Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

There's this stickpin that's been floating around for a while. The one you posted...I wonder if the background got broken so they cut it out or filled it over.

 

This little cameo just arrived. While waiting for it to be delivered I did a bit of digging. I thought, it won’t be difficult to find the source of the image, expecting to be either a painting, sculpture or another cameo. Unfortunately, all the search so far has been unsuccessful. Has anyone seen anything similar?

 

Other than stating that it appears to be Diana the Huntress, I got nothin'. Hopefully, @Bronwen will find somethin'!

 

Bronwen doesn't have much more except to note that the figure herself, without accessories, is styled very much like a conventional Venus/Aphrodite. Her hands are in a weird position for holding a bow. Wondering whether looking for a primary image among sculptures of Diana is futile, the attributes of bow and quiver added, and we should be looking toward the goddess of love. @mirana @PepperAnna

 

Thank you Bronwen, I’ll explore Venus/Aphrodite lead.
I think, her hands suggest that she is about to string her bow, although she looks more busy looking beautiful than doing the job at hand. When not in use, bows were kept unstrung. The procedure requires, the string, which is attached to one end (the “bottom”) of the bow, be brought to the other end, bending the bow, and then the string is attached to the other (“top”) end. The bow on the cameo, being so straight, shows that it doesn’t have the string on.
All this, could be just my imagination.


https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wik...,_Diane_chasseresse_(17e_siècle,_cropped).jpg


https://www.mediastorehouse.com/liszt-collection/diana-stringing-bow-18687275.


https://www.worldhistory.org/image/2312/eros-stringing-his-bow/

 

The bow on your cameo is definitely unstrung, but she does not look to me to be in the act of stringing it. A bow that large & powerful requires more force than she could be exerting. Think for a bow like this you would have to loop on the lower end of the string, plant the lower tip firmly in the ground, step on the lower curve while pulling down on the upper portion with the hands & then quickly slipping on the other end of the string before it all gets away from you.

 

I think the cameo is most sumilar to the engaving Fridolina posted. My guess is that the artist tried for beauty of form rather than real life accuracy. It is a lovely cameo. Congrats.

 

@Bronwen and @PepperAnna absolutely agree with both of you. Thank you for your help.

 

Is this a glass cameo?


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335201112137

 

I would say so based on the side view being so delineated with possible glue residue. Also, the closed back is usually a telling sign for glass. Hardstone usually has an open back to let light through.

 

I agree with @Bronwen that if her top is bare, it may have been a Venus that inspired the woman. Diana does have a nude myth, but she's usually shown entirely nude in that case. However, there might be the tiniest line under her arm to suggest she is covered up top, and then may be Diana as inspired completely.

For style, she reminds me more of an ancient fresco or a Renaissance painting, but I haven't seen anything yet that matches.

She's very pretty and lively, regardless of source. A very lovely carving.

 

Thank you @mirana, I do like her too and I absolutely agree about the style, considering her body posture. I also see the similarities with a painting/fresco, looking at some details, for example, how the head is drawn in 3/4 or some foreshortening of limbs, to give it a three dimensional feel.

 

Agree on all points. Possibly French.

 

Headband Girl on parade:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/315795981707

 

Wow! That's a gaudy set! And a hefty pricetag!

 

Probably worth it, at least a decade back. Now, who knows. D&E seriously gaudy full parure? I can see it making that, at least when the economy was better.

 

I've not been very active lately, but finally I have time! I wanted to share some of my finds this year. This one I got recently. It is carved by Henri Auguste Burdy.





I haven't found any info about him except a small paragraph in Forrer's. The carving is exceptional. It came in the original box. The bale is removable and has an ingenious design. I wish I knew who the sitter was.



The only other piece I have found by him is a bracelet, which I think is incorrectly described as Bacchus.


Here is a link if you would like to see more pics of the bracelet, which is quite spectacular.
https://www.hancocks-london.com/product/victorian-gold-bracelet-1880/?origin=serp_auto

 

Really? That is very interesting. I know nothing about costume jewelry. Thanks for educating me. I would have passed it by at a yard sale!

 

I want to know about this. I love the little mechanical touches you find around the turn of the 20th or so.

Wowza on the bracelet. I see it as an interesting melding of Silenus and the panther who is Bacchus' companion animal, with the heliotrope stone suggesting some bloody [not UK usage of this word] meals.

From the bracelet seller's site:

‘Bacchus Forcing a Panther to Drink.’

Not quite what is said in Forrer, although that is quite clearly their source of info.

Learned just last week that an antique jewellery seller I know, who travels to shows, was robbed of much valuable stock while it was on the road. Among the things taken was a wonderful gold hinged cuff with a large shell cameo of The Laughing Faun/Silenus. The last time I saw them before last week, after admiring the bracelet for a couple of years, I finally asked to try it on & we all learned it would not fit any wrist larger than mine. They urged me to get it, promising a good deal, but I knew it was not something I would ever wear, & I'm at the age where I need to deaccession, not acquire more pieces. Also knew that a 'good deal' was still going to be a lot of money. So wish now that I had sold my soul for that bacelet.

 

Your new piece is so lovely! The curls are of course the star, but I love the puff under his eye. There was great attention on capturing the sitter.

I'd also like to know how the bale removes! The original box is a fantastic addition too.

That bracelet is stunning! I don't even want to click to see the price! It would be worth it though. Amazing.

Oooooh nooooooo!! Well, perhaps it being a very distinct collection, it will be recovered in time if he can get word to all local pawn, melt and jewelry shops. I can't imagine thieves will have much taste for that type of jewelry so much as the cash it brings...