Post Classical Agate Cameo with a Helmeted Bust

Printed poster on mid-blue coarse paper with rose overprint; Guildhall Portsmouth concert with 'Colosseum' band and 'New Jazz Orchestra'. 22 grams, 76.2 x 51 cm



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a Harwich, UK, collector.

'Colosseum' were an innovative band in the late 1960s, mixing blues, rock and jazz-based improvisational styles. Members of the group were previously with John Mayall's 'Bluesbreakers'. The original band split up in 1971, and reformed in 1994 and toured in Germany and elsewhere. With a new line-up, they are still playing today.

Comprising a D-section hoop expanding towards the open-backed setting set with a large brown agate intaglio modelled as two conjoined standing owls, the one at the front facing, and the other looking to the right, intricate feather and facial details, the cameo with a loss on the right-hand side, with the ring incorporating a fine gold repair. 12.74 grams, 24.90 mm overall, 17.00 mm internal diameter (approximate size British M 1/2, USA 6 1/4, Europe 13.09, Japan 12)



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.13318-257961.

Even in the Italian Renaissance, the owl, an ancient symbol of the goddess Athena, symbolised wisdom. The owl was also a symbol of the night and death, as is so eloquently illustrated in the 17th-century painting Vanité à la chouette in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, which depicts an owl sitting on a human skull next to an extinguished candle.

Finely modelled with a black-and-white enamelled mask, the features animated by rose-cut diamond eyes and a small ruby set into the open mouth; the head framed by a serrated gold collet and flanked by silver foliate clusters each set with a further rose-cut diamond; the shank formed as asymmetrical rococo scrolls with pierced and chased detailing throughout, the reverse of the bezel open, revealing white enamel engraved with faint traces of an original posy inscription. 2.28 grams, 21.10 mm overall, 17.45 x 16.35 mm internal diameter (approximate size British N, USA 6 1/2, Europe 13.72, Japan 13)

The enamel remains entirely original and unrestored.

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.13321-257909.

Though now largely worn, the underside of the bezel would likely have borne a concealed love sentiment, comparable to the formula Je cache mes amours ('I mask my love'), found on related rings of mid-18th-century manufacture. The theme of the masked lover, drawn from contemporary masquerade culture and its associations with flirtation, secrecy, and clandestine courtship, here transforms the jewel into a witty and intimate token.