A ROMAN SARDONYX CAMEO OF MINERVA

JULIO-CLAUDIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN SARDONYX CAMEO OF MINERVA
JULIO-CLAUDIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Sculpted in four layers, the goddess in profile to the left, her face and shoulder in white, her eye articulated, her crested helmet and aegis in brown, the helmet ornamented in relief with Victoria driving a chariot to the left in white and light brown, a lion head on the neck-guard in dark brown, her long wavy hair flowing onto her shoulder, the scaley aegis centered by a frontal Gorgoneion in white, with snakes projecting before her breast; mounted as a brooch in a 19th century gold setting
1 13/16 in. (4.6 cm.) long

Provenance

Private Collection, U.S., acquired in the 1960s.

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Lot Essay

For the style compare the sardonyx cameo with profile busts of Agrippina I and II, no. 110 in Vollenweider and Avisseau-Broustet, Camées et intailles, Tome II, Les Portraits romains du Cabinet des médailles. For a cameo bust of Minerva with similar attributes see no. 117 in the same publication.

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