Cameo of King Charles VIII of France (1470–1498) (c. 1494): Art, History and Details

Cameo of King Charles VIII of France (1470–1498) (c. 1494) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This jade-green agate cameo represents King Charles VIII in bust profile wearing the royal crown and the collar of the Order of St. Michael. The cameo was probably inspired by a gold medal presented to Charles by the City of Lyon during a visit in 1494 and was probably made to commemorate the event. It was perhaps a memento belonging to one of the town's nobles.

Object facts

• Title: Cameo of King Charles VIII of France (1470–1498)
• Date: c. 1494
• Culture: France, Lyon
• Type: Glyptic
• Technique: agate
• Dimensions: Overall: 3.4 x 2.4 x 0.4 cm (1 5/16 x 15/16 x 3/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1978.58

Collection credit

Gift of the George Kress Foundation in memory of William Mathewson Milliken

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–47.
• Verdier, Philippe. "A French Royal Cameo and Its Historical Background." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 5 (1980): 150-55.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.