Even Heroes Are Hungry

Rare Shell Cameo Depicting the Feeding of Hercules, Italy c. 1860

€ 398.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Unit price €398.00 / piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Rare Shell Cameo Depicting the Feeding of Hercules, Italy c. 1860

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

A bearded man with a large club has sat down on a lion skin. He shows himself in heroic nakedness. An airily dressed lady hands him a bowl, which she fills from a jug. Without doubt Hercules is to be recognized here, and next to him Hebe, who in the Olympian heaven of the gods had the task of supplying the deities with nectar and ambrosia. This scene from the world of ancient legends of classical antiquity was probably carved into the shell of a sea snail in the years around 1860 and then set in tombac. Works like this were often created in the Bay of Naples and were popular souvenirs from classical educational trips to Italy. The oval brooch came to us from an important Berlin collection of cameos, and we liked it right away because of the beautiful scene.

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Owning antique cameos has been the passion and goal of all the princes of our continent for centuries. Every collection, large or small, from the Green Vault in Dresden to the treasury of Rudolf II to private collections such as that of Baron von Stosch or even Johann Wolfgang von Goethe always had a separate section for these witnesses of the past. It was above all the depictions of ancient gods, heroes and emperors that attracted the interest of collectors. A glance at the face of Augustus bridges 2000 years in the blink of an eye, and the gods of Olympus are suddenly very present. But the number of antique cameos with beautiful representations was (and is!) naturally limited. The desire to be close to the distant antiquity therefore soon led to the fact that cameos based on antique models were also created in large numbers. At the time of Goethe, for example, in the years around 1800, these stones were not considered a fake, but a supplement to the ancient tradition, and were valued for their own sake as much as the ancient models.

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Size & Details

Even Heroes Are Hungry

€ 398.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Unit price €398.00 / piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

We want you to be 100% satisfied! For that reason, we examine, describe and photograph all of our jewellery with the utmost care.

You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.

Should you for some reason not be satisfied, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that we can find a solution together. In any case, you can return any article within one month and we will refund the full purchase price.

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Even Heroes Are Hungry

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