Friday, October 4, 2019

Modern French and Italian Cameos (in Vienna)

Anonymous Maker working in France
Leda and the Swan
ca. 1550
cameo in opal, gold and enamel
with enameled-gold mount set with rubies and diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in France
Hercules and King Busiris
ca. 1550
shell cameo with enameled-gold mount
set with rubies and diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

BUSIRIS – In a Greek legend preserved in a fragment of Pherecydes, an Egyptian king, son of Poseidon and Lyssianassa.  After Egypt has been afflicted for nine years with famine, Phrasius, a seer of Cyprus, arrived in Egypt and announced that the cessation of the famine would not take place until a foreigner was yearly sacrificed to Zeus or Jupiter.  Busiris commenced by sacrificing the prophet, and continued the custom by offering a foreigner on the altar of the god.  It is here that Busiris enters into the circle of the myths and parerga of Heracles, who had arrived in Egypt from Libya, and was seized and bound ready to be killed and offered at the altar of Zeus in Memphis.  Heracles burst the bonds which bound him, and, seizing his club, slew Busiris with his son Amphidamas and his herald Chalbes.  The episode if often represented on vase paintings from the 6th century BC and onwards.

– Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1910-11) 

Anonymous Maker working in France
Armoured Warrior
ca. 1550-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in France
Hercules and Omphale
ca. 1575-1600
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in France
Attila
ca. 1550-1600
onyx cameo with silver-gilt mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Abundantia
ca. 1550
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Judgment of Paris
ca. 1550
chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
set with rubies
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Juno, Venus and Minerva
ca. 1550-1600
chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
set with rubies and diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Jupiter driving a Four-Horse Chariot
ca. 1550
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
set with diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Marine Venus
ca. 1550
chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Meleager and Atalanta
ca. 1540
chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
set with diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Murder of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra by Orestes
ca. 1450-1500
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

AEGISTHUS – In Greek legend, Aegisthus was the son of Thyestes by his own daughter Pelopia.  Having been exposed by his mother to conceal her shame, he was found by shepherds and suckled by a goat – whence his name.  His uncle Atreus, who had married Pelopia, took him to Mycenae, until they were deposed by Agamemnon on his return from exile.  After the departure of Agamemnon to the Trojan war, Aegisthus seduced his wife Clytemnestra, and with her assistance slew Agamemnon on his return.  Eight years later this murder was avenged by Agamemnon's son, Orestes.

– Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1910-11) 

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Poseidon and Athena
disputing sovereignty over the city of Athens
ca. 1250-1300
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
set with rubies and diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
The Laocoön
ca. 1535-65
chalcedony cameo with gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Maker working in Italy
Venus and Cupid
ca. 1550-75
chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna