Extraordinary Cameos by Alessandro Masnago in Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Aurora
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Neptune pursuing Amphitrite
ca. 1600-1620
agate cameo with silver-gilt mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Abduction of Europa
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Abduction of Proserpine
ca. 1590
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Latona beseeching the Peasants for Water
ca. 1590-95
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Latona transforming the Peasants into Frogs
ca. 1600
jasper cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

from Tamburlaine the Great

What is Beauty? saith my sufferings then,
If all the pens that poets ever held
Had fed the feeling of their master's thoughts,
And every sweetness that inspired their hearts,
Their minds, and muses on admired themes,
If all the heavenly quintessence they still
From their immortal flowers of Poesy,
Wherein, as in a mirror, we perceive
The highest reaches of a human wit,
If these had made one poem's period
And all combined in Beauty's worthiness,
Yet should there hover in their restless heads
One thought, one grace, one wonder at the least,
Which into words no virtue can digest.

– Christopher Marlowe (1590)

Alessandro Masnago
Aeneas in the Underworld
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Atalanta and Hippomenes
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Orpheus enchanting the Animals with Music
ca. 1600-1620
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Leda and the Swan
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Jupiter and Io
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Jason and the Golden Fleece
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Gods of Olympus
ca. 1590-1600
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Diana with her Nymphs
ca. 1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Expensively-Produced Objects of Devotion (Vienna)

Anonymous Artist working in Germany
Rosary (ten-bead)
ca. 1500-1525
agate, gold, silver, ivory
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Adoration of the Shepherds
ca. 1600-1620
agate cameo with silver-gilt mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Madonna and Child in Clouds
ca. 1590
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Entombment
ca.1600-1620
agate cameo with silver-gilt mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Alessandro Masnago
Noah's Ark
ca. 1590-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

A Hymn to Christ, at the Author's Last Going into Germany

In what torn ship soever I embark,
That ship shall be my emblem of thy ark.
What sea soever swallow me, that flood
Shall be to me an emblem of thy blood.
Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise
Thy face, yet through that mask I know those eyes,
   Which, though they turn away sometimes
      They never will despise.

I sacrifice this island unto thee
And all whom I loved there, and who loved me;
When I have put our seas 'twixt them and me,
Put thou thy seas betwixt my sins and thee.
As the tree's sap doth seek the root below
In winter, in my winter now I go
   Where none but thee, th' eternal root
      Of true love I may know.

Nor thou nor thy religion dost control
The amorousness of an harmonious soul,
But thou would'st have that love thyself. As thou
Art jealous, Lord, so I am jealous now.
Thou lov'st not, till from loving more, thou free
My soul. Who ever gives, takes liberty.
   O, if thou car'st not whom I love
      Alas, thou lov'st not me.

Seal then this bill of my divorce to all,
On whom those fainter beams of love did fall.
Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be
On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee.
Churches are best for prayer that have least light:
To see God only, I go out of sight,
   And to 'scape stormy days, I choose
      An everlasting night.

– John Donne (1619)

Anonymous Artist working in France
Archangel Michael defeating Lucifer
ca. 1575-1600
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Artist working in the Netherlands
Expulsion from Paradise
ca. 1550
onyx cameo with silver-gilt mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Christoph Angermair
Tempietto with Man of Sorrows
ca. 1613-20
ivory and ebony
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Louis Siriès
Crucifix
ca. 1746
lapis lazuli with gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Adriaen de Vries
Christ at the Column
ca. 1613-15
bronze statuette
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

attributed to Ferdinand Murmann
St Sebastian
ca. 1630
ivory statuette
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Hans Christoph Fesenmair the Younger
Clock with St Sebastian
1622-26
ebony, silver, coral, gold, enamel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Hans Krumper
Reliquary of St Valerianus
before 1634
wax figures on ebony and glass casket
ornamented with silver and gold
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Hans Krumper
Reliquary of St Tiburtius
before 1634
wax figures on ebony and glass casket
ornamented with silver and gold
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Miseroni Artifacts Collected in Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Bowl
ca. 1590-1600
carved jasper with gold handles and mounts
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Giovanni Ambrogio Miseroni
Venus and Cupid
ca. 1600-1610
carved chalcedony
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Dionysio Miseroni
Vessel
1641
carved emerald from Colombia,
with faceted top and gold mounts
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Asymmetrical Bowl
ca. 1603-1607
carved nephrite with enameled-gold mounts
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Shell-shaped Cup
ca. 1600-1605
carved agate with enameled-gold mounts
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Bowl with Cover
ca. 1610-15
carved agate with enameled-gold mounts
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

from L'Art

Oui, l'œuvre sort plus belle
D'une forme au travail
    Rebelle,
Vers, marbre, onyx, émail.

           .     .     .

D'une main délicate
Poursuis dans un filon
    D'agate
Le profil d'Apollon.

            .     .     .

Sculpte, lime, cisèle;
Que ton rêve flottant
    Se scelle
Dans le bloc résistant!

– Théophile Gautier (1858)


          *     *     *


All finest art is seen
    In forms that foil the blade
Unkeen –
    Verse, marble, gem inlaid.

            .     .     .

With deftest hand go trace
    Over the agate rare
The face
    Apollo once did wear.

            .     .     .

Hew down and chisel fine.
    So that thy dream be sealed
For sign
    In stuff that will not yield!

– translation by Wilfred Charles Thorley (1920)

Dionysio Miseroni
Vase of Flowers
1647-48
carved citrine vase
with flowers of agate, jasper, chalcedony,
and rock crystal, stems of silver
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Miseroni Workshop
Hercules
ca. 1590-1600
jasper cameo with gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Ceres
ca. 1600-1610
chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Venus and Cupid
ca. 1602-1608
chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Woman with a Fan
ca. 1610
cameo in commesso relief
with agate, jasper, carnelian and chalcedony
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Minerva
ca. 1602-1605
agate and chalcedony cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Miseroni Workshop
Herm in Niche
ca. 1605-1610
agate, carnelian, jasper and mother-of-pearl
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Miseroni Workshop
Herm in Niche
ca. 1605-1610
agate, carnelian, jasper and mother-of-pearl
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Portraits of the Moderns as Gems (Vienna)

Anonymous Artist working in Italy
Portrait of Borso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Modena
ca. 1450-70
opal cameo on carnelian base with gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Artist working in France
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1550-1600
onyx cameo with enameled gold mount,
set with diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Artist working in France
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1550-1600
chalcedony cameo with enameled gold details and mount,
set with diamonds and rubies
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

from Verses on Sir Joshua Reynolds' Painted Window at New College, Oxford

Lo, from the canvas Beauty shifts her throne,
Lo, Picture's powers a new formation own!
Behold, she prints upon the crystal plain,
With her own energy, th'expressive strain!
The mighty master spreads his mimic toil
More wide, nor only blends the breathing oil;
But calls the lineaments of life complete
From genial alchymy's creative heat;
Obedient forms to the bright fusion gives,
While in the warm enamel Nature lives.

– Thomas Wharton the Younger (1782)

Anonymous Artist working in the Netherlands
Portrait of Emperor Charles V
ca. 1556-58
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount,
set with rubies
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Jacopo da Trezzo
Portrait of Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal
ca. 1566
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Girolamo Miseroni
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1575-1600
agate cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Ottavio Miseroni
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1600-1620
agate cameo with silver-gilt mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Artist working in Germany
Emperor Ferdinand III
ca. 1640-50
shell cameo with enameled-gold mount,
set with turquoises
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Daniel Vogt
Emperor Leopold I 
ca. 1669-70
emerald cameo with enameled-gold mount,
set with diamonds
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Artist working in Germany
Emperor Leopold I 
ca. 1690
agate cameo with gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Giovanni Pichler
Emperor Joseph II
ca. 1769
chalcedony cameo with gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Artist working in Austria
Empress Caroline Augusta
ca. 1820
agate cameo with gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Giovanni Beltrami
Emperor Franz I
ca. 1840
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Artist working in France
Jeweled Bracelet of Empress Carlotta of Mexico
ca. 1850-75
enameled-gold with diamonds and mounted miniature portrait
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna