Antique Brooch With the Shell of a Bacchante Gold, Around 1880

A beautiful young lady with flowing hair is shown in profile. She wears a rich ornament of vine leaves and grapes in her hair. Around her hips she has the fur of a panther slung, over her shoulder she carries a so-called thyrsos staff with pine cones and in her hand she holds a chalice. The sitter is thus a bacchante. Like her Greek counterpart, the Maenad, she was a follower of the wine god Bacchus (Dionysus), who was famous and infamous for his lavish festivities, the so-called "Bacchanalia". The image of the Bacchante in the history of Western art is strongly influenced by the form that the cult, which was originally Greek, took on with the Romans. The Roman Bacchanalia probably originated from spring festivals. At the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. the cult celebrations developed into excessive feasts, which were accompanied by dances and orgies and which took place in secret. In later centuries, bacchants became synonymous with celebrating fun-loving people, but especially with lovers of good wine. Our shell Cameo, created in the years around 1880, shows one of these bacchantes in her enchanting beauty. A setting of gold makes it a brooch. Thus, this piece of jewellery is particularly suitable to be a gift for a lady who is not averse to the pleasures of life.

Estimate:£415.43

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