A beautiful translucent 19th c. sardonyx cup, mounted in France in gilt metal with the hardstone cup made in India in the 19th c. The stone was likely made with the same ancient techniques of heating and "cooking" agates in caramel to dye the stone. These same techniques create the warm brown tones accented by white "eye" rings and cloudy swirls. The same methods have been used since antiquity to produce the fabled "Murrine Wares", a subject debated for centuries as to what material and process was described by Pliny the Elder: "And murrhine vessels baked on Parthian hearths." in his work " The Natural History". Many materials have been proposed as "murrine" ( also, murrhine, murrina) including fluorspar, porcelain, shell, jade etc, but in the latest scholarship the case for camel-dyed Sardonyx agates is the most complete and compelling argument for what murrine was made from (see Murrina Vasa, a Luxury of Imperial Rome by Dario del Buffalo).

Unmarked. Hardstone Cup , France (Mounts) India (Cup). 19th Century.

2.13 x 3.25 x 2.13 in (5.42 x 8.3 x 5.5 cm)

Condition:
Reflected in the price are the chips to rim and hairline crack but overall stable. No restorations. The cup element is slightly imbalanced to one side in the mounts and the snake handles some have asymmetry. Cup likely dropped at one time.