This exquisite piece of carved aquamarine dates to the later enlightenment, when the European social and intellectual elites were beginning to embrace the enormous varieties of cultural achievements beyond the shores of their own continent. Based primarily upon martial and economic growth overseas, the advent of the European thalassocracies had led to enormous wealth and prosperity for certain social strata, and the reports, artefacts and stories that returned with the explorers did much to fuel the public imagination with a love for the exotic, and the ancient. This was the period of the Grand Tour, when young gentlemen were educated in the classics before all else, where Roman and Greek technologies and aesthetics were the primary inspiration for engineers, architects, artists and scientists throughout Europe. Accounts of derring-do and adventure, which were often embellished, led to generations of books and paintings that sought to express the Mysterious East, the Dark Continent of Africa, the virtually untouched Eden of the Antipodes, and, for our purposes, the Exotic Americas. Identification of this piece’s intended inspiration is done primarily on the physiognomy of the face; however, regardless of specific inspiration, this piece does evoke all that was de vogue in the 18th century – the exotic, sensual, noble savage of myth and legend, which was irresistible at the time. Aquamarine Carving of a Woman - OF.065Origin: Europe Circa: 1700 AD to 1850 ADDimensions: 3.35" (8.5cm) high x 2.1" (5.3cm) wide Collection: Decorative Art Medium: Aquamarine

Sculpture