¹⁄₂ in. (1.2 cm.) long

George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (1739-1817), Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire; thence by continuous descent.
The Marlborough Gems: Being a Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, Christie's, London, 28 June-1 July 1875, lot 230.
David Bromilow (1809-1898), Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, acquired from the above; thence by descent to his daughter, Julia Harriet Mary Jary, Bitteswell Hall, Leicestershire, 1898.
The Marlborough Gems: A Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, Purchased by the Late David Bromilow, Esq., of Bitteswell Hall, Lutterworth, the Property of Mrs. Jary, Christie's, London, 26-29 June 1899, lot 230.
with Francis E. Whelan (1848-1907), London, acquired from the above (according to the auctioneer's book).
Sir John Henry William Schroder, 1st Baronet and Baron von Schröder (1825-1910), Hamburg, Germany and Berkshire, England.
The Collection of Camei & Intagli Formed by Baron Schröder, Christie's, London, 11 July 1910, lot 5.
with Spink & Son, London, acquired from the above (according to auctioneer's book).
Giorgio Sangiorgi (1886-1965), Rome, acquired and brought to Switzerland, late 1930s; thence by continuous descent to the current owner.

N. Story-Maskelyne, The Marlborough Gems: Being a Collection of Works in Cameo and Intaglio Formed by George, Third Duke of Marlborough, London, 1870, p. 39, no. 230.
J. Boardman, et al., The Marlborough Gems, Formerly at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, London, 2009, p. 270, no. 639.
J. Boardman and C. Wagner, Masterpieces in Miniature: Engraved Gems from Prehistory to the Present, London, 2018, p. 178, no. 164.

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Lot Essay

The convex oval ringstone is engraved with a maenad dancing ecstatically and playing cymbals. Her weight is on one foot, on a short groundline, with the other leg bent back. Her head is thrown back and turned frontally, and her drapery billows around her. The stone is mounted as a ring in a 19th century gold setting.
The subject was popular on gems and rings already by the 4th century B.C. (see the Greek gold ring in the Getty Museum, no. 52 in J. Spier, Ancient Gems and Finger Rings). See also the glass example, no. 381, with a list of others, in E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Antike Gemmen in Deutschen Sammlungen, Band II, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Antikenabteilung, Berlin, and the cameo, no. 58 in C. Gasparri, Le Gemme Farnese. Boardman and Wagner, op cit., Masterpieces, comment that the present example may possibly be of the 18th century, but Sangiorgi and other earlier writers considered it ancient.