Small Wonders: Early Gems and Jewels
Small Wonders: Early Gems and Jewels
Italian, 18th century | Cameo with a Leopard
Lot Closed
December 16, 01:28 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Italian, 18th century
Cameo with a Leopard
chalcedony, within a modern brooch mount
cameo: 23.7 by 30.7mm., 0.93 by 1.21in.
mount: 24.7 by 32.3mm., 0.97 by 1.27in.
Big cats have fascinated gem engravers since antiquity. This exquisite cameo of a leopard utilises the natural mottling in the stone to mimic the animal's spotted fur. The same use of the material appears in a closely analogous 18th-century cameo with a leopard in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 39.22.37. For further stylistic comparison, see a cameo with a pacing lioness by Giovanni Pichler (1734-1791), published in op. cit., no. 260.
RELATED LITERATURE
D. Scarisbrick, The Art of Gem Engraving from Alexander the Great to Napoleon III, Fukuoka, 2008, p. 216
RELATED LITERATURE
D. Scarisbrick, The Art of Gem Engraving from Alexander the Great to Napoleon III, Fukuoka, 2008, p. 216