• Material:  Sardonyx shell, 15k gold tested.
• Size:  2 6/8" by 2 3/8", cameo itself is 2 3/8" by 2".
• Date and origin: Circa 1880 Italy.
• Conditions:  Pristine, a few short slight natural shell lines, not visible by naked eye, visible when cameo is backlit.

This is a superb and large Museum Quality cameo depicting a rarest subject, the Allegory of the Autumn, probably after a painting but I have not yet found the original subject. I had another cameo depicting the Allegory of the Spring and I think that both this and the old one were after some paintings depicting the Allegories of the Four Seasons. The cameo is scratch signed on the back and you can read what would presumably be the carver signature but I can't recognize it. The scene is a mythological one showing a Bacchante embracing a little boy, presumably a young Bacchus. Her face has an enchanting beauty and sweetness that is really amazing. She's so pretty that looks almost unreal, her big and expressive eyes, her perfect little nose and her smiling mouth are amazing. Her head is crowned by fruiting vines and grapes and she's holding a cup in one hand and a thyrsus in her oher hand. Her flowing robe is wonderfully carved and she's wearing a bracelet on her arm it is called "armilla", simply stupendous. Her fur cloack is finely carved and you can see it as it was a real fur. Her body is perfect and her hair is long and curly. The little Bacchus is also masterly carved, his curly hair is beautiful, his round and smiling face and his body are so finely rendered that you feel that you really could pick that baby and embracing him, really amazing. He's holding his classical symbol, a chest full of grapes. Note how the grapes come out from the chest and how them show from his fingers. The carving is very high relieved and threedimensional, it seems that you can pick the grapes up one by one, really incredible. The frame is elaborate and elegant, two gold intertwined twist that give movement and grace to it. This is another superb and rarest cameo, for the joy of  any collector.