Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Late-ish I would say, for the mount at least. Would not be strange if the cameo had been acquired well before it was set. The quality of carving suggests it was made before cameos became every man & his brother in a Neapolitan shed, but I'm not sure when lava first began to be used.

 

Yes it sometimes occurs as inclusions or impurities but isn't common. I've had plenty of the green/buff lava pieces over the years, these always seem kind of sugary in any breaks or flaws, this is much, much finer textured.

 

Thanks a lot @Bronwen, @Figtree3! Real experts here, I knew you would help!

One more thing: I have been googling this type of Czech cameo and seems that they used to make it of celluloid mounted on bakelite. Do you think this is also celluloid on bakelite? The base is not reachable to test for bakelite as the resin image covers it almost entirely on the front and the back is covered with metal.

 

I think the cameo, when it came out of the mold, was entirely white. The background colors, an attempt to mimic helmet shell, appears painted on. (Be very careful if you attempt any cleaning.)

I have not encountered this description of Celluloid on Bakelite before. It seems like a fairly complicated way to make a costume quality cameo. I have seen Celluloid (or similar) cameos:


I have never seen a cameo I thought was Bakelite or similar, though probably have seen some described that way.

Czech pieces are generally glass or porcelain.



What does yours sound like when tapped with a fingernail? Celluloid will be hollow.

 

It would also weigh less than glass. A lot less. That lava one...whoo.

 

Thanks Bronwen, for the thorough explanation! You are right, after a careful look it looks made as one solid piece. And it is quite light in spite of the metal cladding so most probably celluloid. Tapping did not work well because of the metal back. I tried with acetone but no colour was transferred to the cotton tip. So I assume that it is celluloid dyed with a stable paint. You know, one can find everything on the internet, and have to be careful about being misled, as in my case. Your experience, logic and method are trustworthy, thanks again!

A, no intention to clean, it is in good shape overall.

evelyb30, yes, it is light, definitely not glass. I guess, Czech glass are the rhinestones.

 

@Bronwen : More cameo portraits for your Pinterest boards. The first 3 pics are Saulini cameos (#1, Tomasso, #2, Luigi, #3 Not specified). The 4th one is by Neri, signed on the front below the bust. The others are by unknown carvers.

 

@Bronwen a few more... The last one is from the Saulini studio.

 

@Bronwen

I don't recall seeing an Hour in lamp form before. She looks like she's had a Brazilian butt lift!

 

Too funny! For everyone else, the figure is the Fifth Hour of the Day, from the series known as Raphael's Hours of the Day & of the Night.

Is she still for sale?

 

Yes! I linked on the word “lamp“.

 

that's a hell of a shell !!!
Yowza....!

 

This is the one Hour I do not have. Keep looking for one I like with a price I also like. This is not her either. Sigh.

See they also have a Fourth Hour of the Day:

 

Looking at the carving, eh no. I'm sorry the poor critter gave its shell for that.

 

(Sorry if this has already been posted here.)
This is an interesting, and fairly extensive, article... do you agree with the info presented?
@Bronwen @PepperAnna

Faces Give Clues to Cameo Jewelry Age, Materials - Antique Trader


One of the photos from the article:

 

I have seen this article before. It is so riddled with inaccuracies, I don't even want to start.


Taking up the guidance on dating, I call it the Nose Rule: the less the nose meets the Grecian ideal of beauty & the more it tends to the cute, ski slope nose, the newer the cameo is likely to be. I take exception to the author's use of the word 'aquiline', which means eagle-like.



Roman emperors are often described as having such noses, not Greek goddesses.

I have not noticed any comparable trend in cheeks. Depth of carving of the contours of the face depends on the skill & care of the cutter.

Of the array of cameos shown as an example of the progression in style, I see only one I feel fairly comfortable placing in the 19th century. You can judge others from these catalogue pages:

1915


1920


1927


Cameos en habille start to appear in the last few years of the 1920s, & in 1930

 

Thanks, @Bronwen!

 

Worth having to wipe the drool off your chin to take a look:

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

 

@bluumz Thanks for posting the link to that article. I hadn't read it before. I had to cringe-some of the errors were that bad. I wonder where the author got his information.

 

@Bronwen
@PepperAnna

Any possibility you guys could point out a few of the worst errors in that article?
I do wish there was a comprehensive - and correct - book on cameos.