This small cameo was probably intended to be set in a ring. Its inscription refers to its purpose of commemorating an intimate friendship.
August Kestner and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe were not only close for reasons of family friendship, they also shared common interests as collectors and researchers and were in conversation or correspondence about them. Both exchanged impressions of cameos and gems from their collections.
The plaster cast of this cameo is in the so-called Kestner Daktyliothek from Goethe's possession (Weimar, Goethe National Museum; Dakt. Goethe/Kestner No. 73). (AVS)
Former August Kestner Collection, Rome
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