Some subjects that come our way provoke a lot of debate among us. This was one of them.
Of the 12 nymphs in the series known as Raphael's Hours of the Day and Night, only two are winged, the Fifth Hour of the Night and this lady, the Sixth Hour of the Night. The wings, with their squared shape and eye spots, naturally put one in mind of Psyche, although their dusky color is more moth- than butterfly-like, befitting this creature of the not-quite-yet-light.
The bone, or rather, bird, of contention is tucked under her left arm. There are numerous sources offering interpretations of the Hours and their attributes. They have their differences, but all agree the bird is a swan, and that it is present in the scene for its sweet song. Eventually, those of us holding out for ornithological accuracy concerning things such as length of neck and melodiousness of vocalizations conceded the point.
During the Renaissance, when the original frescoes were painted, medieval bestiaries, themselves based on Roman ones, were still the authority on natural history, at least when it came to the mythological beliefs about animals and therefore their symbolic meaning. Actual experience of much differently proportioned and cacophonous birds would not have prevented a viewer of the time from understanding the meaning of the swan's presence. To herald the approach of Phoebus and the Chariot of the Sun, bringing the light of a new day, the swan was believed to sing paeans, originally hymns specific to the worship of Apollo. The Sixth Hour of the Night is the predawn, just before darkness is dispelled by the First Hour of the Day. (The Hours are not 60 or 120 minute blocks of time; they are periods during the cycle of a day when certain things take place.)
This figure is seen most often in the context of a bracelet, along with some of her sisters, or a mix of other Hours and non-Hours. The small size of most specimens limited the number of photographic examples provided here, but these three are representative.
The spatial constraints of the typical cameo oval often lead to adjustments in the composition. The second example, although more finely carved than the other three, is not a faithful reproduction of the original when it comes to the positions of the wings and the right arm, all of which have been lowered. The third carver found rather a graceful, almost balletic (cinquième en haut), solution to the problem of the upraised arm by curving it above her head. He has also given her something—probably flowers— to hold in her swanless hand. On one specimen, not shown here, the carver had his Hour drape her right arm over her head, along with an added billowing scarf to disguise it.
Despite its small size, the cufflink to the left is one of the better examples we have seen of this subject.
The larger brooch format permitted the carvers of the pieces to the right to follow the original composition quite accurately, while the carver of the piece on the left below pared her down completely, plucked her wings and gave her a good two-handed grip on that swan. Only her characteristic 'wafting' pose indicates she is a nymph rather than the better known Leda. While not an Hour, the figure next to her clearly owes a debt to her cousins.
To date we have not seen any examples of cameos that could be mistaken for this subject, only poorly executed ones that might be difficult to recognize without the guidance of better ones. The intentions of the carvers of these pieces are inscrutable. Did they decide Leda would look nice with moth wings? Or did they decide to put the 6th Hour of the Night on more conversational terms with her avian companion? We cannot know.
This fresco found at Stabiae, another Roman town covered in ash by the great eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum, is identified as Leda and the Swan, which it may well be. The site was discovered and excavation begun more than 200 years after the death of Raphael, so this particular ancient work could not have been an influence on the design of this Hour. Is it possible the depiction of the Hour casts some doubt on the identification of the fresco? Did she, does she still, have other figures alongside her who would tell us with certainty?