A Roman Cameo of Emperor Claudius: From Antiquity to the 19th Century, the Story of a Masterpiece
The profile is unmistakable. This museum-worthy piece combines an exceptionally large Roman cameo from the Julio-Claudian era with a mounting dated c. 1840 by the master, Adrien-Jean-Maximilien Vachette.
Estimation : 80 000/120 000 €
Roman art, c. 41–54 CE. Cameo depicting the bust of Emperor Claudius in profile, wearing a laurel wreath and the aegis, white and brown agate, with a chased gold setting, hallmark of Adrien-Jean-Maximilien Vachette (1753–1839) and re-hallmark of Alexandre-Jean-Marie Leferre, 6.4 x 5.9 cm/2.51 x 2.32 in (cameo), 9.9 x 7.8 cm/3.89 x 3.07 in (frame).
Estimate: €80,000/120,000
Some objects you only come across once in your career,” says auctioneer Alexandre Baron-Reverdito. And that meeting took place in a Paris apartment, during an inventory for a family not quite like any other, since it descended from Baron Alfred Octave Roger de Sivry (1806-1874), son of the collector Salomon Louis Roger (1765-1841), a Geneva-born banker who became Baron d’Empire in 1810.
Antoine Tarantino was struck by this precision, as the after-death sale of Baroness Roger de Sivry – held on April 18 and 19, 1904 at Drouot – was a benchmark in the field of cameos. The expert in classical archaeology, who for years had been in possession of a photo version of this rare catalog, discovered not only the reproduced cameo, but also an unexpected handwritten note stating that Vivant Denon had claimed in his time that the object was one of those offered to Napoleon I by Pius VI, following the 1797 Treaty of Tolentino. This information prompted the family to withdraw the object from the sale. Although this imperial – and even papal – provenance remains a hypothesis, it seems plausible, as the baron was perfectly eligible for a gift from the Emperor – he was one of the twenty merchants who financially supported his ascension from the outset.
An Exceptional Frame by Vachette
Beyond its pedigree, this cameo bearing the effigy of Emperor Claudius (41-54 CE) displays an exceptional quality of chasing, typical of the work of Roman craftsmen in the Julio-Claudian era, when the technique reached its apogee. “The presence of tool marks and natural wear on the protruding parts, as well as the patinated, unpolished reverse, are further proof of its age,” confirms Mr. Tarantino.
The mounting is also in keeping with the importance of this piece. “It is sumptuously virtuosic in the chasing of the material and the workmanship of the amati,” explains goldsmith Arsène Boutemy. He was able to decipher the two astonishingly superimposed hallmarks: on the top, that of Alexandre-Jean-Marie Leferre, and underneath, the “V” of Adrien-Jean-Maximilien Vachette. As the former was Leferre’s pupil, he was able to complete the work after his master’s death in 1839. Adrien Vachette was a leading Parisian silversmith in his field, particularly in the creation of mounts for antique cameos. A very similar one – with the same bird heads – containing a Byzantine ‘Madonna and Child‘ from the collections of Jean-Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art).
