A large black and white onyx double-sided cameo mounted within a gold and gem set revolving stand
One side, featuring a Bacchante, in four layers, signed A.T.Mastini
the opposing side Heracles and Deianira in two layers, signed Girometti Fec.
Un-marked, c.1850
Dimensions:
21.5 cm (8 1⁄2”) high
9cm (3 1⁄2”) wide
the cameo approximately 7cm x 5.5cm (2 3⁄4” x 2 1/8”)
Price on application
Double-sided engraved gems are rare, those signed by a different artist on each side are exceptionally so.
BACCHANTE
Black agate ground, the bust in white with flowing hair with a vine and grapes in two further layers, a thyrsus over her right shoulder, the left shoulder draped with a lionskin. Signed A.T.Mastini
Unfortunately, the signature A.T.Mastini, provides some confusion. There is a cameo head of Diomedes signed A.T.AMASTINI, which entered the Hermitage State Museum in 1830(1) ,
a cameo of Psyche signed MASTINI in the Metropolitan Museum, New York(2), and a profile cameo of Napoleon Bonaparte signed A.MASTINI in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris(3),
Forrer lists an Angelo Amastini as an Italian engraver originally of Fossombrone but working in Rome in the latter half of the 18th century, and suggests he is the artist responsible for a cameo of Adonis asleep found by Venus (signed in Greek) and another of Venus seizing Cupid signed AMASTINI in the British Museum(4),
See also a rock crystal cameo of Cupid seated on a shield assuming the helmet of Mars, signed A.T.AMASTINI F, from the collection of Dame Joan Evans and illustrated in “Treasures and Trinkets” Museum of London 1991 #328, page 137
HERACLES AND DEIANIRA
Heracles standing, a thyrsus in his left hand, his right arm around the shoulder of Deianira, who faces him and holds a small amphora in her right hand. A lion cub sits to his left, a bunch of grapes in it’s paw.
Signed Girometti Fec
Giuseppi Girometti (1780 – 1851) or his son Pietro (1811 – 1859)
According to Forrer Giuseppe Girometti worked at the Papal Mint at Rome for Popes Pius VII., Leo XII., Pius VIII. and Gregory XVI., Cardinal Ercole Consalv.
Babelon suggests Pietro Giuseppe succeeded in raising himself above his contemporaries of all countries by the excellence of his works. He contributed to the series of medals of celebrated Italians undertaken by his father Giuseppe in conjunction with Niccolo Cerbara, and engraved several medals of Gregory XVI., Vittoria Colonna, Enrico Dandolo and other Italian celebrities. He exhibited at the 1855 Paris International Exhibition and, posthumously, in 1867.
Of the Girometti’s work, there are a number by Giuseppi in the British Museum, and one attributed to Pietro, a Minerva after the ancient engraver Aspasios(5), again, a number in the Metropolitan Museum, notably a head of Hercules (6)
The mount
High carat gold, polychrome enamelled in neo-renaissance taste with various grotesques and maidens amongst green enamelled vine leaves, set throughout with natural pearls, rubies, opals and three table-cut diamonds, all surmounted by a cupid. The tripod stand resting upon a red glass plate having engraved gold border.
Unmarked
Condition:
Cameo :
Minor losses to the higher of the vine leaves in the hair of the Bacchante
No losses to the Heracles side
A line can be seen traversing across from the 11 o’clock to 1 o’clock positions, apparent on both sides, going through, and then just underneath the Girometti signature. This has the appearance of a crack but, when going through the white layer, it is a slightly darker colour. This makes me wonder if it is in fact a natural line in the stone which only became apparent later on in the carving, approaching completion. Under bright reflected light two similar, but much fainter, lines can be seen further down the cameo.
The mount:
Minor losses to the enamel, mostly to four vine leaves, one vine leaf missing from a tripod leg
Bibliography
1. Western European cameos in the Hermitage Collection, Julia Kagan 1973 #77
2. Metropolitan Museum, The Milton Weil Collection, 1940. Accession Number: 40.20.43
3. Bibliotech Nationale de France Cameo.936;
Babelon, Ernest. Catalog of ancient and modern cameos of the National Library. 1897, n°936, p348, Pl.LXXVI,
fig.936. Chabouillet, Anatole. General and reasoned catalog of the cameos and engraved stones of the Imperial Library. Paris:
1858, no. 366.
4. Catalogue of the Engraved Gems of the Post-Classical Periods..... in the British Museum, by O.M.Dalton, 1915. Plate VII, #99
5. Hull Grundy gift, British Museum 1978,1002.591
6. Milton Weil Collection, Metropolitan Museum accession Number: 40.20.37
