Vintage Ring With Antique Cameo Of Flora From Conch, Circa 1880 & Later

Gemstone jewelry was particularly popular in the last decades of the 19th century. Almost every lady owned carved pieces, mainly depicting mythological motifs from antiquity. The great personalities of history were admired, which is why many philosophers and emperors, as well as goddesses and poets, can be found on the rings and brooches of this period. In addition to various stones such as agate and carnelian, cameos were mainly carved from mussel shells. Cameos made from the shell of the brown and white helmet snail Cassis madagascariensis are particularly common. Far rarer, however, are cameos made from pale pink conch. This is the large fencer snail Strombus gigas, which is native to the crystal-clear, tropical marine areas of the Caribbean. The shells of these snails are characterized by their wonderful pale pink color and are particularly suitable for cutting high-quality cameos. The cameo presented here shows the portrait of an elegant woman in profile. Her hair is artfully pinned up and adorned with rose petals - she represents the goddess Flora. The cameo is held by a magnificent setting of finely engraved gold. A base, also made of gold, turns the cameo into a ring. We assume that the cameo and its setting originally belonged to an earring. This type of engraving was modern in the years around 1880. Around three generations later, in the 1950s, the earring was reworked into a ring - a classic procedure in the case of inheritance or the loss of a counterpart. We discovered this special piece of jewelry here in Berlin.

Estimate:£671.04

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