Rare erotic cameo in agate with two layers... - Lot 65 - Pierre Bergé & Associés

Lot 65
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Estimation :
8000 - 10000 EUR
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Result : 48 100EUR
Rare erotic cameo in agate with two layers... - Lot 65 - Pierre Bergé & Associés
Rare erotic cameo in agate with two layers of oval shape representing a sleeping nymph lying on a drapery. The young woman completely naked is abandoning herself to sleep, her face turned towards her right shoulder; she rests her head on the hand of her left arm folded, her other hand resting on her belly; her open thighs with crossed feet show her pubis. Prague, attributed to Ottavio Miseroni (Milan, 1567 - Prague, 1624), circa 1600 Height: 4,8 cm - Length: 6,7 cm - Thickness: 1 cm - Weight: 52 g In a red chagrin case and accompanied by a typewritten paper in German Erotische Steinarbeit 16. Jht./Italien inder Art des Steinschneiders / Miseroni, Giovanni 1551 - 1616 Mailand/Lagenachat (Erotic stonework 16th century/Italy in the style of the stonecutter/Miseroni, Giovanni 1551 - 1616 Milan/agate à couche) The result of a commission, this cameo seems to be singular in the production of the Miseroni family, famous hardstone sculptors of Milanese origin, who were suppliers to the European courts during the second half of the 16th century. Emperor Rudolf II, an insatiable lover of precious objects and curiosities, attracted Ottavio to Prague as early as 1576, and he was joined soon after by three of his brothers. Their workshop was able to supply all kinds of mounted stones, cut rock crystals and cameos for the Emperor and his court. Few artists could compete with the Miseronis, who had a perfect command of the science of glyptics, skilfully exploiting the different colours of the semi-precious stones they cut into cameos. This sleeping nymph is to be compared with some of Ottavio Miseroni's works in the Kunstkammer of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, in particular the kneeling Mary Magdalene, which has a very similar face (inv. no. KK 1723, fig.a). The morphology of the body and its position can also be compared to the famous shell-shaped lid containing a figure of Venus and Love, cut from a yellow and red chalcedony that belonged to Cardinal Mazarin and later passed into the gem collection of Louis XIV. This beautiful object was sold in a London sale at Sotheby's, on July 6, 2011 under lot 6, as attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio Miseroni (1551-1616), Ottavio's older brother, made in his Milanese workshop towards the end of the 16th century (fig.b). This cameo, with its obvious erotic connotation, does not seem to have any other known equivalent in Renaissance glyptic art.
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