Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Her "Ruth" was one of those generic Flora-like Deco cameos that come up fairly often. This is "Ursula":




She is a beast at 2". Not completely sure what the make-up of the frames are...maybe low carat gold on the inner frame and gold fill on the outer? The little balls were apparently applied separately. The ropework I'm not sure, but I can see the fill around base at the ends of them where the balls are missing I think.

 

she's very nice !

 

None of me that I know of - I'm a Ruth. Now that I know they exist, I'll keep my eyes peeled.

 

She's very alive, not some run of the mill flat Flora type.

The innermost bezel is often brass, with the main metal outside of that.

 

the more I look at her the more I like her elegance ...

 

Another gent cameo carved by BH Kinney, an American cameo carver. It is up for auction tomorrow on Invaluable.com and I have placed a bid. The auctioneer didn't note that it was signed, but it can be seen in one of the photos. Hopefully I will get lucky. I have another cameo by Kinney that I posted here previously.

 

He's very handsome! And that's a nicely done signature for once. I hope you win!

 

Ooh, fingers crossed for you. Surprised auctioneer didn't see it & say it was name of sitter. Didn't consignor know/tell auction house?

 

Thank you! I hope I win, too. I am interested to know who the sitter is. I have a book about BH Kinney that has a partial list of items he made with the associated dates and numbers. BH Kinney usually numbered each cameo he executed.

 

Thanks! His signature is distinctive.

 

I went to see if he was a Boston carver...Worcester. Close enough! King and Stephenson both numbered theirs as well so now I'm wondering if this was a Boston carver thing and who started it?

Of course I had to go look up this book! This one, I presume? That sounds like an amazing reference. I have the Audubon Auk booklet for King and it's really satisfying to combine print with these art pieces. I'll have to keep an eye out for this one.

 

Is it just me, or does PepperAnna's sitter look like a Hollywood actor. Darned if I can remember his name.

 

Looks like this one has a number, just difficult to make out from the pic available.

It does seem to be the case that engravers working in the same place at the same time influence each other. I've noted it with Luigi Rosi & Filippo Tignani, Rome, second half of the 19th century.

 

Welcome, Tara. Don't let me do all the talking; say hello & feel free to add to the thread.

 

.

 

At one point I went down the rabbit hole of looking through Boston directories for the time period and found many listed as cameo carvers were on the same street, or blocks away, even one where a studio changed hands between carvers. In general artists were congregating in the same buildings and area....as they do today. So it's really intriguing to think about how they all knew each other in a close community. I'm getting rather invested in knowing them all.

 

Great minds think alike! I have wondered about the numbering as well--since King and Stephenson did it, too. I have been unable to find any references for King or Stephenson that link the number to the name of sitter. Have you?

The book you reference is the one I have. It is a very interesting book and I was especially thankful for the list in the rear. I own one BH Kinney cameo and was able to identify the sitter as William Almon Wheeler, Vice President of the United States under Rutherford B Hayes. Do you have any cameos signed by BH Kinney?

 

I only have the King cameo signed, and his sitter eludes me. I've found bits of writing about and by King, but no catalog of sitters. I imagine if he had one, the Tremont Temple fire that gutted his and other's studios probably burned any records.

So I started my own very short catalog spreadsheet from what has been available. I only have about 13, and only know some of those sitters. It'll be an ongoing project forever probably! Reminds me I need to politely harass Boston MFA for photos of their holdings...

I've only seen one Stephenson cameo, in a poorly photographed eBay lot, and I was out bid and it haunts me. I noted it because I could see it was numbered, but it wasn't King's style of carving/signature, so I dug out my notes of the Boston carvers to figure out the signature.

I'm glad to hear Kinney's book has more records and scholarship! Very satisfying.

 

Just posted some cameos on the Antiques discussion forum from a local shell museum here in U.K. Here’s a couple more pics.