A young Lady, facing right in brown dress with lace underslip, jewelled brooch at corsage, pearl necklace and drop pearl earrings, her dark hair dressed in curls

Details

NICHOLAS DIXON (fl. c. 1660-1708)
A young Lady, facing right in brown dress with lace underslip, jewelled brooch at corsage, pearl necklace and drop pearl earrings, her dark hair dressed in curls
on vellum
oval, 1¾in. (23mm.) high, in a 19th Century gold mount within Renaissance gold cameo pendant, the cruciform pendant chased with beaded strapwork on a pinched ground with undulating ribbonwork at the sides and openwork simulated scaly serpents' heads above and below, the centre with a rare oval sardonyx cameo carved with the vernicle held by a devotional figure, the cameo circa 1450, the pendant circa 1550

Lot Essay

For a 15th Century mother-of-pearl cameo engraved with the vernicle see J. Kagan, Western European Cameos in the Hermitage Collection, Leningrad, 1973, no. 15. The devotional figure in the above cameo can be identified as Veronica (vera icon) whose veil or linen cloth was used to wipe the face of Christ as he carried the cross to Calvary.

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