Large Cameo with Mars, Victoria & Minerva Set in Gold, c. 1850

Victory of Wisdom

Large Cameo with Mars, Victoria & Minerva Set in Gold, c. 1850

€ 1,590.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

A winged deity enters the scene from the left. She is carrying a palm frond in her left hand. In her right hand she holds a bowl in which she is apparently offering food to a snake. It is the goddess of victory, Victoria. The snake is coiled around a stele, a column or altar, on which the statue of the ancient goddess Minerva stands at the top. With spear, helmet and shield, she is easy to recognize: She is the Roman goddess of science, the arts and craftsmen, but also of tactical, clever victory. Finally, on the right is Mars, the god of battle, with armor and weapons. Obviously a victory is being celebrated here, a victory for which Victoria stands. A victory that was perhaps also won with the full use of all means, as the presence of Mars indicates. But above all a victory that was won through cleverness and which does honor to the spirit. Not a mere overpowering of the already inferior, but a triumph for a higher goal: a celebration of intellect, art and science. After all, Minerva is being worshipped here, and Mars must stand by her side with his head bowed. This scene, for which we have yet to find a model in art history, is depicted in the medium of the shell cameo with great attention to detail and skillful editing. The figures are depicted clearly and beautifully and the light areas stand out against the dark background. An elaborate setting of warmly shimmering gold keeps the cameo entirely in the taste of the mid-19th century. We see sculpted curves made from chased sheet gold, reminiscent of acanthus leaves. We discovered the brooch in the south of England, where the Italian cameo was probably set in the middle of the 19th century.

Size & Details

Victory of Wisdom

€ 1,590.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

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Victory of Wisdom

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