Antique Shell Cameo After Thorvaldsen as Brooch, Around 1920

Come, O death, thou brother of sleep, Come but lead me away. Loose my ship's oars, Bring me to safe port. So says a famous chorale by Johann Sebastian Bach. The present shell cameo shows the personifications of the mythical pair of brothers - sleep and death - together with their mother Nox, the goddess of the night. The depiction meticulously follows the famous model of the Danish sculptor Berthel Thorvaldsen. In 1836, he created a marble relief of the winged goddess with her two sons in her arms. It is now in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen, together with its counterpart, which shows the personification of the day. Thorvaldsen's pictorial invention quickly became famous and was widely disseminated, mainly through printmaking, but also through stucco, plaster or porcelain execution. Our cameo was probably cut in Italy in the 1920s. In fine white Nox and her sons stand out from the dark ground of the shell. A small owl is set to the side of the night. A simple silver cord setting makes the cameo wearable as a brooch.

Estimate:£415.37

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