CIRCA 18TH CENTURY

This gem depicts a profile female bust with her hair bound in an elaborate sakkos. The type is known from a number of ancient marble heads, possibly depicting Aphrodite but frequently labeled as Sappho by Renaissance and later antiquarians. The subject was also popular with Neo-Classical gem engravers. For a related marble head, see the example in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, fig. 10 in J.J. Bernoulli, Griechische Ikonographie. This gem is mounted as a ring in an 19th century gold setting.