Accession number
MG 098
Date made
16th century AD
Materials
Mineral; Silica; Quartz; Sardonyx; Metal; Silver (possibly)
Collection
Dimensions (cm)
Category
Copyright Attribution
Cameo pendant (head of Medusa) | Mineral,Silica,Quartz,Sardonyx, Metal,Silver (possibly) | 16th century AD | The Hunt Collection | PD
Provenance
File of material relating to a cameo pendant, head of Medusa. Includes photocopy of information card with photocopy of image of object (date unspecified); letter, and photocopy of same (24 July 1958), from Professor Doctor Hans Wentzel, Technische Hochschule Stuttgart Lehrstuhl für Kunstgeschichte, Stuttgart, to John Hunt, Senior. Writes, 'As to the two calcedony cameos (not clear that this letter relates to present object; it could pertain to either MG 097 or MG 098) in your possession I would be very interested to see photographs or plaster casts. The example on the Basel Cross that you mention, it really could be an early medieval imitation of antique phalera... Nobody has up to now put the question if these great heads in late antique fashion could perhaps be early medieval'; postcard, and photocopy thereof (19 September 1958), from Wentzel to John Hunt, Senior, comments that cameo is absolutely unique (not clear that this postcard relates to present object; it could also pertain to either MG 097 or MG 098); note (date unspecified), and photocopy of same, which reads 'large cameo from the collection Count Erbach'; Hunt Museum object comment sheet (10 July 1996) containing comments made about object by Lindsay Allason-Jones, Museum of Antiquities, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She attributes it to either Roman or Renaissance times; two black and white photographs (dates unspecified) of present object; another black and white photograph of similar object (date unspecified); card (date unspecified) which gives basic descriptive information about object, for example, medium and dimensions and states, 'largest known cameo'; paper in German by Hans Wentzel entitled 'Die vier Kameen im Aachener Domschatz und die Französische Gemmenschneidekunst des 13 Jahrhunderts' published in 'Zeit Schrift für Kunst Wissen Schaft' (Berlin, 1954).
