Jewellery, Watches, Silver & Objects of Vertu

A late 19th century shell cameo brooch, oval, carved to depict Aurora (Dawn) leading Apollo, God of the Sun, his golden chariot drawn by horses, with winged putto, Twilight, above, bearing a flaming torch, surrounded by dancing maidens (the Hours), all bringing to earth the light of the New Day, mounted within an entwined gold border, length 7.1cm.

£200-£260

The image is after Guido Reni’s L’Aurora, 1613-14, the ceiling fresco painted for the Casino dell’ Aurora adjacent to the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospiglosi, Rome, and commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese.