Featured Medusa Cameo

Hello everyone,
Very excited about this beauty, just bought it.
I don’t know anything about it, the auction house did not give me much details, was a gamble, I will post more when it reaches home.
The back of the brooch is something I have not seen in a brooch, the construction of the brooch is outstanding, its 5 cm and weights 33 grams, heavy for a small brooch.
No hallmarks, I have been told.
The enamel makes it so much more interesting.
I would like to ask you about this particular construction / shape and materials used in a brooch.
How old is it?
And where is it likely to originate? Europe? France? Italy?
The Medusa it’s breathtaking beautiful, any thoughts?
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Simona
@Bronwen @PepperAnna @Any Jewelry
@KSW
@mirana
@kyratango
@Ownedbybear

 

Stunning brooch, Simona.
That vibrant blue enamel makes me think French for the brooch itself, Limoges being a strong contender imo. Check it for tiny marks anyway, sellers miss them sometimes. Feel the pin or the C-clasp, for instance.
The cameo could have been carved elsewhere.

It certainly does.

 

I'm not seeing Medusa. Those look like Geese at her head.

Maybe Nemesis?

 

Maybe you're looking at the wings, but the necks and heads are very thin and small for geese.
Medusa is sometimes depicted with wings as well as snakes.

 

Here's another example.

Debora

 

I don't see those heads as being very snake-like.

 

Cartoon snakes?

 

Almost always has wings. For an array of cameo Medusas:

https://cameotimes.com/index.php/profiles-1/minor-gods/medusa

 

The way Medusa is displayed on this cameo looks decades later than they are claiming for the brooch.

 

Thanks for bringing that to our attention. Always interesting to see items misidentified, advertently or inadvertently, in listings.

Debora

 

Agree that France is the most likely origin. It is beautifully made. I would think late 19th. Check the outside edge of the C for a boar's head when you have it in hand.

 

Here's another from the same maker. Looks like different artists, but apparently Medusa was a good seller for the jeweler. I don't blame them, I'm keen to one day have her too!


Seller thinks she is French and Late Victorian.

Both say she is gilt (9k) over sterling with paste stones. The frame looks French, and there were French cameo carvers, or the cameos could be imports from Italy. It's a great buy @Simona Buhus! I always looooove enameling and I bet she'll sparkle when you get her. Just be careful not to get water in her stones when/if you clean her.

 

Seller is a bit anglocentric. Something can never be French and Victorian.
But the seller also says ca 1900, which is the correct way of saying it, and also a more precise date.

 

I would venture the Medusa cameos themselves are Italian, bought in quantity by the brooch maker.

 

I was seeing swans, not geese or snakes!

 

I see Bev !!
nice to see you Bev !!!!!!!

 

(Waves back). We've been swamped at work with no end in sight. We're about the only locksmiths left on Cape Cod so we cover the entire Cape from Provincetown to Falmouth and we have the bank contracts so we're out on Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket as well. I have one office person who started in April and we just hired a second one who starts next Tuesday so I might actually get to retire before I turn 75 in March!

 

.............

 

That’s a stunner @Simona Buhus ! I look forwards to seeing it when she arrives.
@Bronwen thats a fabulous depiction of Nemesis, love the cheeky snake at her feet! Beautiful quality