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Barnebys HQ
Brahegatan 10
BOX 5038
114 37 Stockholm
All auctions / Jewelry & Gems / Wonderful Antique Necklace With First Class Cameos in Gold, c. 1820
This necklace tells the story of love. But with a subtle twist: its eight first-class shell cameos depict scenes from the love lives of the ancient gods, and it is up to us to decide how we want to understand them today. Shell cameos were brought home by travellers to Italy from all over Europe during the 19th century. These eight cameos were also created in Italy and were probably set in gold a little later in northern Europe. Scenes from classical mythology are depicted in fine detail: The light-coloured figures stand out clearly and brightly against the brown-orange background. The cut is so detailed that even the folds of the robes and the facial features of the gods are clearly visible. The center of the necklace is occupied by a scene that is almost programmatic for the entire necklace: we see Venus and Mars in Vulcan's forge, a depiction that goes back to an 1810 relief by Bertel Thorvaldsen, see here Venus sits between Vulcan, her husband, and Mars, her much younger lover. She receives arrows of love from both: who will she choose? On the adjacent cameos on the right and left, horse-drawn carriages rush towards the central scene. On the left we see the winged goddess of victory Victoria, on the right the sun god Apollo in his celestial chariot, a depiction from the Appartamento Borgia in the Vatican, which was attributed to Raphael in the 19th century and was published several times as a copper engraving. It seems that Victoria almost wanted to come to the aid of Vulcan, but Apollo wanted to help Mars and support her with Venus. The other cameos also support this interpretation. On the left-hand side, the side of the faithful husband, we see Venus on the far left, who has just disarmed Cupid because he was firing his arrows too indiscriminately, and Cupid next to Psyche, his own love, whose story is about faithful togetherness. To the right of the center, on the other hand, we see Bacchus giving Cupid wine to drink in order to confuse his senses, a scene again based on a design by Bertel Thorvaldsen. The model was also created around 1810, see here. Cupid then presents a burning heart to Ariadne, who has just been abandoned by her husband Theseus and is now in love with Bacchus. And finally Cupid feeds Jupiter's eagle. The necklace is thus divided between the affection for the spouse and the attraction to the lover. The two are placed side by side on an equal footing: But who will win the race? The delicate form of the settings and the way in which they are each connected with three short chains is entirely in keeping with the taste of the first decades after 1800. The models for the scenes after Thorwaldsen were created in 1810 at the earliest, but the necklace was probably made only a little later. We date it to around 1820. The necklace with its wonderful world of scenes is a jewel for any collection and an unsurpassable gift for the lady of the heart - because it was conceived as such almost 200 years ago.
Estimate:$11,121.74
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View all items fromHofer AntikschmuckorJewelry & Gems
Hammer price:
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Estimate:
$11,121.74
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