Featured Signed Cameo

Hello everybody,
Another cameo came along, the seller can’t take proper photo of the signature, below is the best he could get.
Is this a legit signature and can anyone make up a name?
I can see some capital letters down next to the frame.
With regards to the depiction I see Eros and a butterfly that makes me think at Psyche.
@Bronwen @Any Jewelry @Ownedbybear @KSW @PepperAnna

 

Sorry, I can’t read that. It’s a cute subject matter though.

 

It doesn't appear to be random scratching so it could indeed be a "legit signature".
It also may not be in it's original frame/setting... it's rather a sloppy crimped fit.

 

The scene is Cupid/Eros in front of his mother, Venus/Aphrodite, with Psyche, represented as a butterfly, between them. The goddess of love did not feel so affectionate toward her prospective daughter-in-law and set her a series of potentially fatal tasks as a condition for approving the marriage.

There is definitely at least one signature there, but I'm not able to see a name I recognize in the scratching. Wonder if there's any chance it could be Michelini. Most of the time his signature on shell pieces looks like an ECG tracing & it's common for them to have additional little notations on them. He tended to take more care when signing hardstone, but I have one on which it looks as though someone deliberately tried to obscure the name:



Fortunately, he did this particular cameo a number of times, so the matching carving confirms the author.

Do seller's photos show any breakage around the edge of the shell that would account for the crimping in? Otherwise bluumz's observation that they do not look as if they started out together is a good one.

 

@Bronwen thank you so much for your reply.
I have not seen the cameo yet, will go to see it next week, at which point I am hopeful to purchase it.
In any case, I will take few photos and look for the sides. I will update this thread next week.
Kind regards,
Simona

 

I can't make out the signature either. Too light. Good luck when you see it in person. You will be able to make it out then. We will be waiting to find out who signed it!

 

Hello again @Bronwen @PepperAnna

I have news about the cameo, I have purchased it, the seller decided to scrap the frame and I have bought just the shell.
Please let me know your thoughts on the attached photos.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Simona

 

Maybe this way up? So tantalizing, on the edge of legible.

 

Are there two signatures?

 

From the photos you had from the seller, it does appear that there is more than one inscription, one of them more toward the edge that was not picked up in your pix. Looks to me like it could be the same name, maybe starting with L? Any possibility it's Lamant?

 

the seller decided to scrap the frame

that's rude !!!!!!!

 

Ever since the price of gold got so high sellers have been calculating whether they would make more selling the piece intact or by scrapping the metal & selling the cameo separately. The consequences are not always good.

A few months after this appeared on eBay



it reappeared like this


despite being signed by American cameist John C. King.

 

That's just too sad!!!!!

 

Good afternoon,
Please accept my apologies for the late reply, life has been a bit hectic for me in the last few months.
I have managed to take a photo of what is probably the second signature. It does look like Lamant, is it even possible?
Is it possible that Lamant and Michelini have met or had access to each others works?
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Simona
@moreotherstuff
@Bronwen @PepperAnna @KSW @bluumz

 

Interesting thought. Michelini started out in Rome, where he had a shop, then moved to Paris 1929/30, where he again kept a shop in addition to producing his own cameos. Can't rule out an author's signature + a shopkeeper's label.

 

Thank you for your reply.
This sounds promising…the possibility that they could have meet…it’s extraordinary.

 

I expect cameists working in the same city at the same time all knew each other.

 

Interesting cameo, Simona! Could you provide more pictures of the writing on the back of the cameo? To me it seems like one name may end with "form" or forn"? I would love to see the other signature that looks like Lamant. Love trying to figure out the signature mysteries.