The Potion of Immortality

Small Shell Cameo Framed in Gold Depicting Hercules and Hebe, c. 1875

€ 890.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

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Small Shell Cameo Framed in Gold Depicting Hercules and Hebe, c. 1875

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 muscular man, naked and bearded, has settled upon a lion's pelt. He sits upright – one leg bent, the other slightly extended – and leans on a mighty club. A woman stands before him, about to pour a liquid from a jug into a bowl held by Hercules. She is draped in a translucent garment that seems to move gently, as if stirred by a breeze. The depicted scene, carved in relief into the bowl of a seashell, transports us into the world of ancient mythology. The man is Hercules, the strongest man on earth – the very allegory of strength. The woman is Hebe, who, in the Olympian pantheon, was tasked with serving food and drink to the gods. The gem follows a relief by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, which is now held in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen, see here. The composition, also known as the Allegory of Strength, spread rapidly throughout Europe after its creation around 1808 through prints by various artists – and thus found its way into the workshops of gem engravers in the Bay of Naples. We discovered the cameo with its Neoclassical motif in London. It was likely created in Italy in the last third of the 19th century – perhaps even a little earlier.

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For centuries, owning antique cameos and cameos was the ambition of almost all major collections of decorative arts and cabinets of curiosities - from the Green Vault in Dresden to the treasury of Rudolf II to important private collections such as that of Baron von Stosch in later times. The 18th and 19th centuries produced numerous large collections of impressions of ancient seal stones and cameos, which were able to reproduce the pictorial language of ancient glyptic art almost in its entirety. These collections were also an expression of humanist education. Figures from the Olympian heaven of the gods or mythological scenes were often at the center of the depictions. Particularly important for the spread of stone and shell carvings north of the Alps were travelers to Italy, who brought back impressions, carved stones and engraved shells from their educational journeys - to enjoy the stories that these shells could tell. The art of cameo cutter has survived to this day in Italy, particularly in the Bay of Naples, where it has been passed down from generation to generation. Today, the Scuola dei Cammei in Torre del Greco is the world's only large-scale training center for cameo cutters in Italy - although the mythological themes have unfortunately been largely lost.

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Size & Details

The Potion of Immortality

€ 890.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

We want you to be 100% satisfied! For that reason, we examine, describe and photograph all of our jewellery with the utmost care.

You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.

Should you for some reason not be satisfied, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that we can find a solution together. In any case, you can return any article within one month and we will refund the full purchase price.

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The Potion of Immortality

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