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This masterpiece of 16th-century glyptic art is the largest known cameo by the Miseroni family, a dynasty of hardstone carvers active in the regions of Milan and Prague. When it was created, it accompanied an agate cup in the shape of an oval shell, which was first described when it was held in the collection of Cardinal Mazarin, before it passed to Louis XIV. In 1796, when France was governed by the Directory, the cup and its cameo were given as payment to a merchant, as were other works from the royal collections. The cup reappeared, alone, in a 1968 Paris auction, and was purchased by the Louvre. Fifty years later, the cameo that formed its lid was also identified.

Cut in the shape of a seashell from a Grisons agate, the cameo is encircled by a silver-gilt mount adorned with a swan and features, at its centre, the figures of Venus and her son Cupid, curled together in sleep. Reunited with the fuller-shaped shell of the original cup, the cameo completes the trompe-l’oeil illusion where Venus and Cupid seem to float within, as on an invisible ocean.

In 2022, the cameo of Venus and Cupid joined the Musée du Louvre’s collection thanks to the involvement of more than 5,600 donors. 

We extend our warmest thanks to all the donors who helped reunite this remarkably preserved masterpiece with its hardstone cup counterpart from the French royal collections. This acquisition presented the unique opportunity to reunite the two parts of one of the crown jewels belonging to Cardinal Mazarin and later Louis XIV.

The Musée du Louvre also extends its thanks to the Société des Amis du Louvre, the Maison Cartier as well as the Laboratoires Septodont and Mr Henri Schiller, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.