November 2018 Archaeology
The woman, the pearl and the shell
Sandro Botticelli did not invent anything showing Venus standing in a shell: it is part of a tradition dating back to antiquity that makes the shell the cradle and boat of the goddess of love and beauty. The silver shell studied here evokes at the same time the marine world, the goddess Aphrodite and the world of women ...
See the artwork in the collectionShell
Greece or South Italy, IInd – Ist Century BC
Hammered and inscribed silver
10.5 x 15.3 x 2 cm
FGA-ARCH-GR-0112
Provenance
Former swiss collection, in the eighties
Pierre Bergé & Associés, Paris, 25 May 2016, lot n° 195
Unpublished
© Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Genève. Photographer: André Longchamp
© Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Genève. Photographer: André Longchamp
See also
February 2021 Ethnology
Pendant in the shape of a vampire bat
Costa Rica, Diquis culture, 13th – 16th century A.D.
December 2022 Decorative Arts
Claude-Charles Saunier (Paris, 1735 - Paris, 1807)
Cylinder desk
Circa 1780-1790
