Antique Brooch with a Hardstone Cameo of Medusa in a Natural Pearl

According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Gorgon Medusa was a captivating beauty. But when the sea god Neptune defiled the priestess Medusa in a temple of Minerva, Minerva was so enraged that she transformed Medusa into a winged monster with serpent hair, whose gaze instantly turned every man to stone. Only the young Perseus was able to resist Medusa’s gaze through a ruse: He looked only at Medusa’s reflection in his polished shield and was thus able to behead the terrifying creature with a stroke of his sword. The goddess Minerva then took the Gorgon’s head and affixed it to her shield: the “Gorgoneion” was intended to ward off evil. In a feminist interpretation of the myth, Medusa’s transformation into a creature whose gaze turns every beholder to stone is not a punishment dealt by Minerva—rather, the transformation is intended to protect Medusa from further advances by Neptune and other men. In the context of Ovid’s account, in which the sea god forces himself upon Medusa, this explanation also makes much more sense. Not least, this interpretation opens up a further scope of meaning for the many Medusa cameos that were cut for the jewellery boxes of Victorian women. Here, Medusa’s head has been carved from agate. The head emerges from layers of white and dark brown, almost black, agate. Fine natural pearls surround the cameo in two rows, with the inner row consisting of oval pearls and the outer row of round pearls accented with black enamel in a petal-like pattern. The design and contrasting colors—which would also have been appropriate for semi-mourning—are typical of jewellery from the 1860s. A well-preserved piece of jewellery that opens up fascinating historical perspectives. It was likely made in England.

Estimate:£1,243.15

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