• Material: Sardonyx Shell, 15k yellow tested.
• Size: 2 1/2" by just over 2".
• Date and Origin: Circa 1840 Italy. Scratch signed on the reverse by the artist "Carnesecchi" and below the name there is the title of the cameo "Europa".
• Conditions: Some very light natural shell lines, not visible from the front, visible when cameo is backlit. Trace of soldering close to the pin device.

A Museum Quality very finely carved  shell cameo of an unusual subject set to a gold brooch, circa 1840. The cameo depicts Europa, the daughter of Agenor, being carried off over the waves by Jupiter to Crete. Jupiter is in the guise of a bull. Europa is accompanied by the Genius of Light and the bull is garlanded with roses.
This one is a rarest subject, never seen before now. It is a scene where Europa is carried away by Zeus disguised as a bull garlanded with flowers. There are so many details in this cameo that is hard to see them all and each one is wonderfully carved. We can start from the bull, you can see the perfect and muscled body of the God/animal, his head turned towards Europa to be sure that she can't escape from him. Europa's clothes in pure Greek style are amazingly made and are flowing while the bull is running, they are fluent and seem wavering around Europa's body. The Genius of Light is superbly carved, his body, his hair, the objects that he's holding, everything is crisply and detailed carved. The proportions of the whole scene are simply fantastic, the scene depicted is elegant and harmonious. Everything in this cameo leaves me speechless, for the quality of the carving, for the elegance of the subject and for its rarity. A simple gold ring frame completes this artwork, a finest and unique cameo, a real Museum Quality one. To not to be missed. The cameo is in a Cameo Corner box and has a receipt of purchase from Cameo Corner dated 1944. Cameo Corner was the Aladdin's Cave of antique jewellery which Moshe Oved established in Museum St around 1910.  A Polish-Jewish watchmaker turned jewellery dealer, Oved had an extraordinary eye for gems and a remarkably wide ranging clientele including Queen Mary and Rudolph Valentino. Oved was also an accomplished writer and poet, a patron of the arts (including Ben Uri), a world expert on cameos and an original jeweller. His own pieces, and those of his wife Sah Oved, are highly sought after today. The cameo is signed by the carver "Carnesecchi who had his shop in Rome in Via Condotti 3 in the 1800's.      

A bit of history:


In Greek Mythology, Europa was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman of Phoenician origin, after whom the continent Europe is named. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a bull was a Cretan story. Most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa.
Europa's earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the 8th century BC. Another early reference to her is in a fragment of the Hesiodin Catalogue of Women, discovered at OxyrhynchusThe earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa dates from mid-7th century BC.
 The Dictionary of Classical Mythology explains that Zeus was enamoured of Europa and decided to seduce or rape her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her helpers were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by Hephaestus and three additional gifts:Talos, Laelaps and a javelin that never missed. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars, which is now known as the constellation Taurus. Some readers interpret as manifestations of this same bull the Cretan Beast that was encountered byHeracles, the Marathonian Bull slain by Theseus (and that fathered the Minotaur). Roman mythology adopted the tale of the Raptus, also known as "The Abduction of Europa" and "The Seduction of Europa", substituting the god Jupiter for Zeus.