Material: Sardonyx Shell, gold marked with 901, tests as 15k.
Size: 2 6/8" by 2 2/8" only cameo is 2 4/8" by 2".
Date and Origin: 1860/1870 Italy. Signed by the artist Paolo Neri. Original fitted case.
Conditions: Excellent. Some natural shell lines, not visible when looking at the cameo by naked eye, visible when the cameo is backlit.

Museum Quality cameo depicting Psyche becoming immortal after a sculpture of John Gibson made in 1851 now in the Royal Academy of Arts in London. This one is a real artwork in my opinion, so crisply carved and so well made. Each detail of the sculpture, which is shown above, has been reproduced perfectly on the cameo. The winged Hebe, cupbearer to the Gods, is pouring nectar, called Ambrosia, in the bowl held by Psyche, drinking it she becomes immortal and can marry her beloved Cupid finally. You must note Psyche's left foot which she holds resting on her right ankle, notice the perfection of the sole of the foot and toes, it just seems a real foot. Look also at the sandals worn by Hebe, you can see their laces and even the smallest details which are those that distinguish a Museum quality cameo from a lower quality one. Look how Cupid is watching at Psyche as he could not wait that she too becomes a Goddess to marry her, this cameo sends out LOVE and it is really touching.  The two lovers waiting one for each other are just the expression of the eternal love.  The harmony between the three figures is total. Everything in this cameo speaks about love and harmony. Another masterly carved cameo. A very desirable collectors piece, rare and museum quality cameo.

This cameo is after a sculpture by John Gibson of 1848 titled "Psyche receiving Nectar from Hebe in the Presence of Celestial Love" now in the Royal Academy, London (see picture).  John Gibson also made a drawing (see picture) of this subject titled "Psyche Becomes Immortal" circa 1851 engraved after by F. Jordan. That drawing was made for a book  "The Story Of Psyche With A Classical Enquiry Into The Signification And Origin Of The Fable" By Elizabeth Strutt With Designs In Outline By John Gibson.

About the carver:
Paolo Neri was born in Rome in 1813, (post 1889) sculptor and "famous" engraver "in cameos", he was initially educated "under his father" and then by the painters Francesco Giangiacomo (1783-1864) and Tommaso Minardi (1787-1871), later becoming a pupil of sculptor Pietro Tenerani (1787-1869). Dedicated to the "engraving, in which a style was formed precisely for the finiteness of the work and the valuable artistic performance", he realized "countless" "very similar" portraits, pointing out with "many works among which we mention the Jupiter stone bas-reliefs, Horace Coclite, and Hercules; the one in shell from a poem by Milton and the other also in shell with the portraits of the LL. MM. the King and the Queen, with the Crown Prince "; he also worked on marble, creating numerous bas-reliefs, "highly praised" and the "bust of the Four Seasons", as well as "two good statues" with the "Ninfa Egeria and Susanna". Finally, his presence is pointed out at the Rome National Exposition of 1883, with "many works including nine beautiful cameos. From the documents of the Historical Archive of the Vicariate of Rome the name of his father, Giuseppe, cameos carver, also emerges in Civitavecchia in 1784, attested in Rome in 1809 in via Frattina 77 and between 1820 and 1850 in Via della Vite 101; Later, Paolo will move to Via Sistina, then to Via Frattina and Via del Babuino.
When he began his career, the art of cameos was highly regarded, as evidenced also by his entrance in 1812 to the Accademia di San Luca as academics of merit of the "stone engravers" Giuseppe Cerbara (1770-1856), Giuseppe Girometti (1780-1851), Nicola Morelli (1771-1838), followed in the same year by Luigi Pichler (1773-1871) and in 1816 by Benedetto Pistrucci (1783-1855) Paolo Neri (active then in Piazza di Spagna 10). He also made cameos "in hard stone, a very superior style of art on that shells". If in the Monograph of the city of Rome and the Roman Countryside presented at the 1878 Paris Universal Exhibition, dealing with "glittic" workshops where the old tradition "they are remembered" is kept by the Saulini, the Neri, the Siotto, the Rosi, the Lanzi, the Guglielmi, the Girardet "(who work" in this way genre and sell their products decorously "), at the expire of the century, in the guides of Rome the names of the "cammeists" indicated appear to be decidedly less. Between 1899 and the beginning of the twentieth century only Saulini and Neri appear, in some guides sometimes accompanied by "Ciapponi" and "Galant".

 
A bit of History:

This is the story of Cupid and Psyche, found in the novel, 'Metamorphoses' written by the 2nd century AD novelist and rhetorician, Apuleius. Once upon a time there was a king with three daughters. They were all beautiful, but by far the most beautiful was the youngest, Psyche. She was so beautiful that people began to neglect the worship of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. Venus was very jealous, and asked her son Cupid (the boy with the arrows) to make Psyche fall in love with a horrible monster. When he saw how beautiful she was, Cupid dropped the arrow meant for her and pricked himself, and fell in love with her. Despite her great beauty no-one wanted to marry Psyche. Her parents consulted an oracle, and were told that she was destined to marry a monster, and they were to take her to the top of a mountain and leave her there. The west wind took her and wafted her away to a palace, where she was waited on by invisible servants. When night came her new husband visited her, and told her that he would always visit her by night and she must never try to see him. Although her invisible husband was kind and gentle with her, and the invisible servants attended to her every desire, Psyche grew homesick. She persuaded her husband to allow her sisters to visit her. When they saw how she lived they became very jealous and talked Psyche into peeking at her husband, saying that he was a monster who was fattening her up to be eaten and that her only chance of safety was to kill him. Psyche took a lamp and a knife, but when she saw her beautiful husband, Cupid, she was so surprised she dripped some hot wax onto his shoulder, waking him. He took in the situation at a glance and immediately left Psyche and the magnificent palace she had been living in disappeared in a puff of smoke. Psyche roamed about looking for her husband, and eventually in desperation approached his mother, Venus. Still angry, the goddess set various tasks for Psyche, all of which she passed, with a bit of help from ants and river gods. At last Cupid found out what was going on, and he persuaded Jupiter to order Venus to stop her persecution of Psyche. Then they were married and lived happily ever after - and it really was ever after since Psyche was made a goddess. In the scene depicted on this cameo and Hebe is giving Psyche Ambrosia the drink of immortality so the couple can be united in marriage as equals. Their union will redeem Cupid from his history of provoking adultery and sordid liaisons. Jupiter's word is solemnized with a wedding banquet.