Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Yikes! (Must bone up on ancient hats.)

My thoughts, too.

 

@Bronwen
Is this the same guy?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/233181360420

 

Think not. The only thing that stops me from declaring it is Pope & closing the case is that very carefully delineated jaw line, which does not quite seem a match. It's so easy to get lost in the fur collar.

Have seen the lava cameo & my first thought was that it is Thorvaldsen. Some resemblance, not close enough. Lava cameos of men like this tend to be of Italians famous for their achievements in the arts & you see whole bracelets made of panels like this one, sometimes, thoughtfully, with the name of the subject engraved into the back. I'll spend silly amounts of time trying to pin down mythological subjects; historical figures try my patience, so haven't gone looking for this guy.

 

Ampyx, sphendone, sakkos, taenia, occipite...other things worn on the head.

 

Taenia!?!!! Thought it concerns the other end of the body...

 

I can't decide whether to ask or to pretend I know. This is the only usage with which I am familiar. A wild guess - parasite?

 

When I don't recognize a subject, it nags at me. Boudicca with an ostrich trying to hide behind her?

 

Looks more like a Satyr ..... https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Satyr/903336/3939343/view

 

Took me a moment to realize you probably mean the 'ostrich', since there are satyresses. I thought it might be a goat skin, a perfectly appropriate accoutrement for a bacchante/maenad. If it belongs also to a woman bearing arms & armor, I can't think of her. Chipping to edges of the shield are confusing the picture.

Desperately wish I could just grab this piece:

 

This arrived this afternoon. I can’t find any distinguishing marks on the frame and haven’t dug out my kit to test if it’s gold or not.

No details for this one again. Forgive the stupid questions but is this still helmet shell? What would this type of scene be called? And it looks to be signed and I cannot make out the name. Does anyone recognize it? It’s a good size at 2 inches long, first larger cameo I’ve ever bought.

Can anyone tell me anything else about it?

 

One of the "Mouhe" (surname) dudes does scenic stuff, but as close to spelling "Mouhe" as yours is... I don't think that's how he signs his name.

Just taking a quick trot through the forum now, will double check later (unless @Bronwen gets to it before I do).

 

Easy question first, yes, it is helmet shell. There is no agreed upon name for this type of cameo, although they are quite common. Because they sometimes feature a woman & a well or well house in the scene, you frequently see them misidentified as Rebecca at the Well, even when there is no well. I just call them country or village scenes. Have never seen any 2 exactly alike. They seem to be out of cutters' imaginations, cobbled together from a visual vocabulary of stock elements. The tortured tree is obligatory; the rest is a Chinese menu: woman/women; stream/river, with or without bridge; goat, dog or waterfowl; little buildings, ruined buildings, improbably balanced buildings, sometimes a church; occasionally a child or children.

Have gone into my files of signatures & think this is not the Mouhe who did country scenes or the one who did my guy with the fur collar. The way the M is formed is wrong for any example I could find. It is closer to Michelini, who made spikier Ms, except not with those curls at the ends of the legs. Also, although the bulk of his work were not masterpieces, I have never seen a country scene by him.

I read it as 'Michel' until we come up with something better.

 

Yep, the "M" and the "e" are completely different from both Mouhe sigs.

"Michel" sounds good to me.

Have not looked for a carver by that name...

 

I see Michel with a Z underneath the name... Or is it just a fancy underlining...

 

That was the confounding factor with Silz/Schmoll. I'm inclined toward a flourish.

 

Victorian 14k YGold Double Strand Cameos & Fancy Dome Link Drape Necklace

 

I think it's actually missing some dangles.

I think it was once MORE than it is now.

 

14K, words fail.