Featured Signed Cameo- let's learn together!

fridolina · Jan 18, 2021

Bronwen said: ↑

I, like the dealer who brought the vase to William Hamilton's attention, believe the scene is Orpheus arriving just as Eurydice has been struck down by the serpent, with Hades patiently waiting on the other side, knowing Orpheus cannot save her & she will be his. Cupid is in the scene to indicate the two are a loving couple & seems to be sounding the alarm, leading Orpheus to the site.

This is not how the traditional story goes, Orpheus does not try to rescue her from the Underworld until she has been taken down & is not there to help when she is wounded, but it accounts for all the elements in a way that none of the many other proposed interpretations does. The question has never been settled.

You've opened a whole can of worms with this question. Josiah Wedgwood had a monograph printed with the many interpretations of this scene and of the one on the other side (about which I haven't a clue). Many hypotheses revolve around the idea that the bearded serpent is a ketos, a sea serpent, & that therefore the figures must have a link to the ocean. In these scenarios the lady is the nymph Thetis. Raphael used similar serpents to draw the chariot of Saturn/Cronos:

I have only seen cameos like the one in question in that same brown. I surmise they were souvenirs of the British Museum or perhaps the Wedgwood factory, if they gave tours.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Very interesting info. Learned a lot.

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Featured Signed Cameo- let's learn together!

fridolina Well-Known Member

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