Carved shell cameo mounted in silver

H  4.80cm (1.89 in)  |  W  5.40cm (2.13 in)

An exceptional cameo brooch of Venus surrounded by the horn of plenty by the goldsmith Karl Berthold & his painter wife Maria Schmidt-Kugel. Karl Berthold (1889-1975) came from a family of goldsmiths in Bavaria where he was first trained. He became a teacher for goldsmithing at the Staatliche Zeichenakademie in Hanau and Werkkunstschule in Cologne. After the war his atelier was in the Carmelite Cloisters in Reisach, Upper Bavaria (1945-1951) and later Oberaudorf/Inn.
His designs are inspired by Renaissance and Baroque art.

Literature
Illustrated in our book:
Beatriz Chadour-Sampson & Sonya Newell-Smith, Tadema Gallery London Jewellery from the 1860s to 1960s, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart 2021, cat. no. 271
cf. Schmuck in Deutschland und Osterreich 1895-1914, Ulrike von Hase 1977, p. 172 (About Berthold)
Schmuck der 20er und 30er Jahre in Deutschland Christianne Weber, 1990, pp.134-136 & 368 for maker's monogram

Ref No   7006