Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Another think I like about her, indicated by the unconventional jewellery, is that the cutter did depart in an imaginative way from the stock pretty ladies of the day. And did not give her one of those ridiculous ski slope noses!

 

And she doesn't look like a monkey either! I sold one once that I titled Monkey Face Lady Cameo and for good reason.

I was digging through my own forgotten piles the other night and found this stick pin. This one actually is a carnelian cameo - hard stone for sure. I'm still divided on whether the image was applied, but she's sardonyx or similar rock. (she has the monkey lady nose going too) The metal I haven't tested yet.

 

I see no reason to think she is not a single piece of stone. The red layer will have been 'enhanced'. She has suffered what I call a traumatic rhinoplasty, so common on hardstone pieces, particularly rings. School of hard knocks.

 

The backing stone is missing a corner too.

 

Although my cameo collection does not include anything that an auction house would tout as 'important' jewellery, here and there I pick up pieces that please me greatly, not because they are examples of the highest glyptic art, because they are rarities.

The latest of these is a hardstone cameo of the type generally identified as Flora, signed by Francesco Carnesecchi. Work by this cutter turns up occasionally. What is special about this one is that it is to date the only hardstone cameo by him that I have seen. All others have been shell.



You can see this one again, as well as a number of Carnesecchi's shell pieces, if you scroll down a little on this page:

http://www.carnesecchi.eu/incisore1.htm

The Carnesecchi who owns the site knew a little about Francesco's activities and already had the photo of the listing for a cameo of Guido Reni's Aurora when I contacted him to ask if he would like to have photos of other Carnesecchi cameos. He was thrilled, and says it has opened his eyes to a world of beauty previously unknown to him, while I take satisfaction in finally getting this little-known cutter a larger presence on the Internet.

 

Lovely!
Thanks for the link, such interesting photos! And it alerted me to Cameo Times, which I look forward to perusing.

Is there a website to assist with reading signatures on cameos?

 

Thank you. She's quite small, but photographed like a champion. Funny thing is, within a few days of spotting this one on eBay, stumbled onto a shell cameo being offered - of course, for an astronomical price - on 1st dibs, signed by an engraver whose work I knew only from hardstone pieces. (Filippo Tignani. My avatar is by him.)

The matter of signature identification is a ticklish one. There are sort of four categories of signatures: the legible knowns; the illegible knowns; legible unknowns; and the illegible unknowns. 'Known' meaning the name is one that has been found written down somewhere. It takes time, effort & usually some luck to get a handle on signatures other than the first group. Any such knowledge gives a collector or reseller an edge in their buying. You can understand why anyone other than a selfless scholar would be reluctant to give away the mysteries.

I know someone who has been working very hard at building a database of signatures and trying to develop enough familiarity with styles to be able to recognize unsigned treasures. He scours auctions that have on line bidding, carefully examining photos for signs of an unnoticed signature or anything that is more valuable than represented. He has found some really great things.

His dilemma is that he would like to monetize his signature database, make money from his scholarship, but if he does so, he is aiding his competitors in the market, thereby losing his advantage in buying.

Impressions of gems made by James Tassie and others preserve a record of any writing engraved on the obverse of a gem. Leonard Forrer's Biographical Dictionary of Medallists... is the go to source. It can tell you how someone signed, e.g., Capparoni sometimes signed with the 3 Greek letters kappa alpha pi. However, Forrer did not capture the names of anyone who never worked in something more durable than shell. He missed Filippo Tignani & Luigi Rosi, even though both worked in stone well before his cut off date of 1900, signed legibly & were well enough known to make it into guidebooks for tourists to Rome; presumably there were others who got by him.

The guidebooks that have now been digitized for the Internet are a great source for names, and it is a major help in deciphering a signature to know what it could be. For example: https://archive.org/details/ahandbookromean07firgoog/page/n34

I know of nothing published with photos or line drawings of signatures. It would amount to no more than a slim monograph, even if it were possible to have an example for every signature out there. Few people would want it at any price, even for free. There is little potential gain and could be a significant loss for anyone who published such material in any form, so...

I'm expecting a cameo to be delivered today that's a (fairly) legible unknown. I have 3 other pieces with the same signature & am bidding on a fifth. Think they say Mocchi, not a clue who this is.

 

Thank you so much, Bronwen! So fascinating!

I have long had a fascination with cameos but own few due to not being able to afford the ones that I find truly beautiful. I've not done much study of the area, I guess I'm more of a "hobbyist".

I've been eyeing this one, what do you think? I like the unusual background. The clasp does appear vintage/antique. Seller doesn't know anything about it or what the metal setting is.
Do you know who the lady is?

 

I like her very much. She is from early in what I think of as the Italian nouveau style. Have never seen a background treatment like that. My sense is that someone very talented who was well acquainted with the cameo canon of classical images, such as Flora, updated it to a more contemporary Gibson girl look. The findings indicate the brooch itself is a bit later than than the G girl, but have found that cameo beauties tend to lag behind the fashion times.

See it does have a mark that was probably put there by the cutter, not a dealer. Afraid I don't recognize it & doubt I could do any better even with the pin & watermark out of the way.

Mount is pretty without being obtrusive; appears well made. Imagine it is at least low karat gold, if not better. Depends on where it was set. If she calls to you & the price is doable, go for it I say.

And show us when you get her.

 

@ Bronwen

Isn't this the theme of one of your cameos? http://edition.cnn.com/style/article/fresco-erotic-pompeii-leda-and-swan-intl/index.html

 

What a spectacular find that is! Thanks for sharing. Given that in the nearby hall is a painting of Priapus weighing his phallus, you have to figure the residents were some fun-loving folks. Well, Pompeii was where you went on vacation.

Leda has had quite a life on engraved gems, some quite racy. You can see an assortment of compositions here:

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/XDB/ASP/browse.asp?PageSearch=true

I have several Ledas in my collection. One, hardstone, signed by Teresa Talani, I showed in the thread I started to introduce myself:



And another:



The third was rescued from a flea market and is so chewed up I do not want to show it, but the composition is this one:

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/C1D14C3D-1467-4354-B044-33BCA464322C

I'm surprised they see the Pompeii Leda as particularly welcoming compared to others, especially when they note that her eyes seem to follow the viewer, when there are Ledas gazing swoonily at the beaky suitor.

 

The one that arrived Monday, the painter Raphael.



A version of Hebe feeding the eagle of Zeus, bought years ago.




Portrait of an unknown man, bought last year.




Venus teasing Cupid, bought a month or so after the unknown man, without realizing they are by the same hand.



All have the same signature, which looks like T. Mocchi to me. Now, who the heck was T. Mocchi?

 

Have you seen these edible cameos? http://www.notquitenigella.com/2017/10/31/cameo-skeleton-cookie-tutorial/

 

No, but I have seen the skeleton ponytail girl as a resin cameo far too much. Starting back at post #300, bottom of page 15, we got going on cameos in other forms. I mentioned cameos done using Oreo cookies:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ore...eAhXIy1MKHYcCBE8QsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1600&bih=764

I still think it would be a great party activity, no matter the age of the guests.

 

I'm totally new here, but I want to share the cameo necklace I recently bought! It's very small and the carving is pretty ordinary I guess but I wanted something really wearable so I got it because I was attracted to the leafy heart setting and the chain it's on (both 10k gold), it makes for a beautiful necklace! The seller said it's victorian, maybe someone has insight on whether it looks as old as the seller said? I've been enjoying reading through this thread a bit, I don't know much myself!

 

Welcome to Antiquers, Kimbert. True, your cameo is 'pretty ordinary', but more than ordinarily pretty, and definitely wearable. I hope you do wear her sometimes. Cameos go in and out of fashion. Gauging by activity of eBay, looks like they may be coming back.

Dating cameos can be difficult. Often one has to judge more by the setting than by the cameo itself. Generically, yours is a pretty lady, the predominant type since the 1920s. Anonymous representatives of feminine beauty, not the storied goddesses and nymphs of earlier times. One rule of thumb with these is that the cameo can not be any older than the hairstyle of the lady. Another is that cameo cutters did not keep up to the fashion minute, so the ladies are typically behind the times. While your piece may have a romantic, Victorian sensibility, it is most likely from the 1950s. Enjoy her!

 

thanks for the welcome! So if I understand correctly, her being of the anonymous pretty lady style dates her post 1920 and something about the setting and hairstyle point towards 1950s? If thats so, a little disappointing that it's not as old as represented, but I always first and foremost buy things I like to wear so it doesn't matter too too much (price was good for being a gold necklace regardless). I certainly do wear it and love it! thanks for your insight!

 

More specifically, it's that her hairstyle and little turned up nose date her to mid-20th century. Edwardian pretty ladies were more in the art nouveau style, decked in flowers with unruly tresses. Post-WWII cameo ladies look more like real women.

 

@ Kimbert

Are There maker's marks on the back or hallmarks?