Featured Interesting Lavastone Cameo

Thought you all might be interested in this French cameo I picked up. I think it might be lavastone, but I'm not certain.

 

@Bronwen

 

Is that frame tortoise shell ?

 

Frame does look like tortoise to me. Don't think there would have been good simulants when this was made.

Cameo looks like lava on the face of it, but since it's from France, wondering if it's not 'pipe stone', which I think is the same thing as meerschaum. If so, it would be very light for its size. (What is its size?)

Have not seen this very interesting subject before. A putto playing at being a rustic, or perhaps something like the Genius of Animal Husbandry. Really interesting way of securing the back, while still allowing the frame's contents to be removed at will.

It's very cool, I would have grabbed it.

 

Maybe you mean 'terre de pipe' or 'terre à pipe'? That is kaolin, white clay. Kaolin is also used to make porcelain (fired at a higher temperature).

For the clay pipes made from terre à pipe, think of those long Dutch Gouda pipes.
In Dutch, kaolin clay is called 'pijpaarde', pipe earth, which means the same as the French term.

 

Pipe stone here is actually stone, usually reddish brown. Catlinite, if Wikipedia is to be believed. IIRC Northern Plains tribes used it.

 

Yes it is, but we don't have catlinite in Europe, we use kaolin.
George Catlin was an American painter and the first Euro-American to be permitted to see the sacred pipestone quarry. I believe that is in Minnesota.

 

Very interesting! The little hat...I wonder if the style is alluding to the industry or type of person he is portraying. I would have bought it too. Great find!

 

Was working from memory - still am - & was a bit rushed this AM. 'Pipe stone' may not be what I was trying to remember, it may have been 'pipe clay'. Definitely not 'pipe earth', although presumably they are the same thing.

Have not looked at this sort of thing in a long while but what I remember is that there was no consensus among eBay sellers as to the name of the material used for French plaques like this one of Charity.



Has anyone handled a few of these? Are they light in weight like meerschaum? Or heavy like clay?

 

My mother had several French carved religious plaques set in black frames with bombe glass. They were similar to the one you posted, only a different subject. They weren't heavy, but they were definitely 'terre de pipe'.

I have a Dutch pipe clay Madonna somewhere. I remember it was fairly lightweight, certainly not as heavy as terracotta. If I can find it I will report back.

 

It seems 'terre de pipe' refers to both kaolin and to 'argile', which is grey clay:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terre_à_pipe

I think Barn's cameo is grey clay, whereas the plaque you posted is white clay, so kaolin.

Two terre de pipe sculptures, the first is kaolin, white clay:


https://www.europeanantiques.co.nz/product/dome-with-saint-jean-in-terre-de-pipe-c-1880/

The second is argile, grey clay:


https://www.galerieparticuliereanti...signee-banchelli-style-art-deco-epoque-xxeme/

So both are terre de pipe. The grey colour of the second one is more like Barn's cameo. The first one is like the plaque Bronwen posted, and like the plaques my mother had.

 

It reminded me of Rubens.

 

Just passing through, but might suggest the frame is pressed horn rather than tortoise-shell...

~Cheryl

 

That was my first impression too, but I was more interested in the cameo than the frame.