Antique Victorian Gold Brooch with Shell Cameo, c. 1860

This brooch depicts a classic motif from ancient mythology: four doves at a drinking trough. The Roman writer Pliny described the scene in his Natural History around the year 77 BC: "In Pergamon there is a famous mosaic with some drinking doves. Their heads shade the water, they sit on the edge of a vessel." The doves are the birds that pull the chariot of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which is why the dove is still regarded as a symbol of love to this day. These so-called "Doves of Aphrodite" can be found today in numerous variations in various museums around the world, as this motif was already highly famous and popular in ancient times. The shell cameo on this brooch was inspired by a Roman mosaic based on the Greek model, the floor mosaic from Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, which was rediscovered in 1737. It can be seen today in the Capitoline Museums in Rome (Sala delle Colombe, inv. MC0402, see here). The cameo shows the birds in rich detail; you think you can see every single feather. The setting is made of high-carat gold to match the high-quality cameo. Its sculptural design with elegant tendrils rising from the wavy base to the raised shell was created around 1860. It is reminiscent of furniture designs from the same period with its almost rococo lightness of form; this is also referred to as the "second rococo". The brooch has been very well preserved in an antique case, which probably did not originally belong to the brooch. We discovered it in Münster. However, the setting was probably created in Great Britain, while shell cameos were traditionally carved in the Gulf of Naples and exported to all European countries.

Estimate:$1,450.66

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