• Material: Sardonyx Shell, silver, hallmarked Birmingham 1899, makers marks as Eustace George Parker.
• Size: 2 2/8” by 2”, heigth 1 2/8!".
• Date and Origin: Cameo is from circa 1850/1860, silver box is later.
• Conditions: Perfect.

Museum quality cameo depicting Ariel on bat. 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 after a painting by Joseph Severn. Also I have never seen a cameo of Ariel mounted on a Victorian pill box. I have never seen Ariel so depicted.  Ariel is the mischievous sprite, from Shakespeare's The Tempest.  The text reads: 

Where the bee sucks there suck I, 
In a cowslip's bell I lie, 
There I couch where owls do cry, 
On the bat's back I do fly.
After summer merrily; merrily, merrily shall I live now,
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough..."

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 out of this world cameo. Everything in this cameo is poetry and 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.