Renaissance Revival Unisex Gold Ring with Antique Sardonyx Cameo

A rare French King Louis Philippe era sardonyx cameo brooch. The cameo is carved in high relief with a classical female bust and set in a large ornate 1...

Circa 1880 This striking 19th century hollow gold necklace is designed in the Renaissance style of the 1500s – early 1600s. The necklace is craft...

This impressive late 18th century, circa 1790, silver-topped gold ring is vertically set with a large cobalt blue glass plaque centered with three old cut diamonds set in silver cut ...

France, circa 1880s This ornate 18K gold locket pendant is designed in the Renaissance Revival style. The front is centered with a reddish orange ci...

Russia, early 1900s. This antique one-of-a-kind 14K gold ring is designed in the Russian Modern style of the early 1900s. The ring is bezel set with a fine oval sapphire of a royal ...

Made in Moscow between 1908 and 1917 The ring is cast and chased with floral designs in the Russian Modern style of the 1910s. 14K yellow gold, one antique cushion cut diamond (5.9...

Ring with Renaissance cameo Probably Northern Italy, cameo late 16th-early 17th century; ring: second half 18th century Gold, sardonyx cameo (layered...

RENAISSANCE CAMEO RING Italy, cameo: second half of 16th century in a late 18th century ring Gold, agate , black enamel Weight 6.3 gr.; bezel 18.8 x 16.9 x 6.5 mm.; circumference 58.4 mm.; US size 8¾; UK size R Cameo of a nude female bust...

RENAISSANCE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT CAMEO IN MODERN GOLD SETTING Italy (?), 16th-17th century White agate, modern gold setting Weight: 10.8 g.; circumference: 54.4 mm.; size: US 7, UK N ½ Substantial rounded D-section hoop, narrowing at the base supports an oblong collet set with a white agate cameo. The cameo features a female bust behind a male bust in profile facing to the viewer’s left. The man has a curly beard, wears a fillet in his closely cropped hair, and wears a draped toga; the woman is less well defined and wears a palla. Both portraits have flat features. The carving has a metallic quality to its lines which enhances the sheen of the stone. The cameo is in excellent condition; the mount is modern. The Renaissance welcomed a revival in the ancient art of gem carving and cameos achieved renewed popularity. Important patrons, like the Medici, employed artists and goldsmiths to make dozens of beautiful examples that harkened back to antiquity and displayed current fashions. Double portraits of a man and woman, as with this ring, are called marriage portraits. They take their form from cameos of Roman rulers, mythological lovers, and citizen couples. Literature This couple could be a sixteenth-century copy of an ancient gem or it could represent a Renaissnce couple in the guise of a Roman couple. The features do not point to any well-known couples. A double portrait cameo in the Royal Collection (RCIN 65861) provides a nice comparison to this ring and is from the same period. For an ancient example of the double portrait cameo see the Metropolitan Museum’s Germanicus and Agrippina (39.22.18) cameo. Another comparison, see the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (a 17th-century cameo with the double portrait of a couple in a three-layered agate, published in Babelon, 1897, n. 1019). For general information on Renaissance cameos...

RENSAISSANCE CAMEO RING Italy? 16th century in a 20th century setting Gold and sardonyx Weight 6.5 gr.; bezel 16.1 x 16.9 x 7.4 mm.; circumference 50.3 mm.; US size 5½; UK size L In this oblong cameo, the bust of a woman wearing a necklace but otherwise nude stands above a blue ground. While her breast faces forward, her head is rendered in a strict profile and her hands gesture to her right. The minimalist gold setting is modern and dates to the twentieth century. Cameos depicting nude female figures became popular in the court circles of sixteenth-century Italy, where newly-formed princely collections of ancient gems served as models for contemporary hardstone artists. Following ancient practice, the artist responsible for the current cameo has cut into two layers of the multicolor agate, creating a background of milky blue that contrasts with the white flesh of the woman above. The sharp profile of the woman’s face likewise recalls the art of the ancient Romans, who often used the profile view for portraits on coins, medals, and engraved gems...

Carnelian 3 Layer Cameo Greek Revival Gold Ring. Created around the 1890. Natural wonder meets human genius! Lady’s portrait ancient Greece style (Greek Revival) on a 3 Layer Cornel...

Renaissance Cameo Of Galba (?) in Modern Gold Setting Europe, 17th (?) century Onyx and gold Weight: 10.2 g.; circumference: 51.8 mm.; size: US 6, UK...