Beautifully carved 3-layered 18th century hardstone  cameo depicting a Bacchante  c.1750 set to a smooth and substantial buttery 22ct(marked) modern gold ring.
Weight 18grams.
Size 8.75.
The Bacchante is depicted with eyes gazing heavenward in an expression of ecstasy, her hair draped with grapes and vine leaves.She wears an animal skin at the shoulder. There are natural inclusions visible in the stone.
The speckled agate stone suggests German material.For similar work see Ingrid Weber’s Geschnittene Steine(1995).
One of the mystery religions or cults of the Ancient World, Bacchanalia were popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia.Beginning in 200BC the cults persisted well into the Principate of the Roman Imperial era.