A hardstone cameo mourning brooch, the black and white onyx cameo (cracked) carved to depict Niobe, the ancient Greek personification of grief, à dextra, with down cast eyes and wearing a veil, collet set with glazed hairwork panel verso, within a black and white enamelled frame, brooch length 58mm. £100-£150

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Private Collection of a Gentleman.

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In ancient Greek mythology Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus (one of the four Great Sinners), and the wife of Amphion, king of Thebes, to whom she bore many children. According to the myth, she boasted of her superiority to the goddess Leto, who had only two children, the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis. In retaliation offended Leto sent her children to slay all of Niobe’s offspring. Niobe, in grief, returned to the land of her father and was turned into a rock on Mount Sipylus, an image of everlasting sorrow, with water flowing down her face like tears. Niobe was a popular subject in ancient and post classical art and literature; In Shakepeare, Hamlet describes his grieving mother as “like Niobe, all tears” (I.ii.129).