An armlet designed by Alma-Tadema, for sale from Wartski for a six-figure sum.
Designed by Alma-Tadema based on ancient Greek prototypes and made for him by the celebrated coin and medal engravers Joseph Shepherd and Alfred Benjamin Wyon, the heavy coiling jewel engraved with his wife’s name in Greek script appears in a number of the artist’s best-known paintings.
In the elaborate family portrait The Sculpture Gallery painted in 1874 it is worn by Laura in the centre of the work.
In the same family ownership for many years, the Alma- Tadema armlet has been exhibited on many occasions including as part of The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2011.
It will be priced at a six-figure sum with Wartski in TEFAF Maastricht.
See our TEFAF Maastricht preview in Dealers' Diary.
