Cupid and Psyche European 800 Continental Silver Marcasite Shell Cameo Pendant/Brooch

Cupid and Psyche European 800 Continental Silver Marcasite Shell Cameo Pendant/Brooch featuring a beautiful shell cameo, framed with marcasites, depicting a passionate embrace between lovers Cupid and Psyche. This relationship is accepted as the greatest love story in Greek mythology. The pendant bail is neatly hinged and folds back when being worn as a brooch and it measures 3cm tall and 2.5cm at its widest point and it weighs 3.6g.

The design of the cameo is based on a sculpture, 'Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss' by Italian artist Antonio Canova first commissioned in 1787 by Colonel John Campbell. It is regarded as a masterpiece of Neoclassical sculpture, and shows the mythological lovers at a moment of great emotion, characteristic of the emerging movement of Romanticism. The sculptor portrayed the loving embrace of two major characters from Greek mythology: Love, or Cupid in Latin, and the soul, Psyche.