Antique Gold and Agate Renaissance Cameo Ring

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...

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...

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

Renaissance Ring Western Europe, likely Italy, mid-16th c. Gold and traces of black and white enamel Bezel 15 x 3 x 4 mm.; circumference 42 mm.; weight 2.7 gr.; US size 2 ¼; UK size ...

Renaissance ring with Roman horse intaglio Ring: Western Europe, c. 1580-90, Roman intaglio: 1st century AD Gold, champlevé enamel, nicolo agate Weight 5.2 gr.; Circumference 57.15 mm.; US size 8; UK size Q In the Renaissance period, ancient cameos and intaglios were highly sought-after collectors’ items. Wealthy owners had them incorporated into signet rings, and in this case, an exceptional and rare ring with sophisticated enameling. The Roman intaglio reflects the spirit of Humanism during the Renaissance, when there was a revived interest in Classical literature and the arts. The horse motif was most likely the personal choice of the wearer or giver of this ring who would have been familiar with its meaning in Classical Antiquity as a symbol of wealth and power. In Ancient Greece images of horses denoted aristocratic status, were symbolic of heroism and the all-important cavalry. A grazing horse as seen here may have represented a favored racehorse. Description: Gold ring with D-section hoop widening towards the oval bezel, plain on the interior and on the exterior the shoulder is decorated in gold against black enamel with symmetrical foliate and floral motifs. The frieze-like decoration continues along the sides of the facetted bezel with dots, dashes and scrollwork, a triangular form with acanthus foliage and fine gold framing line along the base of the bezel with raised mount and fluted collet for a nicolo-agate intaglio. Carved into the bluish grey on brown surface is a grazing horse seen in profile, head bent low. On the underside of the bezel is an elaborate cross motif with scrolls in black enamel against gold. Minor loss of enamel in some areas, through age and wear. The ring is in good wearable condition. Literature: Similar elaborately enameled signet rings set with ancient intaglios or Imperial laureate heads can be found in the British Museum, London (Dalton 1912, no. 308); Tarnóczy Collection; Hanns-Ulrich Haedeke Collection. The highly embellished enameling along the hoop and bezel of this exceptional and rare ring is reminiscent of the ornamental prints...

An oval cameo carved out of sardonyx depicts an antique mythological female bust in profile. The cameo has been executed in the 1st half of the 18th century and mounted in 18K gold. ...

Circa 1880 This ornate 19th century Renaissance Revival 14K gold unisex ring features an intricately carved sardonyx cameo of a classical Greco...

This banded Agate is so glossy and beautiful! This stone is set in 9 carat gold with rope twist detail which goes perfectly with the Agate. Ring Size: O 1/2 or 7 1/2 Stone Dimension...

Stunning floral and birds make up the surround on this 14K gold ring. Center is a Victorian woman. Victorian later soldered onto a modern shank. The ring is large in scale measuring ...

Cameo depicting Alessandro de' Medici, known as (IL Moro or 'The Moor'), c. 16th - 17th century, in later gold ring mount, cameo 2.0cm high, ring size 7

Estate 1920's green agate and diamond ring. Green female form cameo marquise agate center stone with 2 old European cut side diamonds in a 18k yellow gold setting. 1 marquise shape greenish white agate cameo...