Apollo Hardstone Cameo

Small scale Victorian Grand Tour hardstone cameo depicting Apollo with his Lyre c.1870.

High relief carving in banded agate which on close inspection reveals bloodstone markings.

15 carat gold setting.

Cameo 2 cms by 1.8 cms.

The model for this Apollo is likely both the Apollo Belvedere and the Apollo Citharoedus.

To the  Grand Tourists  of the c18th and c19th the Apollo Belvedere(housed in the Vatican Museum) was the most popular rediscovered Roman statue of all and was celebrated as the ultimate standard of male beauty and classical perfection.The original marble statue (a 2nd-century Roman copy of a Greek bronze by Leochares) was so revered that Renaissance masters like Michelangelo used it as anatomical inspiration.

 The marble statue of Apollo Citharoedus, depicting the Greek god playing a lyre is currently housed in the Palazzo Altemps It is a 1st or 2nd-century AD Roman copy based on a Hellenistic original.