Antique Shell Cameo With Depiction of the Hebe, Naples/Vienna ca. 1880

The present brooch, dates from the late 19th century. An era in which jewellery with shell cameos was particularly popular. The high oval piece of jewellery in a frame of gold shows on the front a finely cut cameo of bicoloured shell. Depicted is a scene from classical mythology: we see the youthful Hebe in peaceful coexistence with Zeus, the father of the gods, in the form of an eagle. In an artistic cut, the cameo-cutter has captured Hebe as the goddess of youth at her most important task in the heaven of the gods: She is cupbearer to the Olympian gods and responsible for the preparation of food. Here she serves her father Zeus a bowl of the gods' ambrosia. Hebe is dressed in a peplos and Zeus as a mighty eagle feasts in flight, a bundle of lightning bolts firmly in his fangs. In Homer, the food of the Olympian gods nectar and ambrosia occur in the Iliad and Odyssey as immortalizing food. In the course of mythological tradition, Hebe is said to have been replaced in this task by the Trojan prince Ganymede after her marriage to Heracles, for Ganymede soon became cupbearer to the gods. While the cameo was almost certainly made in the Bay of Naples, the 14-carat gold frame was forged in Vienna, as the hallmarks reveal. The plain frame shows off the matt sheen of a fine gilding applied to the 14-karat base to make the colour of the precious metal even more radiant. The fine shell carving is probably a souvenir of a trip to Italy. We can date the pretty work to the years around 1880, because the stamps were used between 1872 and 1922. Hebe and the Zeus eagle came to us from Stuttgart and we are curious where they will go next.

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