Small Wonders: Early Gems and Jewels
Small Wonders: Early Gems and Jewels
ITALIAN, LATE 16TH/ EARLY 17TH CENTURY | CAMEO OF A YOUNG WOMAN, POSSIBLY CLEOPATRA
Lot Closed
July 9, 12:19 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
ITALIAN, LATE 16TH/ EARLY 17TH CENTURY
CAMEO OF A YOUNG WOMAN, POSSIBLY CLEOPATRA
agate, mounted within a later enamelled gold brooch in the form of an entwined serpent with later pearl dropping from its mouth
the mount with Swedish marks: 18K and GM[?] and with three crowns
cameo: 15.5mm., 0.6in.
44.5mm., 1.75in. overall
Please note: Condition 11 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.
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This beautiful gem shows a woman with a pearl drop earring. The cameo is likely to have been made in Italy in the late 16th or early 17th centuries. It compares with a similar cameo with the bust of a woman in profile from the Medici collections in the Museo degli Argenti at the Pitti Palace in Florence (cat. 387). The present carving is particularly fine and is unusual for its framing border. Compare also with the famous double portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici and Eleanor of Toledo also in the Pitti (cat. 261). In latter years the cameo was evidently reinterpreted as Cleopatra, with the serpent mount.
RELATED LITERATURE
R. Gennaioli, Le gemme dei Medici al Museo degli Argenti: Cammei e Intagli nelle collezioni di Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 2007, pp. 269, 371, nos. 261, 317