Cameo Signature Help Needed

Fantastique! Bienvenue!

 

Welcome, lamant. What a pleasant surprise. Were you researching your ancestors when you found this site & this thread? Do you also collect Lamant cameos? Many times the signature is read as Lamont, a name more familiar to English speakers. We were so pleased to find the needed evidence to prove it was Lamant.

Bienvenue, lamant. Quelle agréable surprise.

Étiez-vous à la recherche de vos ancêtres lorsque vous avez trouvé ce site et ce fil? Collectionnez-vous également les camées Lamant ?

Plusieurs fois, la signature est lue comme Lamont, un nom plus familier aux anglophones. Nous étions si heureux de trouver les preuves nécessaires pour prouver qu'il s'agissait de Lamant.

'tous deux le père étaient graveurs' Le père et le fils?
We had concluded there were more than one based on the signatures & the quality of the work.

Nous avions conclu qu'il y en avait plus d'un sur la base des signatures et de la qualité du travail.

Encore, bienvenue.

 

Another Lamant:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...aign=auction-alert&utm_content=lot-image-link

 

Hi PepperAnna,
Would it be at all possible for you to post a picture of your 1850 James Ronca cameo..? The reason I ask is that I am the 4 x Great Granddaughter of James Ronca and I have taken over researching the family history from my mother and l would be wonderful to be able to show her a picture before her eyesight fails her. Your cameo would be one of the earliest we have heard of an it will be added to the family history archive.
And I have to say you have the most wonderful cameo collection.

I hope you don't mind me asking and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kindest regards

Emma Vincent.

 

Welcome, Emma. Did you want to post a comment or ask a question?

Ah, see you just did. Unfortunately, pepperanna has not been seen here in a long time now.

 

She did. It is here: Cameo Signature Help Needed

 

Ronca studied under a cameo cutter named Chelli. For a cameo signed Chelli see here: Cameo Signature Help Needed
and here: Cameo Signature Help Needed

 

@Emma Vincent If you are creating a history of James Ronca & his work, you should have the correct description of this: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O135657/psyche-or-iris-cameo-ronca-james/
The V&A added the possibility that the figure is Iris instead of Psyche after I contacted them with the case for Iris, i.e., the Rainbow.

The first time I ever saw this scene I also thought it was Psyche bearing water from the River Styx at the command of Venus. However, some research turned up this painting by Guy Head:



The rainbow in the painting is too difficult to capture in an engraved work; most cameo versions look like this one by Vergé:



Luigi Pichler made an intaglio version, indicating the identity of the subject by placing a caduceus, the symbol of her role as a messenger for the gods, in the field below her. The gem looked like this:



However, the caduceus is so shallowly engraved in places, most impressions do not capture the whole thing and/or do not pick up the signature. The Beazley Archive has several impressions tentatively IDed as Night, none of them complete:
http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/AB7F2CE7-A2AB-4EE7-B204-CBECFBAF52DA
http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/77996C23-BA76-4623-B122-611FD479DDE6
http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/12FAC558-593D-47F7-BAE9-E11841CB94F3

I know the paper published in Le Gemme Incise nel Settecento e Ottocento & its completely unfounded assertion that the cameo Ronca gave to the V&A is Psyche. In fact, it presents the evidence that the cameo is one of a subject Ronca was known to have done more than once, The Rainbow, from a medallion by Woolner. Evidently Woolner made his medallion using an incomplete impression of the Pichler intaglio & Ronca followed it faithfully, losing the identifying attribute.

 

Hi Bronwen,
Thank-you so much for replying and sorry I am still learning my way around.

I think that you are right about James copying Woolners medallion as this seems to be something that James quite often did.

In The Journals of the Society of Arts volume 13 ( January 6th 1865) James is listed as entering a cameo into The Society of Arts competition which was a copy of Bernedetto Pistrucci's "George & The Dragon sovereign design. This cameo was priced at £8 (if only we could by them at this price now..!!) So as you can see it is highly likely that you are right.

I have now seen PepperAnna's pictures of her 1850 cameo and shared them with my mother and thank you for the other information pertaining to who the sitter is.

Any other information or cameo's that pop up of James Ronca would be gratefully received because unfortunately we as a family do not actually own any of James's cameo's The only things we had are the set that my mothers Great Aunt Olga Ronca gifted to the V & A showing how a cameo of J. E Millas was created along with James's cutting tools.

 

Not sure what this link will produce for you. Hopefully enough of Judy Rudoe's paper to see page 133 with its list of cameos exhibited at the Royal Academy:

https://books.google.com/books?id=X...6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q=judy rudoe ronca&f=false

 

The entry for Ronca in Leonard Forrer's Biographical Dictionary of Medallists... lists some of his works:



Forrer's source would seem to be this:




The cameo of Night & Morning probably looks something like one of these:

https://cameotimes.com/index.php/profiles-1/allegorical/day-and-night?start=1

Think you probably already have pix of Titania & Ariel?

 

I saw some signatures on Ebay that I haven't seen before. Thought it might be of interest to this group.

1) Vergolini? - I did a quick google books search for Vergolini, but didn't find anything.






2) Serafini- I found 2 different Serafini references, but not sure which one is correct:
Felice Serafini (1843 and 1855 books)

Serafini Fracassini (1873 book)

 

I know this is a long ago post, but I came across a listing for a cameo carver with the surname May- thought the group might be interested.

https://books.google.com/books?id=VtJBAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false


Found in Annuaire et almanach du commerce 1862
pg 403

 

I see T mouth and possibly a last letter

 

Could you please help me identifying the Roman Gods on the cufflinks? My guess is Mercurius/Mercury on the left and Minerva on the right. Consent or do you have other ideas?
Any ideas how old they are?
Thanks for your help

 

Hi @ MaJa - Nice cufflinks!! Mercury or Hermes is correct. He has his caduceus, pitasos (hat), satchel, and traveler's cloak. The one on the right is Mars, specifically Mars Quirinus - the god of peace through combat. He has his helmet, a branch of laurel, and I think a shield behind his chair. And I think he is holding his spear on the right. Here is a coin that has a similar depiction.


I like the chain backings that terminate in snakes. That is a nice touch. Very Victorian. If you could show us the backs of the cufflinks, we might be able to help figure out the age of the cufflinks.

 

We eventually found it is Mouhé, but the first initial is slippery.

 

We found this guy IDed as Telemachus after bluumz acquired one in conch shell a while back.

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/A0DA01DF-516D-46AE-ADC4-48B386D83370