18K (750) gold brooch set with a cameo on agate, depicting t - Lot 3

18K (750) gold brooch set with a cameo on agate, depicting the meeting between Alexander the Great and Diogenes. Probably 17th century for the cameo, 19th century for the setting. Dimensions: approx. 5.4x4cm. Gross weight: 17g (cracks, chips) A 17th century cameo brooch "Alexander the Great addressed Diogenes: - Ask what you want, I'll give it to you Diogenes replied: - Get out of my sun" This exchange took place in 336 B.C., and was recounted by Plutarch (The Life of Alexander) and Cicero (The Tusculars). Diogenes of Sinope, a cynical philosopher, spent his time between Athens and Corinth, sitting in a jar and enjoying himself as a dog.The cameo we're presenting today relates this famous episode, and is interesting in more ways than one. It is carved on two planes: the main scene takes place in the lighter part of the stone, standing out against a dark background. The properties of agate have been particularly well understood and highlighted: the figures and details in the foreground are made of a white layer sprinkled with tiny light grey and white dots, giving them a certain vibrancy. Brown serves as a backdrop for the whole. It's truly a small painting, a mini-work of art, adorned with a highly intellectual subject matter aimed more at the scholar than the aesthete. This is characteristic of seventeenth-century glyptics, which focused on depicting historical events and portraits of great men. It's also amusing to note that our artist depicted Diogenes in a barrel, as was traditionally done. However, thanks to 19th-century archaeological work, we know that the wooden barrel as we know it was invented in the 1st century BC. Our Diogenes has suffered the consequences of a mistranslation of the word "pithos" as "barrel", when in fact it refers to a jar.Philippe Malgouyres, Engraved stones, Cameos, intaglios and rings from the Guy Ladrière Collection, Paris 2022