A ROMAN SARDONYX CAMEO

CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN SARDONYX CAMEO
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
In two layers, a thin layer of light brown over white, superbly sculpted with the half-length bust of a bacchante in profile to the right, her wavy hair with a curl above her forehead and a chignon in back, with delicate features, her eye articulated, wearing a wooly nebris over her left shoulder, exposing her right shoulder, with both arms bent, grasping a leg of the animal in both hands; mounted in an ancient gold sheet frame with a fringe of ribbon, a wide ribbed suspension loop above
1¾ in. (4.4 cm) long

Provenance

Sir John Charles Robinson, C.B., England (1824-1913).
Wyndham Francis Cook (1860-1905), London; thence by descent to Humphrey W. Cook.
An Important Collection of Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities and Antique and Renaissance Gems, the Property of Humphrey W. Cook, Esq., Christie, Manson & Woods, 14-16 July 1925, lot 70.
Acquired by the current owner, Switzerland, 1980.

Literature

C.H. Smith and C.A. Hutton, Catalogue of the Antiquities (Greek, Etruscan and Roman) in the Collection of the Late Wyndham Francis Cook, Esqre, London, 1908, p. 74, no. 318, pl. XV.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

The cameo presented here is a splendid example of the gem cutters craft, where the artist has skillfully exploited the natural banding of the stone, giving his sculpture nearly three-dimensional volume despite the incredible thinness of the brown layer. This cameo finds its closest parallel in an example with a young satyr, similarly depicted as a half-length bust and wearing a nearly identical wooly nebris (see no. 91 in E. Babelon, Catalogue des Camées Antiques et Modernes de la Bibliothèque Nationale -- illustrated below).

More from Ancient Jewelry

View All