For Wise Moments

Antique Brooch With Conch Cameo of the Minerva in Gilt Silver Setting, ca. 1865


€ 590.00 *
Content 1 piece
Unit price €590.00 / piece
Incl. VAT, Shipping
Antique Brooch With Conch Cameo of the Minerva in Gilt Silver Setting, ca. 1865
Antique Brooch With Conch Cameo of the Minerva in Gilt Silver Setting, ca. 1865
Description
This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!
Impressive in its fine cut and lifelike three-dimensionality, the present cameo from the 1860s. Held by an engraved setting of gilded silver, the brooch shows a relief of conch shell. "Conch" in this context is the name for the large fencer snail (Strombus Gigas), whose habitat is the crystal clear, tropical seas of the Caribbean. The shells of the sea snails are characterized by a pale pink colour and are particularly suitable for cutting high-quality cameos. The oval cameo shows a beautiful young lady with flowing hair. It is the goddess Minerva. Young, beautiful and graceful, she was the mistress of wisdom, strategy and the arts and sciences. Since Augustus, she has also been worshipped as the goddess conferring victory or directing the destiny of the state. The cameo shows us her profile; rich and moving, her long hair floods out from under her mask-helmet with magnificent hair comb. The face of the goddess is shaped according to the ancient ideal of beauty with a straight nose and calm, yet full, beautiful and elegant. The wonderfully preserved piece of jewellery was created in the years around 1865, only a few years before conch shells reached Europe for the first time. The cameo presented here is thus an early example of this new precious material, which became rapidly popular especially for cameo jewellery, cf. also David Bennett/Daniela Mascetti: Understanding Jewellery, London 2010, p. 122 as well as p. 148f.
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Size & Details
Antique Brooch With Conch Cameo of the Minerva in Gilt Silver Setting, ca. 1865
For Wise Moments
€ 590.00 *
Content 1 piece
Unit price €590.00 / piece
Incl. VAT, Shipping
Our Promise
Our Promise
Our Promise

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