• Material : Bracelet - Cornelian Sardonyx 18k gold tested. Brooch - Sardonyx Shell, 18 k gold, tested.
• Size: Bracelet Total length 7 1/2" cameo is 2 3/8" by 2 1/8" - Brooch 2 3/8 " by 2".  
• Date and Origin: Circa 1840/1850 Italy.
• Conditions: Bracelet -  Immaculate conditions. There are a couple of finest natural hairlines, only visible when cameo is backlit. Brooch - Conditions are more than excellent, a finest and short hairline in the shell, some gold wireworks on the frame are lost. A tiniest bent on the frame at circa 10.00 o'clock, not noticeable by a naked eye. There are NOT other bents on the frame, if you see it a bit waved is because the gold follows the shape of the shell and the light reflects on it making it seems a bit bent. The box is in very good conditions considering its age, the closure is missed and someone added a small piece of leather on the back and inside to let the box opens and closes. Some wears everywhere on the box. 
• Weight:  Bracelet weighs 38.3 grams, excluding the cameo we have circa 30 grams of pure 18 kt gold. The weight of the brooch is a substantial 31.2 grams, this means that we have as weight of gold, approximately 25 grams. Frame is not hollow gold, all solid and very thick.

Museum quality cameo set consisting in a bracelet and a brooch. Bracelet mounts a Museum Quality cameo depicting Eos, the goddess of Dawn. Eos is here depicted in a very unusual manner, leaving behind her the night, represented by the star, and leading the sun to its sunrise. She's holding a book where a clock is carved, it represents the flowing of the hours. In other representations as the chariot of Aurora, the time is represented by the 12 women around the chariot, just called "horae", it is latin and means "hours"). The finger of the goddess is completely carved, look at the last picture, only its end is carved more delicately than the rest of the hand. This is a wanted effect, the carver meant to make ethereal the end of the finger just like it was into the rays of sun. Just like is in the reality if you hold something against the sun, it becomes ethereal and almost transparent. This is the effect that the carver meant to give to the cameo.  The working of the gold is amazing, finding a work so well made today is almost impossible and think that there were no machines at that time. The tiniest black spot on her neck is a bit of dust that has been removed. Brooch is a Museum quality cameo depicting Irdinde with a chest of cherubs. After  a work of Thorvaldsen of 1831. Look at the picture of the marble relief below. This is a rarest subject in cameo, wonderfully carved. All the details that are in the marble relief are even in the cameo. Even the two cherubs in the chest that are kissing each other are present as in the sculpture as in the cameo, like the cherub who is caressing the dog. Really amazing. This set is a wonderful work of art,  Very detailed cameos, carved by an artist. Rarest cameo set and subjects, very desirable collectors' piece.

A bit of History:

Eos is a figure of Greek mythology. She is the Goddess of the Dawn. She is a beautiful and charitable Goddess. She is the daughter of Hyperion. Hyperion is also the father of Helios (the Sun often identified with Apollo too ) and of Selene (the moon )Hyperion's name means "The one who precedes the Sun", and probably is related to his role like Helios' or Eos' father, the faint light that precedes the rising of the day. Eos has several sons, between them there is Memnone, killed from Achilles during the siege of Troy. From that day the Goddess of the Dawn inconsolably cries the loss of her son every morning and her tears form the dew. Homer calls her the "Goddess with the rosy fingers" for the effect that can be seen in the sky at dawn.