German Carnelian Cameo of Maria Theresa Mounted in a Brooch

The head, carved from pale green chalcedony, polished to a smooth lustre and with a drilled aperture at the crown, the hair in tight curls around the nape and crown; the silver-gilt torso dressed in a draped toga carefully chased with deep folds and traces of gilding across the high points; mounted on a later patinated bronze column stand in the neoclassical manner. 208 grams total, 10.9 cm high including stand



Acquired on the European art market.

This small-scale portrait evokes the Roman tradition of imperial portraiture and the early modern fascination with the ancient world. From the seventeenth century onwards, artists and collectors revived classical subjects through hardstone and gilt-metal compositions, often intended for display in Kunstkammer or Grand Tour contexts. The combination of a reused ancient or earlier element with a later mount was a practice typical of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, reflecting the period’s reverence for antiquity and its imaginative recontextualisation of ancient forms.

Modelled in the round sitting with legs spread, ithyphallic, supporting a bowl on his left shoulder. 81 grams, 44 mm



Previously belonging to J Stewart, Mayfair, London, UK; acquired in the early 1980s. Property of a Middlesex gentleman.

Portrait of a young woman, her head turned slightly to the right, with an oval face, thin almond-shaped eyes, and a large mouth with full lips; her curly hair arranged above her forehead in a series of rich curls; her clothing consisting of a pink tunic visible at the neck and shoulders; encaustic on wood. 1.73 kg total, 47 x 33.8 cm including frame

Condition In good condition, the painted board has been mounted on to a piece of wood in recent history. The surface has a dirt overlay that is expected with age. Minor losses, affecting the top edge and and left proper edge. Minor losses throughout and one vertical crack runs the length of the wood grain.

Private collection of Dr Fred Olsen (1891-1986) and Mrs Florence Ellen Olsen (née Quittenton, d.1996), Guilford, Connecticut, by at least 1961. Exhibited at 'Coptic Art', The Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 5 December 1961-7 January 1962, no.L-380-2, loan number L61.711.

Fayum portraits, painted on wood or linen, applied to the mummies of the Graeco-Roman period, are one of the most wonderful legacies that the koiné of the Graeco-Roman world has left us. Due to the favourable climate enhancing the state of preservation, these encaustic paintings have left us an almost photographic testimony of the faces of the inhabitants of Roman Egypt.