Small Shell Cameo Framed in Gold Depicting Hercules and Hebe, c. 1875

A muscular man, naked and bearded, has settled upon a lion's pelt. He sits upright – one leg bent, the other slightly extended – and leans on a mighty club. A woman stands before him, about to pour a liquid from a jug into a bowl held by Hercules. She is draped in a translucent garment that seems to move gently, as if stirred by a breeze. The depicted scene, carved in relief into the bowl of a seashell, transports us into the world of ancient mythology. The man is Hercules, the strongest man on earth – the very allegory of strength. The woman is Hebe, who, in the Olympian pantheon, was tasked with serving food and drink to the gods. The gem follows a relief by the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, which is now held in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen, see here. The composition, also known as the Allegory of Strength, spread rapidly throughout Europe after its creation around 1808 through prints by various artists – and thus found its way into the workshops of gem engravers in the Bay of Naples. We discovered the cameo with its Neoclassical motif in London. It was likely created in Italy in the last third of the 19th century – perhaps even a little earlier.

Estimate:£755.99

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