similar cameos with lions exists, but the present representation of a lioness appears to be particularly rare. For Frederician cameos with lions see the circa 1230 example which is set on the King David Statuette in the Historisches Museum, Basel (published in Kahsnitz, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 499, fig. 378). Another similar lion cameo from the same period is in the Hermitage, St Petersburg (also illustrated in Kahsnitz, op. cit., vol. 5, p. 500, fig. 379a). Frederick's gem engravers depicted a range of animals, including wolves and horses. Note in particular the cameo with a leopard in the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen (illustrated in Giuliano, op. cit., p. 178, no. 42).

RELATED LITERATURE

R. Kahsnitz, Die Zeit der Staufer, Stuttgart, 1977, vol. 5., pp. 477-520; A. Giuliano (ed.), Studi Normanni e Federiciani, Rome, 2003; J. D. Draper, 'Cameo Appearances,' The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, March 8–January 29, 2005, pp. 18-19, no. 30