Neoclassical circa 1815 Carnelian Intaglio Peleus Brooch, Poniatowski Collection

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Neoclassical circa 1815 Carnelian Intaglio Peleus Brooch, Poniatowski Collection

About the Item

False allegations, schemes and intrigues – Greek mythology is full of drama and surprising turns. In the neoclassical intaglio at hand, we witness a murder committed out of jealousy and unrequited love. The story begins with a hunting accident at wich Peleus accidentally kills his father in law, and thus is forced to seek refuge at the court of Akastos. There, Queen Astydameia falls in love with Peleus. As he rejects her, the scorned woman turns to her husband and tells him that Peleus offended her. Akastos takes Peleus on a hunting trip, steals his weapons and leaves him alone in the wilderness to be killed by wild animals. Pluto then enters to help unhappy Peleus: He is now able to banish Akastos and execute Astymadeia for her lies. In the end, he marries the Goddess Thethis. The couple's son, Achilles, will then continue this cycle of violence in the Trojan War. This large carnelian intaglio shows Peleus, having fallen asleep over the exhausting hunt. Akastos has taken charge of his bow and arrows and now hastens off. At this point of the story, its outcome is still unclear. The intaglio shows a turning point – and has itself been created at a turning point in history, seeing as it was once part of the collection of Prince Poniatowski, the Polish king's nephew. During the Polish divisions, Poniatowski (1754-1833), once Grand chambrier of Lithuania, went into exile in Italy and dedicated himself to art. He began to curate an extensive collection of cameos, which he had published from 1820 onwards under the title „Catalogue des Pierres Gravées Antiques“ – with the intention to have his collection known as one of genuine antiquities. When after his death, it was auctioned at Christies in London in 1839, it lead to a scandal that would shake the art world. The collection - once almost mythical, seeing as it encompassed around 2600 cameos of allegedly antique origin with theretofore unseen motifs - was revealed to be consisting exclusively of gemstones that had been cut for the Prince in recent years. Many of the engraved gems were signed – some by fictitious, some by illustrious sculptors of antiquity, such as the one at hand, signed ΑΠΟΛΛΟΝΙΔΟΥ (Apollonides). Yet instead of serving to prove the age of the pieces, the signatures evoked distrust: The collection was regarded as too excellent, too well-preserved – in short, too good to be true. The scandal soon overshadowed the quality of the cameos. Poniatowski himself had commissioned the artists to cut the most interesting, never-seen motifs from Ovid's Metamorphoses, from Homer's Odyssee and Ilias in stone. Interestingly, none of the cameos are copies of known originals from antiquity; rather, all of them are original artworks in their own right. It was only in recent years that the artistic value of the cameos has been recognised: nowadays, they are being held in high regard as highlights of neoclassical art – unusual in their pictorial invention, and masterly cut. This large and exceptionally well-preserved cameo is documented in all of the collection's catalogues (the bibliography and provenance available upon request). Thus, the piece is certain to have been carved for the Prince Poniatowski in the years around 1815. The golden frame and brooch mounting is a later addition from the 1870s, and allows to turn the stone and its setting. On its back, there is a compartment wherein a personal memory in the form of a lock of hair of photo can be preserved. MATERIALS Carnelian, engraved, 32.5 x 40.5 mm / 1.28 x 1.59 in Gold 750/000, resp. 18 karat Glass CERTIFICATE The piece will be delivered with our house certificate, issued by an art historian.

Metal:
18k Gold,Yellow Gold
Stone:
Carnelian
Stone Cut:
Oval Cut
Weight:
30.5 g
Dimensions:
Width: 1.97 in (50 mm)Length: 2.33 in (59 mm)
Style:
Neoclassical
Place of Origin:
Poland
Period:
1810-1819
Date of Manufacture:
circa 18515
Condition:
Excellent condition, mounted in the golden frame in the 1870s.
Seller Location:
Berlin, DE
Reference Number:
Seller: 18-31941stDibs: LU156427074742