Cameo of a bust of an African man, in profile to the right, wearing a cap with corded decoration and a gap-sleeved tunic. A drop-pearl earring hangs from his earlobe. Whilst the head is left matt, the background of the cameo is polished. Behind the head there is a crack in the stone.
The ‘pearl’ is cut from the upper layer, as are the cap and drapery, cleverly exploiting the variegated strata of the stone.

Black Africans were occasionally to be seen in seventeenth-century Europe, but this figure may have been derived from idealised images rather than taken from life. The large earring was a common attribute of Africans in European Renaissance art, hinting at the continent's perceived wealth and natural resources. This motif had been established in the paintings of Van Dyck and Rubens, who contrasted the gleaming pearls with the darkness of the figures' skin.

Text adapted from Ancient and Modern Gems and Jewels in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2008