Saturday, January 28, 2017

Carved Gems from the Orléans Collection

Cameo - Bather by a Spring
Roman Empire
1st century BC
onyx
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - Female Theatrical Mask
Roman Empire
1st century AD
onyx
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

The still-famous Orléans Collection of beautiful paintings and other objects of sublime rarity was assembled in Paris between 1700 and 1723 by Philippe d'Orléans, nephew of Louis XIV and, after that king's death, Regent of France during the childhood of Louis XV. The Orléans Collection remained intact until the French Revolution when it was sold by a descendant who had expediently taken the name of Philippe Égalité (though he ended on the guillotine all the same). The largest and best chunk of paintings fell into the hands of the English, but many carved gems went to Catherine the Great. They remain in Russia to this day, some from ancient Rome and others from Renaissance Europe. A sample of Orléans gems is set out here, photographed by staff at the Hermitage against a variety of colored backgrounds.

Intaglio - Jupiter the Thunderer
Roman Empire
1st century BC
carnelian
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Intaglio - Emperors Balbinus, Pupienus, Gordian III
Roman Empire
3rd century AD
carnelian
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection
 
Intaglio - Theseus
Roman Empire
1st century BC - 1st century AD
carnelian
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - Berenice II as Isis
Hellenistic Egypt
3rd century BC
sardonyx
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Intaglio - Serapis with Butterfly
Roman Empire
1st century AD
carnelian
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans  Collection

Intaglio - Bacchus with Panther
Roman Empire
1st century AD
carnelian
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - Zeus Olympius
Roman Empire
1st century BC - 1st century AD
sardonyx
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

The Palatine Cameo - Apollo
Roman Empire
1st century BC - 1st century AD
carnelian
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - Two Sphinxes
Italy
16th century
agate
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - Centenary Games under Emperor Domitian
with Signs of the Zodiac

Italy
ca. 1575-1600
agate
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - Emperor Charles V
cut by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi
Italy
ca. 1535-45
agate
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - Pope Pius IV
cut by Giovanni Antonio de Rossi
Italy
ca. 1560
turquoise
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

 Cameo - Hermaphroditus with Cupids 
Hellenistic Egypt
1st century BC
onyx
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection

Cameo - River God Acheloüs
in bull-shape with human face
Roman Empire
1st century AD
onyx
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Orléans Collection