Depicting a lady in profile, facing left, wearing a wreath in her upswept curling hair, mounted as a brooch with a half-pearl border, wreath is chipped, signed Morelli in the field, French assay mark, pearls untested, diameters 6.0cm x 4.9cm

Footnotes

Provenance
Marie-Antoinette de Séroka (1878-1967)
Descent to the current owner

This cameo is believed to be a portrait of Marie, Countess Walewska, (1786-1817), a Polish noblewoman and mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte, who bore him a son in 1810.

She first met Napoleon in 1806-7 who was attracted by her great beauty. She in turn was encouraged to start an affair with the French Emperor as an act of patriotism; to gain his support for Poland in the country's struggle to regain independence from Prussia and the Hapsburg and Russian Empires.

The woman portrayed in this cameo is certainly beautiful and appears individualised rather than an idealised classical type. The spray of olives in her hair could allude to Countess Walewska's patriotism and desire that Napoleon's victories would bring peace to her beloved Poland.

Nicolo Morelli (1771-1838) was renowned for his cameo portraits. He was one of Benedetto Pistrucci's first teachers and in 1812 was admitted to the Accademia di San Luca. His most important clients included Francis I of Austria and Count Sommariva but it is as the favourite - virtually official - engraver of Napoleon I and the Bonaparte family that he is best known.

The cameo came into the possession of a French aristocratic family of Polish origin, distant cousins of Countess Walewska, during the mid 19th century and has remained within the family ever since.

For Nicolo Morelli and his Bonaparte portraits, see L. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, 'Nicola Morelli, incisore in pietre dure, Academico di merito di S.Luca, Virtuoso del Pantheon', Bollettino dei Musei Communali di Roma, VI, 1992 pp 63-76.

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