The art of engraving gemstones can be traced back to ancient Greece in the 8th century BC and earlier. Techniques passed down to the Egyptians and then to the Romans. There were major revivals of interest in engraved gems in Europe during the Byantine era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and again in the 18th and 19th centuries. At each stage cameos and intaglios, these skillful carvings on a minute scale, were much prized and collected, sometimes as symbols of power mounted in jewelled settings, sometimes as small objects for private devotion or enjoyment. In the secular world of the Renaissance in Europe, carved gems were collected and commissioned by rich and powerful patrons and rulers who wished to be seen as potent and enlightened figures in the mould of the great classical emperors. Part of the panoply of prestige, they were given as diplomatic or courtly gifts, and were much prized as a high form of courtly art. This cameo portrait of King Philip II of Spain is one of several made of the king and may date from around the time of his accession to the throne in 1556. It could be the work of the Italian sculptor Leone Leoni or his son Pompeo, who worked for the Spanish Habsburg courts of Emperor Charles V and his son King Phillip II. It is also possible that it is the work of another Italian, Jacopo da Trezzo, a Milanese artist who was influenced by Leone. All three were sculptors, medallists and gem-engravers who at different times worked at the Spanish court. A cameo of Charles V and Philip II by Leone Leoni (in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and a marble bust and a head of Philip II by Pompeo Leoni (in the Prado Mueum, Madrid) can be compared with this cameo, as can a medal of Philip II by da Trezzo in this museum (V&A inventory 6759-1860). Such cameos may have inspired those commissioned later at the English court of Queen Elizabeth I (see V&A inventory 1603-1855).