Marlborough gem

[2] Since 1899 it has been in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where it is described as a "cameo with the wedding of Cupid and Psyche, or an initiation rite",[3] reflecting the view of its subject generally held until the last century.

In the carving, Cupid and Psyche are depicted as veiled putti accompanied by other infants, one of whom holds over their heads a winnowing-fan filled with pomegranates, emblems of bios and fertility.

[8] An early 16th-century drawing of the subject by the architect and antiquarian Pirro Ligorio was seen among the papers of Rascas de Bagarris recorded by Jacob Spon.

[9] The gem was carefully drawn by Theodorus Netscher and engraved by Bernard Picart for Philipp von Stosch's Gemmae antiquae caelatae (1724)[10] which placed its magnified image in the hands of all Europe's antiquarians and rendered it part of the visual repertory of milordi on the Grand Tour, who knew it from its illustration added to the 1728 French edition of the Jonathan Richardsons' (Senior and Junior) Account..., published in French as Traité de la Peinture et de la Sculpture... Amsterdam, 1728;[11] in the 18th century the English could be counted on to pay top prices for outstanding carved hardstones of assured antiquity.

The Wedgwood plaque, available in several sizes, appears mounted on Parisian and London furniture, and a marble relief of the scene is set in the chimneypiece of the red drawing room at the original home of the Marlborough gems.