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Cameo with portrait head of Germanicus
Roman
Imperial Period
early 1st century A.D.
Medium/Technique
Sardonyx
Dimensions
Overall: 2.2 x 3 x 0.7 cm (7/8 x 1 3/16 x 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Henry Lillie Pierce Fund
Accession Number98.753
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsJewelry, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Cameos
DescriptionWhite on brown layered sardonyx. Cameo, in modern gold setting. Bust of Germanicus in profile to the right. Germanicus Julius Caesar (15 BC – AD 19) was the great-nephew and step-grandson of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. The bust was restored in gold in the 16th century.
ProvenanceProbably Cardinal Francesco Boncompagni (b. 1596 - d. 1641), Rome [see note 1]; by descent to Prince of Piombino, Gregorio Boncompagni Ludovisi (b. 1642 – d. 1707), Rome [note 2]. By 1892, Michal Tyszkiewicz (b. 1828 - d. 1897), Rome [note 3]; June 8 - 10, 1898, posthumous Tyszkiewicz sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, lot 272. 1898, Edward Perry Warren (b. 1860 - d. 1928), Rome and London; 1898, sold by Warren to the MFA for $69,618 [note 4]. (Accession Date: September 20, 1898)
Notes:
[1]Most of the Boncompagni Ludovisi collection of gems was formed by Cardinal Francesco Boncompagni in the 17th century. However it is possible that his heir, Girolamo Boncompagni (b. 1622 - d. 1684), added to the collection. Upon his death in 1684, Girolamo willed his collection to the Ospedali della Vita e della Morte in Bologna. The family heir, Gregorio Boncompagni, disputed the will and eventually got the gem collection back (see https://villaludovisi.org/2013/05/22/new-from-1706-an-inventory-and-cash-assessment-of-coins-and-medals-in-the-museo-boncompagni-ludovisi-part-ii-of-ii/).
[2]The cameo is described in a 1706 inventory of the Boncompagni Ludovisi collection as “testa di Tiberio in fondo Sardonico mancante il collo, e busto alli quali è supplito con Oro, nel quale è legata.” Several copies of this inventory exist in different archives, including in the private family archive of the Boncompagni Ludovisi. It was also copied in an unpublished 1949 treatise by archivist Giuseppe Felici titled "Vicende della collezione di gemme e medaglie dei Boncompagni Ludovisi."
[3]Wilhelm Froehner, La Collection Tyszkiewicz (Munich, 1892), p. 31, pl. XXXIII, 1.
[4]Total price for MFA accession nos. 98.641-98.940.
Notes:
[1]Most of the Boncompagni Ludovisi collection of gems was formed by Cardinal Francesco Boncompagni in the 17th century. However it is possible that his heir, Girolamo Boncompagni (b. 1622 - d. 1684), added to the collection. Upon his death in 1684, Girolamo willed his collection to the Ospedali della Vita e della Morte in Bologna. The family heir, Gregorio Boncompagni, disputed the will and eventually got the gem collection back (see https://villaludovisi.org/2013/05/22/new-from-1706-an-inventory-and-cash-assessment-of-coins-and-medals-in-the-museo-boncompagni-ludovisi-part-ii-of-ii/).
[2]The cameo is described in a 1706 inventory of the Boncompagni Ludovisi collection as “testa di Tiberio in fondo Sardonico mancante il collo, e busto alli quali è supplito con Oro, nel quale è legata.” Several copies of this inventory exist in different archives, including in the private family archive of the Boncompagni Ludovisi. It was also copied in an unpublished 1949 treatise by archivist Giuseppe Felici titled "Vicende della collezione di gemme e medaglie dei Boncompagni Ludovisi."
[3]Wilhelm Froehner, La Collection Tyszkiewicz (Munich, 1892), p. 31, pl. XXXIII, 1.
[4]Total price for MFA accession nos. 98.641-98.940.