This cameo is the work of the versatile Roman artist Benedetto Pistrucci, who marked the piece with his name in capitals. Pistrucci had made a name for himself as a stone cutter, medallist, coin die cutter and sculptor. But his main passion was cameos.
Pistrucci varied the theme of the 'maenad' on cameos more frequently, for example on a specimen in the Staatliche Münzsammlung in Munich. - The originally unmounted cameo was mounted at Cartier in Paris in the 1920/30s. (AVS)
Former collection Harry Dittrich Hellebronth of Tiszabeö, Hanover
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