• Material: Hard Stone, 15k gold tested, pearls. Gold hallmark depicting an owl in an oval frame shape on the pin. This owl hallmark represents a gold item that is imported from a country whose standards do not comply to French Customs fineness standards that were minimum 18k.
• Size: 2 1/2" by 2", cameo itself is 2" by 1 1/2".
• Date and Origin: Circa 1880 France.
• Conditions: Immaculate.

This is another work of art carved on hard stone, a Museum Quality cameo depicting Demeter the Goddess of the harvest (or Ceres in the Roman mythology), the corn, one of her symbols, is on her hair she's also wearing a crown. The cameo is enormous and three-dimensional. The carver made a great artwork as this cameo is just like a sculpture, it just jumps from the gray hard stone background even if perhaps it can't be well seen through the pictures. Her hair is also tied by an unusual lovely and large bow who lies on her neck and forms like a sort of scarf surrounding her neck and her shoulder, her hairstyle is so wonderful and intricate, ribbons and pearls complete it. Everything in this piece is more than superbly carved, her face, her hair. Her face is more than pretty and sweet, her straight nose is just the Greek one, her round and full mouth is beautifully rendered, her regal expression is really oustanding, The hard stone is of a wonderful gray color which perfectly matches with the pearls color. The gold frame is another beauty, elaborately worked and waved edges gold embellished with natural pearls. Another marvellous work of art. to not to miss.


A bit of history:    

 
In Greek mythology, Demeter  was the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, the seasons (personified by the Hours), and the harvest. One of her surnames is Sito (σίτος: wheat) as the giver of food or corn. Though Demeter is often described simply as the goddess of the harvest, she presided also over the sanctity of marriage, the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that also predated the Olympian pantheon.