- Museum number
- 1824,0301.30
- Description
-
Cameo; onyx; bust of Diana to right, her bow and quiver appearing behind her shoulder; above the head is the beginning of a perforation piercing the stone and issuing beneath the bust; mounted in contemporary enamelled gold frame, protected at back by gold plate engraved with floral designs.
- Production date
- 16thC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 1.90 inches (with frame)
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Length: 1.10 inches
- Curator's comments
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Text from Dalton 1915, Catalogue of Engraved Gems:
C. Davenport, Cameos, p. 18; H. Clifford Smith, Jewellery, pl. xxix, fig. 6. Above the head is visible the beginning of a perforation vertically piercing the stone and issuing beneath the bust; this may be due to the fact that the stone originally came from the East in the form of a bead.
The gem is mounted in a contemporary enamelled gold frame, and protected at the back by a gold plate engraved with floral designs.
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Text from Payne Knight's Latin manuscript catalogue
30) Dianae caput humeris tenus, arcu et pharetra in sinistro, capillis in vertice religatis et lunula ornatis, facie sinistrorsum spectante, e medio inter duo fusca splendidissima onychis Indicae strato candissimo opaco, summo artificio exsculptum. Onyx, omnium pulcherrima, fuit olim gentis Mediceae, cuius insignia, operis Florentini XVI seculi, in ornamentis aureis, quibus inserta est, adhuc extant; et pone incisa est rosa Elizabethae Angliae regina; cui, in pignus amoris, data fuisse traditur a proco suo Francogallo duce Alensoneo; atque ab ea, extincto amore, ad G. Cecil d. de Burleigh delata in familia ab eo oriunda manebat donec A. S. MDCCCXVIII, quo mihi vendita est.
Translation
The head of Diana as far as the shoulders, with a bow and quiver on the left, her hair fastened up on the crown of her head and styled in a little moon [a phrase that is difficult to translate into idiomatic English], her face looking to the left, carved out with the greatest skill from a very white, opaque layer of Indian onyx in the middle between two dark, very shining ones. The onyx, the most beautiful of them all, once belonged to the Medici family, whose symbols, those of a Florentine work of the sixteenth century, are still visible on the golden setting, in which it has been placed; and behind has been incised the rose of Elizabeth, Queen of England; to whom, in a pledge of love, it is said that it was given by her suitor, Francois, Duke of Alencon; and from her, after their love had been extinguished, it was brought to G. Cecil, Baron Burleigh, and it remained in the family descended from him until A.S. 1818, when it was sold to me.
- Location
- On display (G46/dc5/p4/no9)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1997 10 May-5 Oct, Germany, Pforzheim, Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Idol and Ideal - Human Imagery in Jewellery of the 16th Century
- Acquisition date
- 1824
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1824,0301.30
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: RPK.30 (Payne Knight Collection)