Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 37 25 Sep 2019
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Emma, Lady Hamilton (1765-1815), white glass paste cameo portrait, late 18th century, by James (1735-1799) or William (1777-1860) Tassie, after a gem by Filippo Rega, her head and shoulder bust to r., as 'Hope', her hair with single braid and wearing band, signed in Greek below ΡΕΓΑ, 40 x 32mm. (cf. S. Comfort, Matthew Boulton's Naval Medals, Wimbledon 2017, p. 94, a contemporary plaster cast illustrated); with a smaller example of the same image in Berlin iron, 29.5 x 22.5mm., both extremely fine, the second appears to be unrecorded (2)
In the portrait, Lady Hamilton's hair is bound and braided in a self-conscious attempt at a Grecian coiffure, designed to complement Emma's famous Grecian profile or here Elpis, the Goddess of Hope. The cameo is identical to that in the National Maritime Museum (JEW0338), there attributed to William Tassie, this in a gilt-metal mount and set in a black frame; the British Museum has a similar but intaglio image (1867, 0708.1), in amber glass, set in gold frame with suspension loop attached, for use as a seal and supposed to have been owned by Lord Nelson. A left-facing hardstone cameo with a very similar image was sold at Sotheby's, Trafalgar - Nelson and The Napoleonic Wars, including The Matcham Collection, 5 October, 2005, lot 154. A similar Tassie was sold in these rooms, 27 September 2018 (lot 1636). The Berlin iron image appears to be unrecorded.
Filippo Rega (1761– post 1833), born in Chieti on 26th August 1761, was trained in Rome by the famous Pichler family between 1776 and 1787, before moving to Naples where he became director of the Laboratorio della Pietre Dure di Napoli, an institution founded by Carlo di Borbone in 1738.
(250-350 GBP)
In the portrait, Lady Hamilton's hair is bound and braided in a self-conscious attempt at a Grecian coiffure, designed to complement Emma's famous Grecian profile or here Elpis, the Goddess of Hope. The cameo is identical to that in the National Maritime Museum (JEW0338), there attributed to William Tassie, this in a gilt-metal mount and set in a black frame; the British Museum has a similar but intaglio image (1867, 0708.1), in amber glass, set in gold frame with suspension loop attached, for use as a seal and supposed to have been owned by Lord Nelson. A left-facing hardstone cameo with a very similar image was sold at Sotheby's, Trafalgar - Nelson and The Napoleonic Wars, including The Matcham Collection, 5 October, 2005, lot 154. A similar Tassie was sold in these rooms, 27 September 2018 (lot 1636). The Berlin iron image appears to be unrecorded.
Filippo Rega (1761– post 1833), born in Chieti on 26th August 1761, was trained in Rome by the famous Pichler family between 1776 and 1787, before moving to Naples where he became director of the Laboratorio della Pietre Dure di Napoli, an institution founded by Carlo di Borbone in 1738.
(250-350 GBP)