{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O106569"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106569/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF1534/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AF1534/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AF1534","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O106569/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O106569","accessionNumber":"570-1871","objectType":"Cameo","titles":[{"title":"Head of a man","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The art of engraving gemstones can be traced back to ancient Greece in the 8th century BC and earlier. Techniques passed down to the Egyptians and then to the Romans. There were major revivals of interest in engraved gems in Europe during the Byantine era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and again in the 18th and 19th centuries. At each stage cameos and intaglios, these skillful carvings on a minute scale, were much prized and collected, sometimes as symbols of power mounted in jewelled settings, sometimes as small objects for private devotion or enjoyment. This cameo, dating from the 5th century BCE, is Etruscan, made in the area roughly corresponding to Tuscany in modern Italy. It is difficult to make out detail under ordinary viewing conditions, but close up it shows the head of a young man in profile, backed by what appear to be part of a huge pair of wings. This has led to a possible identification with the god Hypnos. In Greek mythology the winged youths Thanatos (Death) and his brother Hypnos (Sleep) were the children of Nyx (Night).  Both had attributes - objects traditionally associated with them in images.  Thanatos has an upturned, guttering torch, denoting the extinction of life. Hypnos is often shown with an owl and a poppy, denoting night time and the drowsiness induced by the narcotic plant, or with wings attached to his head.","physicalDescription":"Circular cameo. Depicting the head of a young man, in profile facing right. He is clean-shaven. Behind him are what may be parts of a pair of wings.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"carnelian","id":"AAT133223"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"gemstone","id":"AAT201964"},{"text":"chalcedony","id":"AAT11134"},{"text":"microquartz","id":"x43759"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gem-engraving","id":"x41224"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Engraved gemstone;  Orange-red translucent carnelian. Set in gold ring","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Gemstones","id":"THES270329"}],"styles":[{"text":"Etruscan","id":"AAT20471"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AF1534"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"CA010","id":"THES388292"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Cameo","id":""}],[{"text":"Ring","id":"x43339"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"500 BC-400 BC","earliest":"-0500-01-01","latest":"-0400-01-01"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"8","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approximate","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Exact dimensions obscured by setting","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Ex Waterton Collection. Bought by the Museum following inclusion in Christie's sale (undated, not held), possibly lot 38. Edmund Waterton (1830-87) is referred to as one of a group of 'pioneer collectors' by Diana Scarisbrick, 'C.D.E. Fortnum as a collector of rings and gems', <u>C.D.E. Fortnum and the collecting and study of applied arts and sculpture in Victorian England</u>, Ed: Ben Thomas and Timothy Wilson, 1999.  His collection of approximately 760 rings, formed with the aim of illustrating the history of rings of all period and types, was acquired by the Museum in 1871 and 1899.  Waterton, in 1868 'of Walton Castle, near Wakefield, in the county of York, but now residing at Ostend in the Kingdom of Belgium', got into financial difficulties, and was later to be declared bankrupt. The collection of rings was held as security against a loan by the jeweller Robert Phillips for two years from March of that year. The loan was to be repaid by Waterton by March 1870, but the deadline was not met. Phillips having first contacted the Museum regarding the possible purchase of the rings in 1869, the purchase was recommended by the Board of the Museum in a minute of 20 April 1871. The majority of the rings are held in Metalwork Section, a small number in Sculpture Section.","historicalContext":"Engraved gemstones of all dates were widely collected in Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many were brought back by British Grand Tourists, and important collections were formed.","briefDescription":"Cameo, circular carnelian, set in gold ring, depicting head of a man, possibly Hypnos, Italy, 500-400 BC","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<font -u>List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington, Acquired During the Year 1871, Arranged According to the Dates of Acquisition.</font> London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., p. 45"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Machell Cox, E., <u>Victoria & Albert Museum Catalogue of Engraved Gems.</u> London, Typescript, 1935, Part 1,  p. 29"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Room of Wonder 1: Axel Vervoordt</u>. Exhibition Catalogue, Antwerp, DIVA (Antwerp: Lannoo, 2018), p. 77, cat. 104"}],"production":"Attribution note: Orange-red translucent chalcedony","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Hypnos","id":"N4670"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["570-1871"],"accessionNumberNum":"570","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-03-20","recordCreationDate":"2004-10-19","availableToBook":false}}