Antonio Berini (Rome, 1770 - Milan, 1830) Cameo depicting the...
Antonio Berini (Rome, 1770 - Milan, 1830) Cameo depicting the profile bust of Napoleon wearing a bicorn hat. Signed "B.ER" at the bottom. Mounted on a velvet panel. In an oval ebonized frame. (h. 3.5 cm, frame 10x12 cm) (minor defects) Antonio Berini, a Roman engraver and pupil of Giovanni Pichler, settled in Milan at a young age, where he worked for prominent members of the local nobility, including Count Giovanni Battista Sommariva. Outspokenly anti-monarchist, Berini was arrested in Milan in 1805 during Napoleon's coronation as King of Italy. The arrest was triggered by a cameo featuring the sovereign's profile, commissioned by the city's archbishop: a natural red vein in the stone appeared along Bonaparte's neck, which authorities interpreted as a premeditated insult to the king. Very few pieces of his work survive today. Among his known works are: • Three cameos in the British Museum (inv. no. 1978/1002.998), including one in sardonyx depicting Napoleon without any political overtones. • A cameo with the bust of Odysseus (Ulysses) in the Capitoline Museums in Rome (inv. no. B37c), part of the Santarelli Collection. Reference Bibliography: C. Gere et al., The Art of the Jeweller, A Catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift to the British Museum, London 1984, no. 876/877/878.
Estimate € 2,200 - 2,400
Sold (fees included) € 2,700
Antonio Berini (Rome, 1770 - Milan, 1830) Cameo depicting the profile bust of Napoleon wearing a bicorn hat. Signed "B.ER" at the bottom. Mounted on a velvet panel. In an oval ebonized frame. (h. 3.5 cm, frame 10x12 cm) (minor defects) Antonio Berini, a Roman engraver and pupil of Giovanni Pichler, settled in Milan at a young age, where he worked for prominent members of the local nobility, including Count Giovanni Battista Sommariva. Outspokenly anti-monarchist, Berini was arrested in Milan in 1805 during Napoleon's coronation as King of Italy. The arrest was triggered by a cameo featuring the sovereign's profile, commissioned by the city's archbishop: a natural red vein in the stone appeared along Bonaparte's neck, which authorities interpreted as a premeditated insult to the king. Very few pieces of his work survive today. Among his known works are: • Three cameos in the British Museum (inv. no. 1978/1002.998), including one in sardonyx depicting Napoleon without any political overtones. • A cameo with the bust of Odysseus (Ulysses) in the Capitoline Museums in Rome (inv. no. B37c), part of the Santarelli Collection. Reference Bibliography: C. Gere et al., The Art of the Jeweller, A Catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift to the British Museum, London 1984, no. 876/877/878.
Estimate € 2,200 - 2,400
Sold (fees included) € 2,700
