Superlative shell and 15ct gold cameo brooch depicting a profile portrait of the Venus d'Arles, attributable to the workshop of Saulini.c.1860.
A similar cameo of the same subject can be found in the Hull Grundy Collection, British Museum. 
Fine tiered ropetwist frame. 2.5inches.
Provenance: Hercules Collection,Bonhams Oct.2021.
Tomasso Saulini 1793-1864 and later his son Luigi Saulini 1819–1883 were amongst the most celebrated cameo-cutters in Rome in the mid-19th century, working in both hardstone and shell. Recorded in Murray's Guides to Rome from 1853. Exhibited at the International Exhibition in London in 1862.
The highly significant Venus d'Arles was excavated in 1651 and in the collection of Louis XIV until the Revolution of 1793 and has been in the Louvre ever since.It is believed to be a copy of the Aphrodite of Thespiae by Praxiteles, ordered by the courtesan Phryne.