An 18k gold Italian souvenir ring with a papal portrait. - image-1
An 18k gold Italian souvenir ring with a papal portrait. - image-2
An 18k gold Italian souvenir ring with a papal portrait. - image-1An 18k gold Italian souvenir ring with a papal portrait. - image-2

Lot 291 Dα

An 18k gold Italian souvenir ring with a papal portrait.

Auction 1048 - overview Cologne
15.05.2015, 14:00 - Jewellery, Furniture, Objects of Vertu, Boxes, Portrait Miniatures
Estimate: 2.000 € - 2.500 €

An 18k gold Italian souvenir ring with a papal portrait.

The layered sardonyx carved with a portrait of Pope Pius VII after a medal. H top of ring 2.3 cm. Ring size 57. Weight 6 g.
1st quarter 19th C.

Pius VII (Cesena 1742 - Rome 1842) was born into the Ducal Chiaramonti family, and became Pope in 1800. The early years of his papacy were marked by feuds with Napoleon which led to the annexation of the Vatican in 1809 and the Pope's arrest and deportation to Savona. The collapse of Napoleon's reign brought the Pius a new era of papal consolidation.

Provenance

Private collection, England.

Literature

Cf. Berges, Klassizistische Gemmen und Kameen der Sammlung Maxville-Sommerville, Rahden 2011, no. 250, 251. See also Cat. The Art of Gem Engraving, Fukuoka City Museum, 2008, Nr. 221.