• Material: Sardonyx Shell, 15k gold tested.
• Size: 2 4/8” by 2 1/8”, cameo itself is  2\" by 1 5/8\".
• Date and Origin: Cameo is from circa 1840, Italy. Original fitted case.
• Conditions: Perfect. A shortest and invisible shell line on the shell back bottom, mentioned only for accuracy, otherwise immaculate. Scratch signed on the back.

A fine Museum Quality shell carving, circa 1840, set to a high carat gold wirework brooch mount. The subject is rare in cameo, the mischievous sprite Ariel, after a painting by Joseph Severn [Rome, 1826]. Severn based the image on the character of Ariel from Shakespeare\'s The Tempest where the sprite sings:
Where the bee sucks there suck I, 
In a cowslip\'s bell I lie, 
There I couch while owls do cry,
On a bat\'s back I do fly.
After summer merrily; merrily, merrily shall I live now,
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough...\"

The painting was described thus in Strictures On Pictures [1838] :
Merry Ariel whips with gorgeous peacock feather his courser, flapping languidly through the evening sky.

Severn painted several interpretations of the subject, one version is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Lovely rare and unusual subject matter for a cameo and this one is even rarer because Ariel is depicted standing on one knee and guiding the bat instead of sitting on it like in the more usual depiction which  is it too after a painting by Joseph Severn.
This cameo is outstanding, the carving is more than superb, just look at the bat and at his wings which are truly magnificently rendered. The sense of movement can be clearly seen in this cameo, Ariel’s robe gently waves around his body, while he keeps the bat’s reins. This cameo is outstanding, the carving is more than superb, just look at the body of Ariel, at the bat and at his wings which are truly magnificently rendered. An outstanding cameo. Everything in this cameo is poetry and art and amazingly carved. Look also at the peacock feather, it is amazingly carved and just give you the idea that it is a real weightless feather. The carving on Sardonyx is so white and this makes a crisp contrast with the background and the subject is very highlighted. The scene is so ethereal and the effect is really breathtaking. The bat wings are something of incredible for how they are carved, they are pale white almost transparent and gives you the impression that they really could fly. There is then Ariel who is high reliefed and so well and finely made, his body is perfect and the proportions are amazing. The bat is something of really outstanding, his head is three-dimensionally carved and seems that you can pick him from the cameo background. Everything in this cameo is art and amazingly carved.  All the details are just perfect.
This is another masterly carved cameo. A more than desirable collectors piece, rarest and museum quality cameo.