Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

It looks to me like an owl with these eyes. Athena with an owl was my first thought.

 

yup.....

 

I can't quite get past her nostril. Wonder which Neri this was. The one I have says Neri. F. Roma.

 

I saw the auction listing. Really unusual, almost certainly French, but since it is ivory I couldn't get serious about it.

I have long maintained that cameo ornithology is atrocious. The face of this bird looks to me like a cross between a falcon & an owl. The feet say owl; closed tail shape more like other raptors.

The lady's bare bosom & complete lack of any military accoutrements argue against Athena/Minerva.

 

I have always seen this scene described as John the Baptist & suspect it probably is, but I cannot reconcile the depiction with the main tales. There is nothing about a woman taking the head for preservation, veneration, whatever, as this appears to show. Yet, angels aloft, a rose by the body...

 

True, Athena is not depicted bare-breast and without war gear but IMO this is the closest explanation at these evidences. And who knows what the maker knew about Athena.... The bird to me looks much more like an owl than anything else, although indeed somehow hybrid. Don't know any other bird species with such circles around the eyes, and they are explicitly well rendered on this cameo.
But it could be some lady with an owl, then.

 

The lady is holding a little perch for the bird, which to my mind brings the idea that the bird is trained, or is being trained, to hunt, or is a pet. The carver did such a good job with his human subject, I find it hard to believe an owl would not be more clearly recognizable if one were intended. Also, she is gazing up at it, the focus of her attention. When an owl appears with Athena on an engraved gem, it is most often as a device on helmet or shield, sometimes just a symbol in the field around her, not as the central figure, & not in a way that indicates a real live bird. This piece violates every convention for portraying the goddess. I have to conclude it is a noblewoman & a non-specific avian companion.

 

Same image ,..we see different things....

the bird looks like it's sitting on her hand.....

if it was a hunting bird , there would be a glove ...and a tether ....maybe even a hood...



and yes....you can hunt with an owl....

 

Now that is a pretty birdie! I wouldn't want to get on his/her bad side though.

 

not if you're a vole !!!!!!!

 

Or a chihuahua!

 

A pair of portrait cameos that were in a recent auction. Quite beautiful, I think. Sadly, the lady cameo is cracked. I think, under the bust, each one is signed "Reverchon", with perhaps a date, too. Unfortunately, with all the dust, it is hard to make out. I would have loved to see the backs of the cameos.

I wish there was a way to discern which Reverchon carved the cameos. There are 3 cameo cutters with the name Reverchon that I know of: Francois-Joseph-Charles Reverchon (husband), Louise Reverchon (wife), and Charles Reverchon (son). As you can guess from the names, they were French and lived in Paris. Francois was active from the 1850s to 1880s, Louise (1860s-1880s) and Charles (1870s-1880s).

 

That off the shoulder dress indicates earlier rather than later, but all it may mean is the source material was more 1860 than 1880.

 

According to Forrer, Reverchon, père, was born in 1829, his peak years appear to have been 1857 - 1881, having exhibited a stream mainly of portrait cameos in that period. His output seems to have been primarily shell cameos, with some bronze medallions.

Reverchon, fils, worked both in shell & in hardstone. Of the handful of works Forrer lists, all but one are portraits.

Mme Reverchon worked in shell, also noted as having done portraits.

The pieces I have are all signed by the same hand. Since there are enough of them floating around for 3 to come my way, I am assuming they are the productions of the prolific Reverchon, Sr. The signatures on these compare well with the ones I have.

This is the only time I have seen Reverchon pieces signed on the obverse & employing a carved frame encircling the figures. Pio Siotto seems to have done this routinely, but no other Reverchon I have seen has it.

I have to wonder whether whichever of them was the author didn't know the portraits were destined to be encased, where the reverses would be hidden & there would not be a mount to help stabilize the pieces.

 

I have one signed by Reverchon dated 1867. It is signed on both the obverse and reverse.

Historical (Real) Person Cameo
Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium
23 August 1836 – 19 September 1902

She was born an Austrian and was wed to King Leopold II in 1853. By all accounts, it was a very unhappy marriage, as they were not suited to each other and both had opposed the arranged marriage. By 1872 they lived separately, only been seen together during public affairs.

The cameo I have is signed "Reverchon" under the neck, "camee grave in 1867" below under the neck, and at the bottom of the cameo is written "? M La Reine Du Belgique", which has been scratched out. On the back is written "Reverchon graveur 1867". The cameo is set into a gold picture frame, although it is not large and could have easily been set as a brooch. The writing on the back is hard to read and photograph, as the picture frame stand cannot be moved put of the way.

I found a photograph of Queen Marie Henriette that was the basis for the carving.

 

I had a photo of your Marie-Henriette in my file for Reverchon but no close ups showing the inscriptions, so really appreciate your showing us. The writing appears to be that on all the other examples we have seen.

In looking through my Reverchon file, realized I did have an example of his having engraved his name at the truncation, albeit a second hand one. These dripstone cameos were made from a mold that itself must have been an impression of the original. The photos don't capture it, except for a little on one of them, but sellers described the presence of the signature.

 

Wonder why on the cameo the image is reversed? My 3 all face the same way as cameo M-H, so maybe it was Reverchon's better side.

 

Found this today. I'll have to get a loupe on it, but I think it's hand-painted on porcelain in a gold-filled setting. No dots for certain, even under 40x. Victorian hinge but a later clasp; oddly I think the hinge is the repaired bit. The photo is just quick and dirty with my camera but... I think it's Byron. If not, it's another teenaged boy with his shirt open.

 

This is the way I usually see Byron:



Your fellow is certainly Byronic, whether or not the poet himself.

 

If not, he was certainly trying! I've never seen a man of the era with his shirt collar open. Except Byron.