Featured Cameo, for Bronwen opinion!

Kept meaning to say that you must have looked like the goddess Flora.

 

Not quite finished yet, I have to "frost" the bright glue spots, once dried, and attenuate the red which is due to my impatient kyratisation ...
I couldn't wait to receive the gold filled wire...
Used thin silver wire, twisted and colored with yellow and orange permanent markers
But... rather pleased with the result

 

Forgot to say... of course Bronwen was right!
It is in two parts glued together
Woman is black glass and background is white glass, mount is pinchbeck (all yellow alloy, no base metal underneath!

 

Oh yeah, now she's in her full glory - great job! I also said France does amazing work with glass. Good now to have a reliable judgment on one of these by someone knowledgeable who can examine an example directly.

A French one too:

 

Are her red 'jewels' also dabs of glass paste?

 

Reconsidering this one now, on technical grounds. It only required the application of white glass paste over the molded brown figure to create the effect of natural material, while having all layers be glass meant they could be bonded seamlessly, giving the illusion of a single piece.

We all tend to see what we want to see. (So do my cats, when something looks like it could be food.) This tendency is often demonstrated in sellers' identification of cameo materials.

 

Thank you, will see if the wires hold firmly after cleaning

Yes, they are cut glass/paste

 

What sort of adhesive do you use to affix metal to glass? A tough job.

 

Squinting at her again, looks as though she originally had an earring very like the one you gave her.

 

I use super glue, but not the instant one, pick a tiny amount on a toothpick and press the wire.
What was tricky was not move those already placed... Took one hour!

Ha, Thank you! I looked at others showed in previous comments to get the same look

 

she is looking great kyratango

 

This is a real one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/222478962019

Because in time the link will no longer show the photos, attaching a few here for reference.

 

Over the past weekend, some other possibilities for the identity of these figures came to my attention when a contact expressed doubts about the accuracy of the auction description for this cameo:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...0431/lot-95dddd16-dc8a-41b5-8b1e-a82c0101e76d


The auction house has high hopes for it based on the histories of 2 others, one of which fetched a whopping amount at Christie's in 2004, although I do not know if it did as well at Sotheby's 10 years later:

http://www.christies.com/Lotfinder/...8698&sid=1bb6d40b-2765-40ba-bf5d-c76ac3732d78


http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/arts-islamic-world-l14220/lot.126.html


The other was also auctioned by Sotheby's:

http://www.sothebys.com/es/auctions...an-eye-for-opulence-art-of-the-ottoman-empire


Hayreddin Barbarossa is the favored candidate for all 3 cameos: and the one that did so fabulously well at Christie's is a pretty good fit. As an alternative for their other one, Sotheby's suggested Muhiddin Piri Reis (there are multiple ways of transliterating & punctuating this name):
Guess everyone finds a pirate more alluring than a navigator/cartographer, so of course the latest one is being represented as Barbarossa.

All three have been described as 16th century agate. I have a very different opinion as to materials used and age, so am very glad I did not pay anywhere near as much - by orders of magnitude - for my turbanned guy!

 

That is so interesting Bronwen, thank you for the update.

It could also have something to do with the threat Hayreddin Barbarossa posed to Italy during the first half of the 16th century. A hot topic, so to speak.