Pendant with Renaissance cameo 18 ct yellow gold. Dainty, curved cartouche shape decorated on both sides with finely chased foliage and scrollwork. The relief front decorated with green, red and white champlevé enamel. Set in the center with an oval cameo of two-layered chalcedony (17.0 x 13 mm) with a detailed carved antique relief bust of a lady in back view, her head turned to the left in profile. In the type of a Hellenistic ruler, dressed in a chiton and himation, her curled hair tied in a knot at the back of her head, entwined with ribbons and adorned with a narrow diadem. Most of the enamel on the frame has been lost, two holes drilled for former pendilia; cameo with traces of age and partially bumped/damaged. damaged. H 3.5 cm. Weight 6.82 g. Cameo probably Italy, late 16th/early 17th century, the frame probably 17th century or later The large collection of historical cameos in the British Museum in London contains several comparative examples of our cameo, all of which dated to the 16th or early 17th century. Among them is a finger ring with a a finger ring with a layered onyx showing a similarly exquisitely carved bust of an ancient empress (British Museum 361), an onyx cameo with the head of a lady facing lady facing left (SLBCameos 116) and a cameo pendant with a profile head of head of Diana in a cartouche-shaped gold enamel frame (1824,0301.30 British Museum).