A cameo engraved in the hollow of an agate bowl, white on brown, showing Aphrodite on a voyage across the sea. The full title of the bowl is Anadyomene, or Aphrodite Gone Astray.
Much is known about Aphrodite, not only from the works of Greek poets such as Homer or Hesiod but also from the fine arts, which have presented her life, her allure and her role as goddess of beauty and love. Her influence on artists reaches from antiquity to the present day. It is no wonder that she, the most beautiful of all women, inspired painters and sculptors in particular. In Renaissance and Baroque art above all, Aphrodite and her love affairs with gods, demigods and men were among the most popular subjects in every discipline of the fine arts.
The cameo engraving takes up the antique motif. Its inspiration came from various paintings, among them wall and panel paintings, and from the specific characteristics of the chosen stone itself, such as the cavity of the bowl.
Aphrodite is the main figure of the representation and the centre of attention. She dominates the piece and reduces all the other creatures around her to supporting elements that underline her position as goddess of love and beauty. She rides across the sea on an iconographically curious chimera, probably on her way to Kythera, the island of love.
The usual vessel for such a voyage would be a shell drawn by dolphins, accompanied by Poseidon and his helpers, Triton and the Nereid. Here, however, the traditional representation is varied in an interesting way. Aphrodite sits on a strange sea horse crossing the sea: its front part is a Triton playing music, accompanied by a Nereid carrying a pot for wine or cream. The vessel has a sail, held by two cupids behind Aphrodite. Two wind gods, hovering on small clouds to the left and right of the scene, blow into the sail, so that the vessel can swiftly make its way to the island of love. Another putto sits on the tail of the sea horse and plays music to accompany the voyage, while his companion swims ahead of the vessel to point the way.
Only the rather serious expression of the Triton at the front of the sea horse, playing the lyre, does not quite fit the joyful, amorous scene. Whether the engraver meant to refer to Hephaestus, Aphrodite's betrayed husband, is an open question; truth, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder.
Materials: agate, brown-white
Dimensions: 270 × 265 mm (height × width)
A cameo engraved in the hollow of an agate bowl, white on brown, showing Aphrodite on a voyage across the sea. The full title of the bowl is Anadyomene, or Aphrodite Gone Astray.
Much is known about Aphrodite, not only from the works of Greek poets such as Homer or Hesiod but also from the fine arts, which have presented her life, her allure and her role as goddess of beauty and love. Her influence on artists reaches from antiquity to the present day. It is no wonder that she, the most beautiful of all women, inspired painters and sculptors in particular. In Renaissance and Baroque art above all, Aphrodite and her love affairs with gods, demigods and men were among the most popular subjects in every discipline of the fine arts.
The cameo engraving takes up the antique motif. Its inspiration came from various paintings, among them wall and panel paintings, and from the specific characteristics of the chosen stone itself, such as the cavity of the bowl.
Aphrodite is the main figure of the representation and the centre of attention. She dominates the piece and reduces all the other creatures around her to supporting elements that underline her position as goddess of love and beauty. She rides across the sea on an iconographically curious chimera, probably on her way to Kythera, the island of love.
The usual vessel for such a voyage would be a shell drawn by dolphins, accompanied by Poseidon and his helpers, Triton and the Nereid. Here, however, the traditional representation is varied in an interesting way. Aphrodite sits on a strange sea horse crossing the sea: its front part is a Triton playing music, accompanied by a Nereid carrying a pot for wine or cream. The vessel has a sail, held by two cupids behind Aphrodite. Two wind gods, hovering on small clouds to the left and right of the scene, blow into the sail, so that the vessel can swiftly make its way to the island of love. Another putto sits on the tail of the sea horse and plays music to accompany the voyage, while his companion swims ahead of the vessel to point the way.
Only the rather serious expression of the Triton at the front of the sea horse, playing the lyre, does not quite fit the joyful, amorous scene. Whether the engraver meant to refer to Hephaestus, Aphrodite's betrayed husband, is an open question; truth, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder.
Materials: agate, brown-white
Dimensions: 270 × 265 mm (height × width)
