An 18k gold and layered chalcedony cameo brooch with rape of Europa
Designed as an oval, layered chalcedony cameo (24.1 x 28.7 mm) carved with a depiction of Europa on the bull being guided across the ocean with Poseidon and two putti and a cityscape in the background. The foliate frame set with 20 rose- and table-cut diamonds and florally engraved to the reverse. The original pendant findings replaced with a gold pin. 5.3 x 5 cm. Weight 29.7 g.
The cameo probably Italian, 16th C.; the frame 17th C.
The cameo illustrates a scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses (II, 833 - 875) in which Zeus transforms into a tame bull to abduct Europa, daughter of the Phoenician King Agenor, and carry her across the ocean to the island of Crete. In this depiction, we see Poseidon with a trident and a further triton with a horn, above whom flutter putti with flowers, before a fortified city perched upon the rocky coastline of the background. The carver has skilfully used the natural layers of the stone to work the translucent sky and clouds and achieve the illusion of distance.
Literature
Cf. Distelberger, Die Kunst des Steinschnitts, Milano 2002, no. 88, for a famous renaissance cameo with the same motif in a similar style in the Art Historical Museum of Vienna. Cf. also Gennaioli, Le gemme dei Medici al Museo degli Argenti, Prato 2010, no. 132.