Featured Id help fırst cameo; what era, maker, style

Thanks @mirana very interesting.

 

Did you purchase it from a Netherlands seller? It's an interesting question I don't think anyone has ever taken up, just what tended to happen to cameos that were bought unmounted in Italy & brought home to various other countries. Of course there is always the possibility that the cameo was purchased by a jeweller with the intention of setting & selling, & not by a grand touriste.

Mounting a shell cameo in a bezel setting takes skill & patience, as each one has to be custom made for that particular cameo. I wonder if it is something any competent jeweller of the day did routinely. or were there some who advertised this as a special service? If there were specialists, were they concentrated in certain places, such as London?

Let's ask @Any Jewelry if this frame, which looks so English to me, could be Dutch?

 

hi @Bronwen.yes i bougt the cameo from a Netherlands seller.
for the cleaning , I used 3 cup of tap water and 2 drops of liquid sop and placed the cameo together with the brooch with 3 amethyst stones in a bowl with a anti-stick coating.

cameo is not clean enough yet so i didn't stop with cleaning process. but i'm bit worried because I see some kind of white deposit / haze at the top .is this normal or did i do something wrong? . there is also a white accumulation at solder spots of amethyst broche.

 

If the subject matter is taken from a Dutch original (engraving or painting), the gent is likely to be a commoner, the most important people in the economy of the Dutch Republic. The girl doesn't look like a peasant girl, she is wearing nice leather shoes. They could have a similar socio-economic background.

I see Flemish or Dutch. The girl's cap is not unlike that of Vermeer's 'Milkmaid', and similar to ones that were worn in Dutch West Brabant and Flanders.

A lady from Etten-Leur, Dutch West Brabant, wearing a similar cap, topped by a 19th century floral and bead decoration called a 'kroon' or 'kroezel'.

Commonly seen in Dutch and German.

Foliate scroll? Used a lot in Dutch jewellery.

I do wonder though, isn't the mount a bit big for the cameo? Could the cameo be a replacement? A charming piece, even if they didn't start life together.

 

You added an "anti stick coating"? What was that?

I don't usually soak my antique gem brooches, but it shouldn't really if it was only mild dish soap. I just use the soap water with a clean toothbrush to get any gunk out, then polish the gold with a gold cloth.

 

More soap & less water. Then a very soft toothbrush.

We will have to see what you are talking about to know if it is natural to the shell or Byne's disease.

The vessel used for soaking had a non-stick coating. This was not necessary; should not have created any problems either.

 

Thank you all. Here the pics after cleaning. Is the white haze around the figure normal?

 

It looks like Byne's "disease". The article mentions the use of a typewriter eraser. Another member recently shared with us that a more ordinary type of eraser had been successful on her cameo.

 

Signature now looks more like WK, which really does suggest a name in a Germanic language, rather than a Romance one. Of course, the cutter's name may not match his nationality.

 

Yeah looks like "WKht ot" or "hKht ot" which.... Makes even less sense to me.

I used a white rubber eraser on mine, cut into silvers to get a point that could fit the crevices.

I'd love to see the whole cleaned cameo straight on, and right side up!

 

WK.KT oE?

 

Thank you all.
I tried but can't find any information about the signature
the frame tested positive for 14 kr. On 18th i see the lines but they are loosely desolved.


And here is the the picture strait on right side up.

 

Rec, het lijkt er op dat de foto's weer te groot zijn. Kun je ze verkleinen tot onder 1mb, liefst 640 x 480k?

 

thanks AJ, i resized the pictuers in the mesage

 

Thank you for showing us the refreshed work. Cameo is radiant now.

 

Yes, it's really lovely. I'm not usually drawn to full figure cameos but this one is a great scene.