Bas-relief of a bearded man, 2nd-1st cents. BC. Hellenistic. Joseph Smith; from whom acquired by George III. The Royal Collection © 2012,
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. RCIN 65756

Sardonyx: white with brown highlights; open gold mount with quatrefoil reverse, suspension loop and ring - 3.8 x 3.4 cm, depth of relief 1.5 cm

Relief of the head of a bearded man, rendered almost wholly in the round but the left eye and cheek are drawn back close to the background. He wears a wreath, which appears to be composed of ears of wheat and perhaps leaves. The curly hair forms a curl on his broad forehead and is dressed in ringlets at the nape of his neck. The relief image is broken away from its background.

The exceptionally high relief suggests that this image may not be from an ordinary cameo but more likely from a larger object, possibly a vase. The head is Olympian but the comparatively short hair and beard are perhaps more suited to Asklepios, the God of Medicine, than Zeus, the mythological Greek king of the gods. The soft and sensitive cutting suggests a Hellenistic work of the second-first centuries BC.

This cameo is from the collection of Consul Joseph Smith of Venice and was acquired by George III with the Consul’s paintings, drawings, books, manuscripts and medals in 1762.  (Text adapted from Ancient and Modern Gems and Jewels in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2008).