Large Biedermeier Gold Brooch with Coral Cameo of Hera, c. 1840

While large shell cameos are not uncommon, coral cameos of good quality and size are a real rarity, as it is not often that Italian Mediterranean coral has stems large enough to be thus carved. The cameo we see here depicts a goddess from classical antiquity. Hera appears in relief as a bust portrait with her head slightly tilted. Hera can be recognized by her diadem, the so-called Stepháne (Greek στεφάνη), which distinguishes her as a married woman. Hera or Juno is the goddess of marriage and childbirth as well as the wife of Jupiter or Zeus. The depiction of the goddess is carved from a large piece of fine precious coral and is dressed in antique garb. The region around the Gulf of Naples was particularly specialized in the art of cameo carving and produced a large number of beautiful cameos and cameos that were exported worldwide. It is highly likely that our goddess was also created at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. The skill with which the detailed and sculptural carving was executed is particularly impressive. An elaborately engraved gold frame in the typical design language of the years around 1840 holds the oval cameo in a flat setting with foliage ornamentation. This unusual piece came to us here in Berlin. It has been preserved in an antique but later case from a jeweler in Barcelona.

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