Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Looks like a whippet. Wrong tail for a deer or hare....hmm.
I'm presuming it's male although there aren't many sensibilities to protect there..
Not much up top if it's a girl either!

 

Fair enough. Love the way it is kept from flapping by straps around the thighs. But it is still the lion skin of Hercules/Heracles, not an attribute you would use to identify Eros/Cupid. The skin is what makes the auctioneer see Hercules & the skin as a lion's pelt, completely ignoring all the other clues.

The section of this thread that started here will set you on the right path:

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/cameos-show-tell-or-ask-answer.23493/page-147#post-909941

You presume correctly, although he is not someone who can be given a name. What activity is he engaged in?

 

I'm rubbish at this!
Hunting? Although you say it's not a spear? Cheerleading for all I know .
He's holding a ewer so either water or a drunkard?
That's a peculiar figure behind him, talk about supermodel legs!. Can't make that out.
Presumably 'he' represents something rather than being a name.
Off to peruse your link for enlightenment. Should have paid more attention at school.

 

Dionysus? The wine God?

 

Panther/Leopard!
Still not sure about stick man behind him. You are making me work hard for this.......

 

This is facing the right way. The thing behind him is a 'herm' with the effigy of the relevant god on it.

That's who's on the herm.
http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/2D3F4ABB-BAB0-479E-B743-CB9F610F5B10

The central figure is a participant in his revels & might be seen as a faun. They do not always have goat features.

 

Exactly. So. A herm with a bearded guy; a thyrsus; a wine jug; an animal skin wrap; a panther. Engraver could not have made it any more explicit.

 

'He had a magical wine cup that was always filled with wine'

See I wasn't far off with drunkard!.

I even googled to see if stick man was a son of Dionysus but it seems his son would need more than a wisp of fabric to protect our sensibilities!

 

Having googled 'Herm' I now see that the figure behind is on a plinth. My eyes insisted they were the longest straightest legs in the world

 

..and he still has boobs.

 

Late nights & too much wine will do that to you.

 

The entire time I was reading these messages, I was thinking, "the-pineconey-staffy-pedumy-thingy-what-the-heck-is-that-word..."

Fortunately everything was sorted by the time I read the first message and I wasn't in pain for too awfully long.

 

I had to google most of the terms....no way I would have figure it who the guy is..

 

I think Bronwen was in pain waiting for me to work it out like some first year kid with a maths problem!. Fun to research and learn though .

 

I was hoping you would get some company in the game & was glad you kept at it even though you ended up playing solo. I know when I have to work for the info, it is more likely to stick with me. Since Hercules, Bacchus & his followers are seen frequently on cameos, it is good to know them when you see them.

 

This is going up in a local auction next month. It is billed as "Victorian Gold and Agate Cameo Brooch 1870s".

One thing I don't get is the description says "Gold not marked and not acid-tested." So they are saying it's gold but haven't bothered to test it to confirm? This seems very strange to me for what is a well respected local auction house to do (or not do!).

Anyway, I think it's pretty so I thought I would show it here

 

Well, auctioneers' fine print tends to come down to caveat emptor. Probably that is how the consignor has represented it; they're letting you know they cannot confirm. It's a good cameo, so fair chance it is gold, although maybe not very high in purity. Wonder if there were some dangles that attached at the sides.

I think of these generically as 'noblewomen', pretty ladies with more money. As it is being reproduced on my monitor, the color is odd, much more blue than the usual sea green color. Maybe just lighting & need for cleaning.





The combination of subject, color & style puts it 1890 - 1920.

 

With the dirt, did they think it was one of those cheap glass cameos?

 

They didn't know & I wasn't sure. A photo of the edge made me think there might be layers. Think I made an offer on the grounds that I really couldn't be sure what I was buying. Since seller didn't know either, she accepted it. Cameo is quite small, could have been set as a ring, but a lovely, well-made little thing. Very pleased with how she cleaned up.