Allegory of the Day and the Night Material: Shell, 18ct gold. Date: ca 1900. Origin: France Size: 2 1/4 x 1 9/8 inches With frame: 2 1/2 x 2 1/16 inches Condition: 100% Mint. This is not only one of the most beautiful and detailled (how many pasrticulars!!!) cameo we can find. But it is also very unusual and exceptionally rare because the style and the artistic peculiarity. The subject is mythological, inspired by the Neoclassical iconography, but the style is Symbolist (as you know the Symbolism was a literay and artistic movement of the second half of the 19th Century), that is very rare on a cameo. Frankly this is the frst one I see in my experience. As you see the atmosphere of the composition is unreal, and in someway it preludes the Surrealist movement. Really an exceptional document of the History of Art . I think this is not a cameo carved by a simple, even excellent, artisan. I'm sure it was carved by a true sculptor. The cameo is French, as well the frame: hallmarks are the eagle head (2nd type 1847-1919) and another on the pin and on the C clasp. I'm unable to identify it, but it is very probably the signature of the goldsmith. The massive and heavy frame is simple but a piece of cleverness: it is made from an unique piece of gold, perfectly adapted to the cameo, without weldings. It is a very virtuosic work. This brooch is a true masterpiece, an extremely rare and desirable piece of jewllery. The lucky purchaser will owe something really unique.