Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Another funny...... found this on Yahoo Japan, the equivalent of Ebay. I really want to go camping.

 

Somebody French with a sense of humor made that. The spelling is correct, if fodder for dad jokes.

 

It's actually quite well cut. But I hate it when they punch a hole in a cameo to attach a bail. Had not seen it before. Does not appear to be one of Amedeo's silly things. I know Aniello Pernice has been very successful in Japan. La Gioconda avec Chat may have been made for that market. Hello Kitty.

 

I don't know French, so to me it was a funny spelling and ripe for a joke. I looked at the listing again- no artist name is listed. You can have this for the low, low price of 64,000 Yen ($489 USD). Cameos are quite expensive in Japan. There seem to be many contemporary artists that sell their work on Yahoo Japan.

 

Heres another cameo i bought. Maybe someone recognises the scene or the signature? Set in a rolled gold mount, 5cm x 6cm.
Many thanks

 

The signature, Sll, is short for (Charles) Schmoll. We have talked a lot about him on this & related threads, so if you do a search of the Jewelry Forum for that name, you'll turn up some of that conversation.

I don't recognize the scene offhand, but there's bound to be a painting out there somewhere of a youth helping an aged man that it is taken from. Maybe while we're looking we can find the primary image for this one of mine:

 

A couple more gents. Both are by Saulini, but not sure which Saulini.

 

Hey everyone

This cameo is listed as hardstone, but is it really? What do you think based on the photos? I feel like it seems too neatly done for the price that they want for it. Maybe molded and/or glass? But I don't know. (The back is closed so I don't have a picture of that.) The setting is gold-filled.

 

Looks like hardstone to me. It's the last pic that clinched it. If it were assembled of 2 glass pieces, the change from white to black would be abrupt. But when you look at the edge, you can see how the figure has been engraved down into the background layer. Also, the way the neck has been delineated would not be possible with glass.

She does not appear to be anyone, actual or mythological, in particular, just classical female.

If the price is good, suits your budget & you like her, I'd encourage you to buy, assuming the back is not defective.

 

Thank you I bought it. I don't have a hard stone cameo, so this would be my first. I do like the figure and I'm especially fond of the hair. I also have a hard time turning seed pearls away . What do you think the age is? The back is closed and it looks like there has been a black band on it before. Maybe they wore it as a choker at some point. There is also a small locket compartment. I can't wait to clean her up and wear haha

 

Welcome to the new addition to your household. Definitely looks like it was once worn close to the throat on a black band. The bail looks like it was put on later. I always thought that look of black ribbon with some serious decolletage was terribly sexy while pretending to be conservative.

And a locket too! That makes sense of the closed back. Closed backs where there is no functional reason for them are a red flag.

 

That is beautiful!

 

Very nice!

 

I am not sure if I could pull that off haha

I saw the post of your Diana, the one that was really dirty (and looked like glass) and turned out to be stone. That is super cool. So every time I see a super grungy one, I think of that. For example this one. It is super dirty. I would have no idea what material it is made out of. It looks like it is chipped on the edges though. Sadly, there are no side photos. The figure itself is pretty, but it looks plasticky to me and the background is just plain dirt, I man look at the back

 

Have not seen this particular one before, but think it is mass produced, either porcelain or glass, with the dark background painted on. I'm noticing the way the color seems worn away out at the rim & also the look of the chip. When you look at the way the figure is formed, there is nothing that is not rounded enough to come out of a mold without damage; she does not look chiseled.

Quite possibly the black pigment is water based & would come off if you tried to clean her.

Mount appears to be brass. It is not reliably true that a good setting means a good cameo or that a poor one means an inferior one, but it is one factor to take into consideration when trying to assess a piece you cannot handle.

 

Another gent for Bronwen's pinterest board. The listing describes it as a Tassie, but it looks like a banded agate cameo, based on the side view. But it seems that the cameo has been glued to the base? I don't see the melding of the black and white, but an abrupt change. Thoughts?

 

Alright guys, the thrill of the hunt got me going and I think I might have gotten lucky. I purchased another cameo because it wasn't priced that high and the seller offers a 30 day return, so in case it turns out glass/plastic, whatever, I can return it.
I am a little nervous but I am super excited because when I looked at the pictures, I was like wait a minute...

There wasn't much of a description and I don't think the seller knows much about cameos. (They have the few cameos they are selling listed with the same price).

The photos aren't the greatest but I think that I found another stone carved cameo. And one that's filthy too haha!

If I turn out to be wrong, that is fine too, again, I can return it, and I learned from my experience. But I felt like I need to see this in person because I am pretty sure it is a nice cameo, just needs a little cleaning.

Reasons for why I gambled and bought it:

- in one of the pictures (from the side) I think I can see a layering between the figure and the background. It is not that clear but I think I see it. It is where the hair starts around the forehead. It doesn't look abrupt, it looks like it's connected if that makes sense.

- the frame looks like gold to me, especially because it has enamel in it

- the catch looks like an early handmade safety catch that I don't think you would find on cheap pieces (I could be wrong though)

- there seems to be a signature on the back of the cameo

- I found a similar cameo on Etsy that is made of sardonyx and it has a similar figure and I believe that its signature might be the same as the one I got. So maybe they were made from the same person??

I know that similar figures are usually a red flag (meaning mass production) but I don't know. I listened to my gut on this one.

Let me know your thoughts as I am always impressed of the knowledge and experience that people share in this forum. Especially you @Bronwen

Here is the one I got:







this is the one I saw on etsy. (looks pretty similar)

 

Thanks. Really need to take a day & catch up on gentleman. Every so often I notice I also have many photos of unidentified men 'collected' before I had any thoughts of a Pinterest board. The gents are so much more plentiful than the ladies.

I think your guy is assembled glass, like this one:



Doesn't mean they are actual Tassie products, but must be Someone, to have been made in multiples.

I have a whole body of speculation built up around this one of Mary Meredith:



At the truncation there are what looks to me like the initials WL with sort of a superscript F inside the crook of the L. Have never managed a good photo, must try sometime with a microscope:



I speculate that the initials are those of William Lane, who exhibited at the Royal Academy for a handful of years as a rather mediocre gem engraver, judging by impressions of his work in the Tassie collection. Later in this period he also exhibited some gem impressions as well as a model in 'enamel' (what Tassie called his proprietary, extra hard, white glass paste) for a portrait gem of Mrs Siddons, a famous actress of her day. He disappears for some years, reappearing at the RA as a portrait artist, doing drawings in crayon.

Forrer, in his Biographical Dictonary ,Supplement A-L, says Lane worked for the Tassies. Also that he signed his gems WL or Lane F.

So my thinking is that Lane did the modeling for Mary Meredith, as a commission from her second husband, Lord Campbell, working from the engraving, which is by an unknown artist, perhaps showing her before she married the infamous Earl Ferrers, the last peer to be hanged in Britain.

Hers is a sad story. The fourth earl was cruel & debauched, holding her captive for a time. She was finally free of him when Ferrers was hanged for the murder of a steward who was helping Mary. She married Campbell, a younger son of a duke, & died, at the age of 70, in a fire at the family country home, set, according to one source, because she '...was addicted to the dangerous practice of reading in bed...'

 

Thanks, Bronwen. I had a hard time with the photos, so wasn't sure. The seller implied it was glass by saying it was a Tassie, but I wondered because it seemed like there were color changes indicating bands. But I don't have any glass cameos- a novice in this area of cameo collecting.

 

'Similar' is one thing; it's 'identical' you have to watch out for. Let's see:




No, not identical. She's an Arethusa/Persephone type:



That's an early 20th century safety clasp, very fiddly & often unreliable.

I expect you may have to decide whether the one you bought is stone or glass before cleaning it. Seller could refuse to take it back on the grounds that it is no longer in the condition it was sold in. Maybe ask permission first.

Both yours & the etsy one have some chipping at the truncation I don't quite like the look of. Not because it is damage, but it does look a bit like something that could easily happen with glass. Could you provide a link for the etsy piece so I can see other pix?

For now my feeling is that you done good.