Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Hmmm, a Magic Eraser might do the trick.

 

Or an old fashioned typewriter eraser. I used one to clean off stubborn Byne's disease from a cameo. I had to buy it on eboo, no one sells them anymore.

 

I have what I suppose you could call a new fashioned typewriter eraser. Instead of a round red rubber disk attached to a short brush, it's more like a propelling pencil, with the abrasive embedded in a white matrix that's in the form of a stick, which goes in a plastic pencil-like holder & can be advanced as it wears down.

 

Mine looks like a pencil with a brush at the top, inside the wood is the abrasive, white eraser. I have to use a pencil sharpener on it. Sharpening the point at the tip proved to be very helpful at getting into tight spaces

 

I've got just about every type of eraser under the sun, and tried a variety on those earrings. Some was removed, some stayed. I didn't pursue it too aggressively because it wasn't going to be seen by anyone really. Silver is used in art as a drawing medium (silverpoint) like graphite so most erasers should do something with it. It can be difficult to really clean all those tiny ridges though. I do love an eraser with a brush though. I keep mine handy.

 

I was watching this. Put in a test bid about midway through the auction, decided it had enough attention, just sat back & watched. Did not examine for signature as I liked it even without. Nice that it stayed in the family, as it were.

It was the putti that drew me, more than its commemorative meaning. Interesting observation about the hair. When I was researching my ivory plaque with tumbling putti, I noticed that each of the big name Flemish ivory carvers had their own way of depicting hair, & used it on all the figures in a scene.

 

I completely missed this one. But I am glad you got it, Mirana! It is so unique.

 

Here is something for us all to chew on. As I said in an earlier post, it used to seem like a cameo subject would come along in multiples, then disappear again. This is one of those that I have never identified. I have a sense of what is going on, but can't nail it.

 

Found it!

Belisarius Begging for Alms by Jacques-Louis David



Looked like a veteran begging for alms to me and I guess I got the right keyword jumble.

 

Aaah I hate that we might occasionally go for the same things. You and PepperAnna are many tiers above my game, bidding in European live auctions and gorgeous hardstones, but I suppose it must happen some time. Thank you!

Agreed, the putti were done so well and in an interesting arrangement. The florals as well. And I would like to have more real people, famous or otherwise, in my collection. This one just spoke to me on multiple fronts. Most I pick up are vastly cheaper affairs to offset the rare spend hahaa.

As an artist, identifying the ways the carvers expressed things like hair is of special interest. A signature without a signature. Using the same hair style on putti makes sense as they are not individuals and it is much quicker. I think Lamant must have really wanted to make a meal of this one to have bothered to separate them in character. I think also the upper left putti may have a hint of being a boy. Something no one but he probably would have noticed.

Thank you! Great compliments coming from two esteemed collectors of interesting pieces, for sure. I appreciate it.

 

It is my impression that this is another matter on which different ivory carvers distinguished themselves. Some show boy bits more than others.

 

It may happen from time to time, but I think not very much. I've curbed my buying way back. Don't think I've bought a cameo on eBay in a couple of years. I only wade in to British auctions if for some reason I really want the piece & the auction house's terms & conditions are agreeable to me. Usually I set myself a limit & am pretty good at sticking to it. Many times have had to watch a piece sail on by.

 

Great job, Mirana!! You found it.

 

@mirana Apologies for not praising your success earlier. Somehow I hopped over that post to your next one & did not see that the mystery had been solved. I certainly never would have guess based on my knowledge of Byzantine generals! Of course, haven't seen one of these cameos in years. Watch, one will turn up next week. Bravissima!

 

Jacques-Louis David's paintings were the source of other cameos as well:

The Loves of Paris and Helen 1788




Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Three Graces 1824


Leonidas at Thermopylae 1814






The Oath of the Horatii 1784

 

For once, Helen gets the clothes and Paris isn't wearing much.

 

Yay I'm glad you've seen it to finally solve that mystery. I certainly never have as much luck when I'm searching my own, of course! Byzantine I would have not suspected either. I was using "Trojan" for some of my keywords. I found the sketch for the piece at The Met in with his other sketches so maybe there was a Trojan depiction in that collection that did it.

 

For some reason the painting images won't load for me in the main post, but do in the reply quote? Weird.

Cameo carvers love a good epic narrative painting! What a beast of a composition to try and take on though!

It's nice when they remember their primary audiences tastes!

 

But again do not once the reply becomes a post, becomes public.