(Ca. 1785) Captain James Cook portrait cameo by Tassie. Red sulphur in gilt cardboard frame. 19 x 24 mm. Raspe (A Descriptive Catalogue of a General Collection of Ancient and Modern Engraved Gems Cameos as well as Intaglios, 1791) unlisted.

Uniformed bust of Cook to left, after Pingo's Royal Society medal of 1784. Attractively detailed gilt cardboard frame around circumference, numbered 24 in ink at 6 o'clock. Back shows natural crystalline texture with only trivial chipping at the periphery. Choice and attractive, a fine accompaniment to the Cook medal listed as Betts-553 that uses this same bust. The fact that this is unlisted in Raspe's 1791 list of Tassie's work doesn't seem to suggest that it post dates that era, as the other red sulphur cameos Mr. Margolis acquired from the same set are all listed in the text.

From the Richard Margolis Collection. Earlier from Christopher Eimer in London, June 1999.

Estimate: $300