Details
AN IMPORTANT GOLD-MOUNTED SARDONYX CAMEO BY PISTRUCCI
The oval cameo engraved with Amalthea, holding a cornucopia of goat's milk and quenching the thirst of infant Zeus, who sits on a pile of rocks with a goat beside him, the yellow-gold brooch-frame with applied green gold flowerheads and beading on a matted and engraved ground, with black enamel and half-pearl detail at the cardinal points, first half of the 19th Century, 5.0cm. high, in original fitted case with retailer's address Maurice Mayer, Joaillier de L'Empereur, 20 Rue Basse du Rempart, Paris
Signed by Pistrucci
The subject is after a Roman marble relief formerly in the Giustianini Collection and now in the Vatican. Although the Mint Museum in Rome has an important collection of waxes of Pistrucci's works, this version of Amalthea and Zeus is not amongst them. The cameo has recently been published in Italy. See Lucia Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, Bollettino Di Numismatico, 22-23, fig. 1, Museo della Zecca, Roma, 1994
For a comprehensive study of the life and work of Pistrucci see Biroli Stefanelli, I Modelli in Cera di Benedetto Pistrucci, op.cit., 1989, and P. Hinks, 19th Century Jewellery, 1975, p.20 where he describes Pistrucci as 'probably the finest cameo cutter of the century'. Pistrucci's obituary was published in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1856, pt.1, p.653
$7,800-$12,400
The oval cameo engraved with Amalthea, holding a cornucopia of goat's milk and quenching the thirst of infant Zeus, who sits on a pile of rocks with a goat beside him, the yellow-gold brooch-frame with applied green gold flowerheads and beading on a matted and engraved ground, with black enamel and half-pearl detail at the cardinal points, first half of the 19th Century, 5.0cm. high, in original fitted case with retailer's address Maurice Mayer, Joaillier de L'Empereur, 20 Rue Basse du Rempart, Paris
Signed by Pistrucci
The subject is after a Roman marble relief formerly in the Giustianini Collection and now in the Vatican. Although the Mint Museum in Rome has an important collection of waxes of Pistrucci's works, this version of Amalthea and Zeus is not amongst them. The cameo has recently been published in Italy. See Lucia Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, Bollettino Di Numismatico, 22-23, fig. 1, Museo della Zecca, Roma, 1994
For a comprehensive study of the life and work of Pistrucci see Biroli Stefanelli, I Modelli in Cera di Benedetto Pistrucci, op.cit., 1989, and P. Hinks, 19th Century Jewellery, 1975, p.20 where he describes Pistrucci as 'probably the finest cameo cutter of the century'. Pistrucci's obituary was published in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1856, pt.1, p.653
$7,800-$12,400