• Material:Hard Stone, 15k gold tested, half pearls.
• Size: Total length 2 3/8", cameo including the pearls frame is 1 6/8" by 1 3/8", cameo itself is 1 1/2" by 1 1/8" .
• Date and Origin: Circa 1860 probably France.
• Conditions: Immaculate. Bail is detachable when wearing the cameo as a brooch.

A Museum Quality cameo brooch and pendant mounted in high carat gold with pearls decoration, circa 1860, depicting the Goddess Vesta. The goddess is depicted with a brazier, indicative of her role as keeper of the sacred fire of Rome. Vesta, daughter of Saturn, was the virgin goddess of hearth, home and family and Vestales, Vestal Virgins, acted as guardians of her sacred flame in Roman temples. The carving is fine, conveying a sense of movement in Vesta's flowing hair and robes. A very high relieved carving, you can see it looking at how the white of the carving contrasts with the black of the background. This subject, already seen other times, has a strange peculiarity, the figure of Goddess Vesta is taken from one of most famous painting by Raphael, "The Triumph of Galatea", the painting is shown below. Cameos artists just turned her on the other side, in the painting her head is turned to the left and her arms turned to the right, in the cameo, as you can see, both sides are changed. In the painting she's driving a clam shell chariot led by two dolphins, in the Vesta depiction she's holding a brazier. I really can't imagine why several cameos carvers were inspired by the Raphael painting to depict the Goddess Vesta but have to say that the result is really amazing. The pictures really don't give any justice to this cameo and it really is better when seen in person. Some details are really amazing like the chains which keep the brazier, her flowing robe and her hair, her lovely face. A true masterpiece for any collector.       

A bit of history:


 
Vesta is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman religion. Vesta's presence is symbolized by the sacred fire that burned at her hearth and temples. Her closest Greek equivalent is Hestia. The importance of Vesta to Roman religion is indicated by the prominence of the priesthood devoted to her, the Vestal Virgins, Rome's only college of full-time priests. Vesta is the goddess of the hearth at the centre of atrium and home. It was in the house and home that Vesta was most important because she was the goddess of the hearth and of fire. Vesta is particularly important to women of the household as the hearth was the place where food was prepared and next to it the meal was eaten with offerings being thrown into the fire to seek the future from the way it burned. The degree of the importance of Vesta and the hearth in Roman times carries on into modern English, where the word focus (Latin for hearth) continues to be used in a variety of ways, both scientifically and metaphorically, that although differing from the original meaning, still carry a sense of focussing or concentration on something of importance.
Vesta's (in some versions she is called Vestia) fire was guarded at her Temples by her priestesses, the Vestales. Every March 1 the fire was renewed. It burned until 391, when the Emperor Theodosius I forbade public pagan worship. One of the Vestales mentioned in mythology is Rhea Silvia, who with the God Mars conceived Romulus and Remus. The Vestales were one of the few full-time clergy positions in Roman religion. They were drawn from the patrician class and had to observe absolute chastity for 30 years. It was from this that the Vestales were named the Vestal virgins. They could not show excessive care of their person, and they were not allowed to let the fire go out. The Vestal Virgins lived together in a house near the Forum (Atrium Vestae), supervised by the Pontifex Maximus. On becoming a priestess, a Vestal Virgin was legally emancipated from her father's authority and swore a vow of chastity for 30 years. This vow was so sacred that if it were broken, the Vestal was buried alive in the Campus Sceleris ('Field of Wickedness'). It is likely that this is what happened to Rhea Silvia. They were also very independent and had many privileges that normal women did not have. They could move around the city but had to be in a carriage.