A VICTORIAN SHELL CAMEO PENDANT/BROOCH, CIRCA 1870The shell cameo depicting the bearded face of Menelaus facing right in profile, within a gold frame decorated with rope-twist detail and series of trefoil claws, length 4.5cmIn Greek mythology, Menelaus was a king of Sparta and husband of Helen of Troy. Her abduction by Paris, Prince of Troy, led to the Trojan War, in which Menelaus played a key role, as he sought his wife’s return.Menelaus was the son of Atreus and Aerope, and brother of Agamemnon, who ruled over the city of Mycenae.This cameo portrait is derived from a statue of Menelaus supporting Patroclus after he has been killed by Hector during the Trojan War. The statue was created in Pergamon in around 300 B.C. Later in 1570, Florentine artist Pietro Tacca of the Medici Sculptors, created a copy after the original statue when it was found in a Roman vineyard. The marble copy can be seen today in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence.
