Athena Cameo Fragment
Roman, First Centuries BC to AD
Banded agate,
Height: 2 1/2 inches.

This cameo fragment must come from a larger piece, perhaps even a full figure of the goddess or a group cameo. Broken at the chest, and just above the helmet, preserved is the head, helmet, and part of the aegis with the medusa head in the center with snakes tied below it, with two snake heads beside it. Visible just to the right of the medusa is a coil of another snake, see the aegis of the Farnese Athena which has snakes curling around the edges of the aegis. The helmet of this Athena is that of the Parthenos type, with four horses galloping across the visor, the ear flap is raised and chipped and a triple crest, with hipogryphs supporting the side crest, and a couchant lion or sphynx supporting the central crest, only part its body is preserved here. You can make out the trailing horsetail crest on the broken edge just behind the helmet. The face is of transcendent beauty, perfect in its classical form capturing the cold beauty of the goddess. Supporting its being a fragment of a larger cameo, is that it is quite a thick piece of agate with a rough unfinished back.

One thing about an object of such rarity is that it has no clear parallels, and there are some things about it that are anomalous; the material which lacks the clear contrast typical of Roman cameos, and the earring which is unlike others I have seen in such cameos. The material is close to that of the Tazza Farnese, in color and lack of contrast; and the earring is a shape that is found in classical jewelry, and is well within the realm of possibility. The factors supporting its antiquity besides its beauty, are its condition, and its history. It is a fragment, and not carved to be one, you can see where elements are broken and incomplete in a way you could not fake. The history of this gem is known for at least 150 years, see the provenance below. Based on its known history, the latest time it could have been made was the early 19th Century, when even contemporary cameos were of enormous value, and it strains credulity to imagine a talented gem carver of the time, creating a complete object and then smashing it up, and risking the carving altogether.

It is the nature of the rare to have few or no parallels; this gem is "nonpareile".

Provenance:

- Sir John Charles Robinson (c.1824-1913) Collection
- Sir Francis Cook (1817-1901) Collection, Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey
- Wyndham Francis Cook (d. 1905) Collection
- Humphrey W. Cook Collection, London (then published in Cecil H. Smith & C. Amy Hutton, Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Collection of the Late Wyndham Francis Cook, Esquire., London 1908. (see the relevant pages below)
- Christie, Manson & Woods, London, July 14th, 1925, lot 180, lot 180, sold for £84 to Brummer. This is possibly Ernest Brummer (1891-1964).

Plaster cast of cameo

View of the back, showing the unpolished state.
It is a thick piece of agate.

Text from the Cook Collection Catalogue.