Bucolic Shell Cameo Set in Gold as a Brooch, c. 1875

The bucolic is a genre in art in which the life of shepherds is idealised. Celebrated by poets and depicted by artists since antiquity, the fascination with this theme runs through the history of art and time itself. Renowned artists from Poussin to Watteau drew inspiration from the free and seemingly carefree life of the shepherds. A renewed enthusiasm for bucolic motifs emerged during the Industrial Revolution. At a moment when traditional ways of life were being lost, it celebrated the rural idyll once more in a romantic manner – the carefree joy beneath the open sky, untroubled and free from the obligations of office, counting house, or factory. Much as in the late 18th century under Marie Antoinette, a longing for the countryside found expression here – a nostalgic vision of rural simplicity that could at the same time become a utopian ideal for the future: to live more freely and in closer harmony with one another. The present shell cameo also dates from the final quarter of the 19th century. With fine carving, it depicts a scene from one of the most celebrated bucolic works of classical antiquity: Daphnis and Chloe, the pastoral romance by the Greek writer Longus from the 2nd century AD. It tells the story of two foundlings who spend their childhood among shepherds on the island of Lesbos, are later separated, reunited, fall in love, and finally live happily with their parents. Our cameo, dating to around 1875, shows the happy ending of the story in delicate relief: Daphnis and Chloe resting beneath a tree, their shepherds’ crooks beside them, tending a flock of sheep. Carefree and serene, they lead the simple life of which Longus writes: “Not only then, but for as long as they lived, they led a shepherd’s life, worshipping the gods, the nymphs, Pan and Eros; they gathered great flocks of sheep and goats, and knew no sweeter food than fruit and milk.” A beautiful setting of high-carat gold with embossed triangular ornaments reminiscent of lotus blossoms holds the cameo and makes it wearable as a brooch. The piece, which found its way to us from the Rhineland, is in excellent condition and captivates with its fine craftsmanship. The illustration shows a painting by François Boucher with a similar treatment of the motif, now in the Wallace Collection in London.

Estimation:€980

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