Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

What an interesting setting. It's actually the prongs that hold the cameo in place that are particularly unusual.

Surely that is Mary with Jesus. There are cameos of St. Anthony that look like this:



with Anthony dressed as a monk. By contrast:



Your figures are both crowned, something you don't see with Anthony.

 

Well, how about that! You are absolutely correct, it is Mary. The large dinner plate halo threw me off, as St Anthony is often depicted with one

 

I haven't got it memorized, so may get this slightly wrong, but in Christian iconography, there's a difference between a halo & what you aptly called a dinner plate halo, which I think is properly called a nimbus. Saints wear a halo; Jesus & Mary have a nimbus. Cameo cutters don't always adhere to convention.

 

And we've got ourselves a spammer. Reported.

 

For me going on about an ivory cameo I found among my artificial ones, see:

Blacklight Fun

 

I picked this up at an antique show today. It was $95, but I looked at it in the dealer's case at the antique mall a few times, and seeing it in sunlight blew me away. She said it was French, and the pearls are cultured (they are genuine.) I asked if she tested the stones, she said no, they are paste. They test as spinels. Maybe the clasp was repaired, I don't know what the base metal is. I love the carving of Diana. It is signed, but covered by the metal. I haven't seen another brooch with pearls and spinels on the internet. What time period would this be, and can anyone make anything out of the markings they see? Do you think it's French? Thanks.

 

JMHO, but with that tube hinge she must be late 1800s, early 1900s. I can't tell from you photo but does it look like the roll over clasp is a replacement?

The cameo is lovely. Based on my non expert opinion, she is older based on the quality of the carving and her not upturned nose. So same date as my above estimate?

Please note, all bets are off once @Bronwen checks in

 

Lol at "when Bronwen checks in." I am guessing the rollover clasp is a replacement, but it matches the base metal exactly.

 

Wow, I love it! Nothing to add, except... I think it was a great buy for $95.

 

The bets were winning ones.


What a striking piece! Those pearls look so luscious & juicy. And what a conundrum. Is there any chance that the stones do not test correctly because they are in a setting? Spinel or paste, I love the cornflower blue.

I agree that the whole thing, cameo included, feels French, so let's call in the person we really need: @kyratango I don't know anything about French jewellery that is less than fine. It's the mix in the quality of the materials that is so confounding here.

I can only speak knowledgeably about the cameo. Helmet shell, of course. The shell looks very dried out. She could use a gentle washing, & the hydration would be good for her. That frame is going to trap water, so give her a good long time to dry.

Diana by virtue of the crescent moon, but it looks to me like the model for the lady was Aphrodite, with the elaborate hair, the head tilted down, & the appearance of an unclad torso. Diana usually has something running over one shoulder, sometimes just the strap of her quiver. Nudity is an attribute of Venus.




The ages of the clasp & of the hinge are out of synch. I think it was just fortuitous that the base metal clasp matched the base metal mount so well. Based on the hinge & the style of the cameo work, I would say late 19th.

I can just barely see anything inscribed. An A towards the bottom & something before that? Have to say that the position of the inscription & the terminal A made me think it might say ROMA.

So do I. A wonderful find. Brava!

 

Thank you all. I can't see the inscription....looks like a V then a word starting with A. The spinels appear bluish in the photo, but definitely are bright whitish clear. They test high on the Presidium, into the jadeite/spinel category. I also thought of Aprhodite, too, but the crecent moon also led me to think Diana. Her face looks like most of the statues one sees of Aphrodite/Venus.

 

Were you wearing blue when you took the photo?

I could only see the A clearly. You're saying there's more after that? I have now & then seen Roman numerals on the backs of cameos. Maybe the V is a 5.

 

Thanks for tagging me! I don't specifically see it as French origin mounting... Maybe it was re worked... I'd expect a less chunky surrounding, and the pearls, if period, should be half pearls in cups or smaller round ones on pegs.

 

Thanks for lending us your eyes & sharing your knowledge. I only have a few pieces of French costume jewellery & they are much more lightly built. The jagged edge of the opening on the back is very odd. Now I have to wonder if the mount is American. Must have been incredibly blingy when it still looked gold in color.

If there is any question it was a good buy:

https://poshmark.com/listing/Freshw...pinel-cameo-necklace-5fc9afd17f80d2a5d06aba50

 

The first cultured pearls (Mikimoto) were only used in jewellery starting around 1925.
Given that the pearls are also set with prongs (I would expect a kind of cup/bowl shaped setting), I assume that the brooch has been reworked at some point (1930s?), the rollover clasp added, pearls instead of some kind of stone.

 

Is there a place in the photo where that shows up clearly? I just see that stones & pearls are backed with a floral detail that is not what holds them in place. The stones I see as prong set; from what I see (& I may easily be missing something) the pearls are probably on posts.

If the pearls are on posts, it would have been a lot of delicate work to add the posts in a reworking of the piece, so interesting point about the advent of cultured pearls. If it weren't for that dang hinge, I would readily put the piece to mid-20th, contemporary with the clasp. A puzzlement. A jeweller working with old stock findings?

 

I think there is a misunderstanding, what you call the "floral detail" is what I call prongs (couldn't think of a better word). The "petals" are bent upwards and the pearls are glued, either on a post or just on the metal base

 

If the setting were Northern European it would make sense. Some Swedes were still using them on traditional jewelry well into the 60s. Somebody used whatever was handy would be my guess.

 

I think it is an early form of kyratisation...

 

Depression Baby jewelry making! (LOL) Use what you can get hold of instead of what "ought" to be used.