LOT 0396

Banded Agate Intaglio Depicting Perseus and Andromeda in Gold Pendant

ITALY, 17TH-18TH CENTURY A.D.

2 3/8 in. (13.64 grams, 61 mm).

Translucent intaglio featuring a dynamic mythological scene of Perseus rescuing Princess Andromeda; Perseus depicted nude and wearing a crested helmet, holding a round shield with a Medusa mask in his hand and a spear in the other, Andromeda standing behind him and dressed in long flowing robes; set in an elaborate late 18th-century English gold frame; supplied with a museum-quality impression.

Acquired on the European art market.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13343-257990.

Cf. 18th Century intaglio representing Perseus with the head of Medusa, in BM, inv.no.1913,0307.128, in Dalton, O.M, Catalogue of the Engraved Gems of the Post-Classical Periods in the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography in the British Museum, London, 1915, no.788.

Andromeda was the daughter of the Aethiopian king Cepheus and Cassiopeia. According to the legend, Cassiopeia angered Neptune by claiming that her daughter was more beautiful than the nereids, and Neptune, in revenge, sent a monster to ravage the coast. Told that the only way to save their country is to sacrifice their daughter to the creature, Andromeda’s parents chained her to a rock by the sea. The demigod Perseus, son of Jupiter, killed the sea monster by petrifying it with the head of Medusa and rescued Andromeda.