Rare, gorgeous, highly detailed, c. 1895 late Victorian pink shell pin/pendant cameo of the Greek goddesses Dione (with an owl, the bird of wisdom) and her daughter Aphrodite (Venus the goddess of love)(with the dove, symbol of peace). Aphrodite has a band of flowers in her hair and the dove is holding a spray of flowers. Dione has tulips in her hair. There are two legends of Aphrodite's birth. One is she was born to Zeus and Dione; the other is that she sprang up from the ocean, thus the sea foam carved into the cameo. The cameo itself is 2" wide x 1-5/8" high. This is unusual in that most cameos have a longer vertical dimension than horizontal one. It is set in a heavy 14 karat frame with a twisted wire surround atop a twisted rope surround. The closure is marked 14K. framed width: 2-1/4", height: 1-7/8"