Marlborough gem
Encyclopedia
The "Marlborough gem" is a carved onyx
cameo that depicts an initiation ceremony of Psyche and Eros
. It is the most famous engraved gem in the extensive and prominent collection both inherited (through a marriage in 1762) and expanded by George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough
. It is conserved in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where it is called Cameo with the Wedding of Cupid and Psyche, reflecting the view of its subject generally held until the last century.
In the carving, Cupid and Psyche are depicted as veiled putti accompanied by other infants, one of whom holds over their heads a winnowing-fan filled with pomegranate
s, emblems of bios
and fertility
. Signed Tryphon, it was probably made in the 1st century CE, though its date has been questioned and a case made for a 16th century origin. The Gem was given by Peter Paul Rubens, who declared that he loved gems beyond all other relics of antiquity, to Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
, in the 17th century. Another famous gem from the Marlborough Collection that is also sometimes known just as the "Marlborough Gem" is a head of Antinous
.
The artist's signature is minutely incised into the black background of the stone, just above the central figures in the frieze
-like procession. Various 18th-century sources reported that Louis XIV of France
had been prepared to offer the equivalent of £4000 in the previous century. An early 16th-century drawing of the subject by the architect and antiquarian
Pirro Ligorio
was seen among the papers of Rascas de Bagarris
recorded by Jacob Spon. The gem was carefully drawn by Theodorus Netscher and engraved by Bernard Picart
for Philipp von Stosch
's Gemmae antiquae caelatae (1724) which placed its magnified image in the hands of all Europe's antiquarian
s and rendered it part of the visual repertory of milordi on the Grand Tour
, who knew it from its illustration added to the 1728 French edition of the Jonathan Richardsons' (Senior and Junior) Account..., published in French as Traité de la Peinture et de la Sculpture... Amsterdam, 1728; in the 18th century the English could be counted on to pay top prices for outstanding carved hardstones of assured antiquity.
Once in the Marlborough collection, the gem was often redrawn: Giovanni Battista Cipriani
painted a version of the gem, Francesco Bartolozzi
engraved it, James Tassie
cast it in opaque coloured glass paste, and for Josiah Wedgwood
, first William Hackwood reproduced a low relief from Tassie's cast, and then John Flaxman
modeled it at a larger scale; both versions were executed in Wedgwood & Bentley's white-on-blue jasperware
that imitated cameos; the 'Marlborough Gem' first appeared in Wedgwood's 1779 catalogue. The Wedgwood plaque, available in several sizes, appears mounted on Parisian and London furniture, and a marble relief of the scene is set in the chimneypiece of the red drawing room at the original home of the Marlborough gems. It became so familiar that the caricaturist James Gillray
engraved a parody of it in 1797, lampooning the long-delayed marriage of Lord Derby
to the actress Elizabeth Farren
, who is travestied as a tall, lanky veiled figure, who is offered a countess's coronet
instead of the winnowing fan of pomegranates, with the plump cherubic Lord Derby at her side. By 1870 the Marlborough collection cataloguer observed, "the design has been reproduced in all sorts and materials of art, perhaps oftener than any other similar subject."
The 7th Duke of Marlborough sold the gem, catalogued as “The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche,” together with the other Marlborough Gems, at Christie Manson & Wood, London
, in 1875. The collection, sold in a single lot that brought £35,000, went to David Bromilow of Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, who maintained the collection intact; when his daughter subsequently sold the Marlborough gem with the rest of the Bromilow Marlborough hardstones by Christie's, 26–29 July 1899, the cameo was sold for £2000. Now the collection is very widely dispersed, with large numbers in American museums. Pictures of impressions, electrotypes
and many originals are now published on-line by the Beazley Archive.
Onyx
Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony. The colors of its bands range from white to almost every color . Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white.-Etymology:...
cameo that depicts an initiation ceremony of Psyche and Eros
Cupid and Psyche
Cupid and Psyche , is a legend that first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the 2nd century CE. Apuleius likely used an earlier tale as the basis for his story, modifying it to suit the thematic needs of his novel.It has...
. It is the most famous engraved gem in the extensive and prominent collection both inherited (through a marriage in 1762) and expanded by George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough
George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough
George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough KG, PC, FRS , styled Marquess of Blandford until 1758, was a British courtier and politician...
. It is conserved in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where it is called Cameo with the Wedding of Cupid and Psyche, reflecting the view of its subject generally held until the last century.
In the carving, Cupid and Psyche are depicted as veiled putti accompanied by other infants, one of whom holds over their heads a winnowing-fan filled with pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s, emblems of bios
Bios
Bios or BIOS may refer to:*English transliteration of the ancient Greek term for life, , giving rise to the common prefix bio-, as in biology*BIOS, the Basic Input/Output System firmware of an IBM PC-compatible computer...
and fertility
Fertility symbol
A fertility symbol is an object used by early historical human societies representing fertility, reminders of which remain in folklore today.-Ancient forms:...
. Signed Tryphon, it was probably made in the 1st century CE, though its date has been questioned and a case made for a 16th century origin. The Gem was given by Peter Paul Rubens, who declared that he loved gems beyond all other relics of antiquity, to Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel KG, was a prominent English courtier during the reigns of King James I and King Charles I, but he made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politician. When he died he possessed 700 paintings, along with large collections of sculpture,...
, in the 17th century. Another famous gem from the Marlborough Collection that is also sometimes known just as the "Marlborough Gem" is a head of Antinous
Antinous
Antinoüs or Antinoös was a beautiful Bithynian youth and the favourite of the Roman emperor Hadrian...
.
The artist's signature is minutely incised into the black background of the stone, just above the central figures in the frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
-like procession. Various 18th-century sources reported that Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
had been prepared to offer the equivalent of £4000 in the previous century. An early 16th-century drawing of the subject by the architect and antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
Pirro Ligorio
Pirro Ligorio
Pirro Ligorio was an Italian architect, painter, antiquarian and garden designer.-Biography:Ligorio was born in Naples. In 1534 he moved to Rome, where he developed his interest in antiquities, and was named superintendent to the ancient monuments by the Popes Pius IV and Paul IV...
was seen among the papers of Rascas de Bagarris
Rascas de Bagarris
Pierre-Antoine Rascas, sieur de Bagarris et du Bourguet , an advocate at the Parlement of Aix, was a founder of the science of historical numismatics and one of the most notable antiquaries of his time...
recorded by Jacob Spon. The gem was carefully drawn by Theodorus Netscher and engraved by Bernard Picart
Bernard Picart
Bernard Picart , was a French engraver, son of Etienne Picart, also an engraver. He was born in Paris and died in Amsterdam. He moved to Antwerp in 1696, and then spent a year in Amsterdam before returning to France at the end of 1698...
for Philipp von Stosch
Philipp von Stosch
Baron Philipp von Stosch was a Prussian antiquarian who lived in Rome and Florence.Stosch was born in Küstrin in the Neumark region of Brandenburg...
's Gemmae antiquae caelatae (1724) which placed its magnified image in the hands of all Europe's antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
s and rendered it part of the visual repertory of milordi on the Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
, who knew it from its illustration added to the 1728 French edition of the Jonathan Richardsons' (Senior and Junior) Account..., published in French as Traité de la Peinture et de la Sculpture... Amsterdam, 1728; in the 18th century the English could be counted on to pay top prices for outstanding carved hardstones of assured antiquity.
Once in the Marlborough collection, the gem was often redrawn: Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Giovanni Battista Cipriani , Italian painter and engraver, Pistoiese by descent, was born in Florence.-History:His first lessons were given him by a Florentine of English descent, Ignatius Hugford, and then under Anton Domenico Gabbiani...
painted a version of the gem, Francesco Bartolozzi
Francesco Bartolozzi
Francesco Bartolozzi was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London.He was born in Florence...
engraved it, James Tassie
James Tassie
James Tassie was a Scottish gem engraver and modeller.He was born of humble parentage at Pollokshaws, in Glasgow. During his earlier years he worked as a stonemason, but, having seen the collection of paintings brought together in Glasgow by Robert Foulis and Andrew Foulis, the printers, he...
cast it in opaque coloured glass paste, and for Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his "Am I Not A Man And A Brother?" anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family...
, first William Hackwood reproduced a low relief from Tassie's cast, and then John Flaxman
John Flaxman
John Flaxman was an English sculptor and draughtsman.-Early life:He was born in York. His father was also named John, after an ancestor who, according to family tradition, had fought for Parliament at the Battle of Naseby, and afterwards settled as a carrier or farmer in Buckinghamshire...
modeled it at a larger scale; both versions were executed in Wedgwood & Bentley's white-on-blue jasperware
Jasperware
Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of stoneware first developed by Josiah Wedgwood, although some authorities have described it as a type of porcelain...
that imitated cameos; the 'Marlborough Gem' first appeared in Wedgwood's 1779 catalogue. The Wedgwood plaque, available in several sizes, appears mounted on Parisian and London furniture, and a marble relief of the scene is set in the chimneypiece of the red drawing room at the original home of the Marlborough gems. It became so familiar that the caricaturist James Gillray
James Gillray
James Gillray , was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810.- Early life :He was born in Chelsea...
engraved a parody of it in 1797, lampooning the long-delayed marriage of Lord Derby
Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby
Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby PC , styled Lord Strange between 1771 and 1776, was a British peer and politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries...
to the actress Elizabeth Farren
Elizabeth Farren
Elizabeth Farren was an English actress of the late 18th century.-Early life:Elizabeth Farren was the daughter of George Farren of Cork, Ireland, formerly a surgeon and apothecary, then later an actor, and his wife of Liverpool, Lancashire, the daughter of a publican or brewer.At a very early age...
, who is travestied as a tall, lanky veiled figure, who is offered a countess's coronet
Coronet
A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. Unlike a crown, a coronet never has arches.The word stems from the Old French coronete, a diminutive of coronne , itself from the Latin corona .Traditionally, such headgear is – as indicated by the German equivalent...
instead of the winnowing fan of pomegranates, with the plump cherubic Lord Derby at her side. By 1870 the Marlborough collection cataloguer observed, "the design has been reproduced in all sorts and materials of art, perhaps oftener than any other similar subject."
The 7th Duke of Marlborough sold the gem, catalogued as “The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche,” together with the other Marlborough Gems, at Christie Manson & Wood, London
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
, in 1875. The collection, sold in a single lot that brought £35,000, went to David Bromilow of Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, who maintained the collection intact; when his daughter subsequently sold the Marlborough gem with the rest of the Bromilow Marlborough hardstones by Christie's, 26–29 July 1899, the cameo was sold for £2000. Now the collection is very widely dispersed, with large numbers in American museums. Pictures of impressions, electrotypes
Electrotyping
Electrotyping is a chemical method for forming metal parts that exactly reproduce a model. The method was invented by Moritz von Jacobi in Russia in 1838, and was immediately adopted for applications in printing and several other fields...
and many originals are now published on-line by the Beazley Archive.