The Doves of Aphrodite

Brooch with Antique Shell Cameo Set in Gold, ca. 1850


€ 590.00 *
Content 1 piece
Incl. VAT, Shipping
Brooch with Antique Shell Cameo Set in Gold, ca. 1850
Brooch with Antique Shell Cameo Set in Gold, ca. 1850
Description
This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!
This brooch from around 1850 shows a classic motif from ancient mythology: four doves at a drinking trough. The Roman writer Pliny described this famous scene in his Natural History as early as 77 BC: "In Pergamon there is a famous mosaic with some drinking doves. Their heads are shading the water, they are sitting on the edge of a vessel." The doves are the birds that pull the chariot of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which is why the dove is still regarded as a symbol of love to this day. These so-called "Doves of Aphrodite" can be found today in numerous variations in various museums around the world, as this motif was already highly famous and popular in ancient times. An exemplary Roman copy, the floor mosaic from the Villa of Hadrian in Tivoli, which was rediscovered in 1737, can be seen today in the Capitoline Museums in Rome (Sala delle Colombe, inv. MC0402, see here). The present version is finely and richly carved in two-tone, light-colored shell. An engraved setting frames the cameo in gold in the taste of the period around 1850. The brooch came to us from London and impresses with its subtle love symbolism.
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Size & Details
Brooch with Antique Shell Cameo Set in Gold, ca. 1850
The Doves of Aphrodite
€ 590.00 *
Content 1 piece
Incl. VAT, Shipping
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Our Promise
Our Promise

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