Hector’s Farewell

Rare Antique Shell Cameo as Brooch in Gold, Around 1860

€ 1,490.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Rare Antique Shell Cameo as Brooch in Gold, Around 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!

"All my longing I will, all my thinking In the quiet stream of the Lethe sink, But not my love. Hark! the savage already rages at the walls, Gird me with your sword, let me mourn, Hector's love dies not in the Lethe." So speaks Hector, a figure from Homer's epic Iliad, in Friedrich Schiller's poem "Hector's Farewell" (1781). Hector is the eldest son of the king of Troy, Priam, before his younger brother Paris. He is the most important hero and army commander of Troy in the Trojan War, and at this point he leaves his wife and child behind to face the battle. It is a farewell without return, because a little later he is confronted and killed by a ruse of Athens - an inkling of his fate already sounds in Schiller's last line... Homer as well as Virgil in his Aeneid describe Hector as a noble hero. Many later idealized representations are based on this, which see Hector as a symbolic figure of chivalry. Thus, in the Middle Ages, he was included in the ranks of the Neuf Preux, the nine bold knights, alongside Caesar and Alexander the Great, among others. In the 19th century, numerous paintings and sculptures celebrate especially the farewell scene, with its tearing balancing act between love for the fatherland and love for his wife and son - with a sense of duty finally triumphing over love. The shell cameo here shows the same scene. In finely graded, detailed cut, we see Hector in the center, turning away from his wife, child, and maid to move with the horses outside the walls of the city. The horses are already restless and indicate the dynamics of the scene, everything pushes to the left, the gestures of the women are predictable without effect on the hero. The small but detailed work in its framing of light reddish gold was created in the years around 1860. It bears later added French import marks.

Size & Details

Hector’s Farewell

€ 1,490.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

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Hector’s Farewell

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