A GREEK SARDONYX CAMEO WITH HEAD OF A MAENAD

HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK SARDONYX CAMEO WITH HEAD OF A MAENAD
HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.
Cameo: 1 ½ in. (3.8 cm.) long; Mount: 2 in. (5 cm.) long

Provenance

Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel (1586-1646), Arundel House, London; thence by descent to his wife, Aletheia Talbot Howard (1585-1654), Arundel House, London; thence by gift to her son, Henry Frederick Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel (1608-1652), Arundel House, London; thence by descent to his son, Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk (1628-1684), Arundel House, London; thence by descent to his widow, Jane Bickerton Howard (1643-1693), Arundel House, London.
Henry Mordant, 2nd Earl of Peterborough (1621-1697), Drayton House, Northamptonshire, acquired from the above, circa 1690; thence by descent to his daughter, Lady Mary Mordant (1659-1705), Drayton House, Northamptonshire; thence by descent to her second husband, Sir John Germain (1650-1718), Drayton House, Northamptonshire; thence by descent to his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Germain (1680-1769), Knole House, Kent; thence by descent to her great-niece, Mary Beauclerk (1743-1812) on the occasion of her marriage to Lord Charles Spencer (1740-1820), 1762.
George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (1739-1817), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, acquired from the above, circa 1765; thence by descent to his son, George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (1766-1840), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire; thence by descent to his son, George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough (1793–1857), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire; thence by descent to his son, John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (1822-1883), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.
The Marlborough Gems: Being a Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, Christie's, London, 28 June-1 July 1875, lot 194.
David Bromilow (1809-1898), Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, acquired from the above; thence by descent to his daughter, Julia Harriet Mary Jary, Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, 1898.
The Marlborough Gems: A Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, Purchased by the Late David Bromilow, Esq., of Bitteswell Hall, Lutterworth, the Property of Mrs. Jary, Christie's, London, 26-29 June 1899, lot 194.
Charles Newton-Robinson (1853-1913), London, acquired from the above (according to auctioneer's book).
Catalogue of the Valuable and Important Collection of Engraved Gems Formed by Charles Newton-Robinson Esq., Christie's, London, 22 June 1909, lot 96.
Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland, late 1930s; thence by continuous descent to the current owners.

Literature

18th century manuscript of the Arundel Collection, no. C4 (2), as "Caput Deae Liberae."
A. Fountaine, The Arundel Cabinet, London, 1731, p. 7, no. 4.
M.H. Story-Maskelyne, The Marlborough Gems: Being a Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, 1870, p. 33, no. 194.
Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition of Ancient Greek Art, London, 1904, p. 221, no. 175, pl. CXI.
J. Boardman, et al., The Marlborough Gems, Formerly at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, London, 2009, p. 39, no. 11.
J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 238, no. 222.
Beazley Archive Gem Database no. 11.

Exhibited

London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of Ancient Greek Art, 1904.

Lot Essay

Depicted on this fine cameo is a bust of a maenad, a female follower of Dionysos, or perhaps his consort Ariadne. The three layers of the sardonyx are artfully exploited by the sculptor, with her white flesh standing out against the gray background, her elaborate hair mostly isolated in the upper brown layer. She has a wreath of ivy and a berry in her hair, with a single corkscrew tendril of hair falling along her neck, and a wisp curling onto her cheek. Her dress, perhaps a nebris (the skin of a faun), is knotted at her shoulder. The subject was popular during the late Hellenistic period, where some are thought to be portraits of Hellenistic queens in the guise of a maenad. This cameo was set as a pendant in an antique gold mount.

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