• Material: Amethyst, 15 k gold tested, Seed Pearls, Enamel.
• Size: just over 1 6/8" by 1 4/8".
• Date and Origin: Circa 1870 Italy.
• Conditions: Excellent, 2 tiniest chips on the left and on the right sides, barely visible by a naked eye, some scratches on the back, internal natural lines in the stone.

Museum Quality cameo depicting a Bacchante. They were followers of Bacchus the God of wine (Dionysus is the Greek name). Bunches of grapes and wine leaves in her hair.  Her head crowned with a wreath of fruiting vines and  wearing a pelt.  This is a very unusual cameo, carved on amethyst  that is a stone very hard to carve . These kind of cameos are very rare to find, especially finding a front face one. In so many years of cameo's collecting I have found only one example but carved on malachite.  Look how the carver used the stone to evidence the leaves, the pelt. I have never seen a Bacchante like this one.  Considering the hardness of the stone, the thing which makes the carving really extraordinary is the precision in the carving the fruiting vines, the pelt and her face which the pictures don't give at all justice to. This is surely the fruit of a greatest master carver that with his painstaking work, his ability, his skill and his art was able to make in the hard stone a real work of art. This subject jumps out from the stone everything is so realistic, If to all of this we add the beauty of her face, her eyes' expression and her full and sensual mouth added to a spectacular gold , we can immediately understand that we are looking at an extraordinary masterpiece, a true work of art. This cameo is really outstanding even if in the pictures it can't be appreciated at all, it is very hard to take picture of but I can assure you that it is a real work of art. The face of the Bacchante seems to be a bit sad but instead looking at it in person I can say that she is smiling. This is a very rare cameo, finding front face cameo carved on amethyst that is one most hard stone to carve, it is very rare and especially finding one in excellent condition like this one.  This is one of most beautiful Bacchante I have ever seen, the pictures speak by themselves. The frame is spectacular too, so elaborate and wonderful. This is another masterly carved cameo. A very desirable collectors piece, rare and museum quality cameo.