Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

It's the snub nose that invites the Socrates identification. One of his followers, Alcibiades, I think, describes him as having the face of a satyr. But by convention Socrates is also shown as having a bald pate; this gent has more hair than would be usual. This one at U. Penn is less snubby but extravagantly bald, & labeled to avoid doubt:



Mirana's guy has a distinctive earlobe I don't think you would find on a necessarily imaginary portrayal of the philosopher.

 

I had an art history professor who once said it was interesting how artists would make all the figures in their art have the same ears they did (unless working directly from life) and that always stuck with me. One of those features not everyone thinks about being different.

I've seen a few different versions of Socrates with much more hair, but definitely more depictions with less. I'll just keep an eye out for other gents and maybe I'll settle it some day. Either way I enjoy him.

 

My newest gal, a 2" hardstone agate of Venus of Arles. The only mark is a "20" on the back. 2" high. I really enjoy that you can see the layers in the hardstone agate on the side.

 

I like her luminescence.

I have one somewhat like:

 

Is the stone gray or some other color in person? It's a lovely combo. Is Venus the only gal that gets the little poof of hair on the front like that?

 

This cameo is something you don't see a whole lot of, chalcedonyx. The background layer is untreated chalcedony, so sort of a translucent grey-brown. In the photo above it is sitting on a black surface, so it looks quite grey. Some other shots:

 

It only looks like a little poof from the side. It's more of a bow; I have seen it called a 'Venus knot'. (Neither of these is mine.)



The Apollo Belvedere has something similar going on:



It can look like a little poof on him too:

 

I had seen it on her, and Apollo, but no one else (yet) so I wondered if it was specific to them. I have this "enamel glass" I picked up some while back that I haven't seen elsewhere yet, and she has that 'do. I'd say Venus but (gasp) she's clothed! Must have been a cold day.

 

The hair is bound up in a male fashion at the back. I think we're looking at trans-lava here.