Brooch With Shell Cameo of Hebe Set in Gold, Around 1850

This brooch dates from around 1850, a time when cameo jewellery was particularly popular. The high oval piece in an elaborate frame of gold shows a finely cut cameo of bicoloured shell on the front. It depicts a scene from classical mythology: we see the youthful Hebe in peaceful coexistence with Zeus, the father of the gods, in the form of an eagle. In an artistic cut, the cameo-cutter has captured Hebe as the goddess of youth at her most important task in the heaven of the gods: She is cupbearer to the Olympian gods and responsible for the preparation of food. Here she serves her father Zeus a bowl of the gods' ambrosia and a decanter of nectar. Hebe is dressed in a peblos and Zeus as a mighty eagle has sat down on an altar in front of her to take the offered food. In Homer, nectar and ambrosia occur regularly in the Iliad and Odyssey as the immortalizing food of the gods. In the course of mythological tradition, Hebe is said to have been replaced in this task after her marriage to Heracles by the Trojan prince Ganymede, who then became cupbearer to the gods. The gold setting is stylistically indebted to the late Biedermeier period and was created north of the Alps, while the shell carving was certainly a souvenir from a trip to Italy. A wonderful piece of jewellery and a reminiscence of classical antiquity in one!

Estimate:£1,243.15

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