¹³⁄₁₆ in. (2 cm.) long

Castellani Collection (perhaps Alessandro Castellani (1823-1883), Rome).
Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland, late 1930s; thence by continuous descent to the current owner.

J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 235, no. 219.

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie's Inc

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

Sculpted in high relief is the mask of a comic slave, with a characteristic megaphone-like mouth. He has large eyes with deeply drilled pupils, a thick arching unibrow and conforming creases on his high forehead. Masks as well as depictions of masked actors were popular subjects for cameos, most typically cut in onyx or sardonyx in order to exploit the color contrasts of the strata of the stone. Very few are cut on monochrome stones, as here (see the carnelian example, no. 77 in Boardman, Engraved Gems, The Ionides Collection).