Italian, 16th century

Possibly Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (1500-1540);

by descent in the Gonzaga collection, Mantua;

certainly Daniel Nys Gem wundercabinet;

Thomas Arundel, 14^th Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), acquired from Nijs on 5^th or 15^th November 1636, B 4 (E) ('Caput Antino') in the Arundel gem cabinet;

thence by family descent to George Spencer, 4^th Duke of Marlborough (1739-1817), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire;

thence by family descent to John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7^th Duke of Marlborough (1822-1883), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire;

David Bromilow, Bitteswell Hall, Lutterworth, until 1898;

by descent to Julia Harriet Mary Jary (née Bromilow);

Christie’s, London, 26 June 1899, lot 501a (sold to Whelan; 4gns);

John Postle Heseltine;

his sale Christie’s, London, 19 April 1921, Antique Gems, Greek Coins, and Greek and Roman Antiquities of J. P. Heseltine, Esq., lot 103 (sold to Lansbury; £4)

N. Story-Maskelyne, The Marlborough Gems: Being a Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, London, 1870, p. 88, no 501a;

J. Boardman, et al., The Marlborough Gems, Formerly at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, London, 2009, p. 62, no. 75