Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

at dinner.........

 

I saw that one and laughed. Such a bizarre stone placement. It's....unique at least?

 

One word for it! The carver got him nicely but didn't leave space for her...and then plunked a rock in between them.

 

Seems like some jewellers believe there's no such thing as a badly placed diamond. Not mine, but really...

 

When puffy shirts and fishing hats together were cool....

 

And clowns weren't yet creepy.

 

A flame for her cigarette?

 

I had wanted to have a gentleman portrait cameo. I really enjoy seeing them (and love Bronwen's board full). I came across this one, poorly photographed and noticed the barest hint of a "850" on the back, not mentioned by the seller. I would have bought him anyway by I was excited to have a little mystery.

When he showed up, he had a whole paragraph written on the back! A John Crookshanks King. This one No 194 carved in Boston in 1850.



Now I have a slight obsession with seeing his pieces since I love that he cataloged them by number and you can track his progression as an artist. I'm probably going to make a little collection for myself of the numbered images. I wish Boston MFA would photograph theirs! I loved seeing @PepperAnna post her King (and the one in the auction.

Now I just have the mystery of who this gent was. King did a lot of famous Men of the Day so it's entirely possible it's a known figure. The fact that he has no facial hair or high collar is odd. The closest I've gotten is an etching of Sir Walter Scott (King being Scottish born and doing portraits of Burns and Scott), but it still doesn't seem right so I keep looking. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Great cameo! Congrats! I love the signed cameos of real people. I have been able to figure out the sitter's identity for a few of mine, but most are still anonymous. Wouldn't it be great if someone found his ledger book and made it available so that we could figure out who the people were?

 

Yes! I was just telling my husband today "You know he had to have kept a record of them all because he did them for years and was very detailed. It's probably buried in the ephemera of a museum." I agree there's something very...human? about commissioned pieces of real people. It's easier to ID the "fanart" but the commissioned ones call to me.

 

@mirana I've added your synoptic picture to my file on King.

It broke my heart when, after this was offered on eBay



a little time later, this was

 

That is horrible. He did so many I'm sure had the same fate but it's still terrible to see. That one looks like 128? So even earlier. Savages.

You are welcome to use any of my image(s) for your files or your board, etc. Only fair after all the knowledge you've freely shared and I've learned immensely from! I'm also good for any photoshop work needed (when I'm not swamped at work lol).

 

It seems like sellers could barely give away cameo portraits of unidentified contemporary people, not so long ago. They didn't interest me either until I bought a signed hardstone one of a woman. Guess that made me take a harder look at this category of work & I realized some of it was really quite good, & of course there is the cult of the Saulinis. I started buying ones I liked. I swear I drove the market up. Sorry all.

All of mine are here & there on my 2 Pinterest boards. She was my first, signed by Rudolph Otto:



This one is intriguing: signed by Michelini; mount has a Soviet hallmark; obviously a real person:



This one is glass & over time I have come across a couple of other copies, but the lady's history is sad & a bit bizarre. Mary Meredith, Countess Ferrers, later Lady Campbell. The sadistic earl was the last peer to be hanged in Britain. You would think she deserved peace after that, but died in a fire at the Campbell's country estate.



I have a handful of signed portraits of men, but the 2 I like best are anonymous. One is this guy, who just looks like he would be nice to meet



and the other is this gent, mainly for the mustache

 

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore mythology and the neo-classical Victorian subjects... But the "real people" category always brings out more personality in the carvers' work and that's also so appealing in art. I love the gents because they are fewer and often have such lovely facial hair!

I'm so intrigued by the Otto one and the possible family history you uncovered. He did a marvelous job in the detail. I love learning about your others and who they were. And of course I loveee your men with the fun facial hair. Those delicate curls!

 

Even fewer are the ladies. You can see the discrepancy in the number of posts on each board. Especially thanks to PepperAnna, I still have gents yet to pin, while I think every female I have come across is on that board. When you whittle out the royalty & nobility, the number gets even smaller.

 

True. Originally when I determined I wanted one I was considering it in the number of just female cameos in general, not necessarily the portrait ones. I definitely want a neo-classical man to come my way too...

 

@Bronwen I have more gents and ladies for your board. I know you haven't caught but yet with the ones I posted recently, so I am giving you some breathing space. Let me know when you are ready for the next batch.

 

Speaking of John King and sitters for portrait cameos, I came across this Oxford University Press article The King Cameos of Audubon recounting a friend of King's coming by to visit and finding John James Audubon sitting in the studio, getting his portrait done.


I'm sure it's been seen but I don't remember it in this thread. PDF at the link, JPG of the article attached, but not enlarged so as not to fill up the thread.

 

Familiar Sketches of Sculpture and Sculptors Vol 2 by Lee, Hannah Farnham Sawyer (1854) pp 178-190 includes an autobiography written by John Crookshanks King in 1853 describing his childhood, love of birds, move to the USA, various jobs, and how he started in sculpture and cameos due to the insistence of a friend. He also mentions a fire in his studio in 1852 destroyed 15 years of his "gatherings"...so I'm guessing any supposed ledger of cameos/orders before that point was lost.

 

What I see:
He's holding up a "mirror" while she applies her lipstick.
Unusual, to say the least!