UNKNOWN MASTER, Italian
(active in 1530s in Florence)

Caterina de' Medici, Queen of France

c. 1533
Onyx cameo mounted in gold and rubies, 4 x 3,5 cm
Museo degli Argenti, Florence

This cameo represents Caterina de' Medici at fourteen years of age, at the moment of her marriage to Henry of Valois (1533). The portrait is enclosed in an elegant gold frame enhanced by 29 rubies mounted with a "closed" setting.