• Material: Sardonyx Shell, brass, glass for the mosaic.
• Size: 4 5/8" by 4", cameo itself is 3 3/8" by 2 7/8".
• Date and Origin: Circa 1880 Italy.  
• Conditions: A very few glass tesserae missed everywhere on the frame, they are about from 12 to 15, I can't say the exact quantity as they are so minuscule and hard to see even with the help of a loupe, there is not any impact on the frame as they are not visible by naked eye. Cameo is perfect, just a few natural shell lines barely visible when cameo is backlit, not visible at all from the front.

 
This is a museum quality and large cameo depicting Venus kissing Cupid, a very unusual and rare depiction and frame which is made by micromosaic showing flowers and leaves. Cupid is amazingly carved in three quarter face, the carving was made on the shell knot so that the carver could give three dimensionality to the figure. His loving expression while receiving the kiss from Venus is incredible, note also how his hand is gently holding the head of Venus. Both are wrapped in a cloud and the feet of Cupid come unusually out from it. Venus expression is of a complete relax and happiness while she  kisses  Cupid. Her hairstyle is superbly made and just recalls the Greek and Roman hairstyles from the antique era. The frame is another artwork, a micromosaic of flowers showing wonderful colours and really in fantastic condition for its era. This is another rare work of art for all the enthusiast cameos collector, do not miss it.


A bit of history:


Venus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility, the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Venus was the consort of Vulcan. She was considered the ancestor of the Roman people by way of its legendary founder, Aeneas, and played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths. Venus had no childhood: in every image and each reference she is born adult, nubile, and infinitely desirable. Venus, in many of the late anecdotal myths involving her, is characterized as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. Though she is one of the few gods of the Greek Pantheon to be actually married, she is frequently unfaithful to her husband. Hephaestus is one of the most even-tempered of the Hellenic deities; in the narrative embedded in the Odyssey Venus seems to prefer Ares, the volatile god of war. She is one of a few characters who played a major part in the original cause of the Trojan War itself: not only did she offer Helen of Sparta to Paris, but the abduction was accomplished when Paris, seeing Helen for the first time, was inflamed with desire to have her—which is Venus' realm. Due to her immense beauty Zeus was frightened that she would be the cause of violence between the other gods. He married her off to Hephaestus, the dour, humourless god of smithing.  Her unhappiness with her marriage caused Aphrodite to seek out companionship from others, most frequently Ares, but also Adonis. Cupid or Eros was son of Venus.
In Roman mythology, Cupid (Latin cupido) is the god of erotic love and beauty. He is also known by another one of his Latin names, Amor . He is the son of goddess Venus..In popular culture Cupid is frequently shown shooting his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of Valentine's Day.
In the Roman version, Cupid was the son of Venus (goddess of love) and Mars (god of war). In the Greek version he was named Eros and seen as one of the primordial gods (though other myths exist as well). The following story is almost identical in both cultures. Cupid was often depicted with wings, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. When his mother got extremely jealous of the princess Psyche, who was so loved by her subjects that they forgot to worship Venus, she ordered Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the vilest thing in the world. When Cupid saw Psyche, however, he was so overcome by her astounding beauty that he dropped an arrow on his foot, and so fell in love with her himself. Following that, Cupid visited Psyche every night in his invisible form and told her not to try to see him. Psyche, though, incited by her two older sisters who told her Cupid was a monster, tried to look at him and angered Cupid. When he left, she looked all over the known world for him until at last the leader of the gods, Jupiter, gave Psyche the gift of immortality so that she could be with him. Together they had a daughter, Voluptus, or Hedone, (meaning pleasure) and Psyche became a goddess of the soul.