Italian, Milan, early 17th century

This beautifully carved cameo with Christ is one of a number thought to follow metallic models by Antonio Abondio (1538-91) who worked in Milan and Prague (Attwood, op. cit., p.460, no.196a). Similar cameos are in the Cabinet des médailles, Paris (Babelon, op. cit., nos. 408,409, pl. xlviii, xlix); Habsburg collection (nos. 416-417); Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, and the Kunstkammer of Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz, Kassel (inv. B XVI.Tab.B-II-7, described as ‘Miseroni Workshop, early 17th Century). Compare also with that sold in these rooms on 6 July 2017, lot 96. The choice of bloodstone was deliberate since it both served to remind the wearer of Christ's suffering, whilst also performing an apotropaic function: according to the 17th-century physician Anselmus Boetius de Boodt it had healing properties.

RELATED LITERATURE

A. Boetius de Boodt, Gemmarvm et lapidvm historia.., 1609, pp.130-130; M. E. Babelon, Catalogue des camees antiques et modernes de la Bibliotheque nationale, Paris, 1897; E. Kris, Die Kameen im Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1927; P. Attwood, Italian medals, c.1530-1600 in British public collections, London, 2003