Vintage Gold Brooch with Shell Cameo of Pallas Athena, Italy c. 1960

This cameo shows a motif from the world of Greek mythology: Pallas Athena, standing on a chariot, with two rising horses on a moving band of clouds. Even the birth of the ancient goddess was adventurous: Zeus, father of the gods, had devoured the Okeanid Metis, who was pregnant with two children, as he had been prophesied that her daughter would be equal to Zeus, but that a son would overthrow him. Suffering from a severe headache after the deed, he asked the god Hephaestus to crush his head. Not only did he survive this dubious procedure, but a daughter sprang from his head - Athena! Athena, the proverbial head-birth, was regarded as the manifestation of the spirit and thus as the goddess of wisdom and intelligence. She was also regarded as the goddess of strategy and war, craftsmanship and art, as well as the patron goddess of the city of Athens, which was named after her. Our gem shows the goddess as a standing figure with a spear in her hand. Her hair is concealed under a typical Greek helmet, which is adorned with a crest made of horsehair (the so-called lophos). A cloth wrapped around her covers her pubis. The brooch holds the cameo in a restrained setting of high-carat gold. The brooch, which was probably made around 1960, is beautifully preserved and came to us from London.

Estimate:£1,010.82

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