Featured Cameos, just because.

Your eyesight is good, Bronwen. She says April on the back!

 

Maybe an allegorical figure of april, with spring flowers?

 

If my cameo is who I think she is, she was married to this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Arons

She stayed in Berlin & committed suicide when it looked like she was going to be taken by the S.S. There were 2 other sisters, one of whom married a brother of Leo Arons. The third & youngest admired Leo more than his wife seems to have done.

I only have grainy photos of them. It may be I think the cameo is this sister because her photo is the only one that shows a partial profile; the other 2 are looking at the camera, making it hard to compare. Still, it would make sense, when fleeing abroad, to take a small, durable, portrait of the sister left behind to an uncertain future.

 

My eyesight is lousy - having cataract surgery next week. It is definitely too poor to look at the photo of the back & see whether it is signed April. Is it clearly legible? Sometimes this type of signature is initials only; almost always they look like you can read them until you really try. When I'm trying to decipher a signature on a shell cameo, I keep in mind that whatever it says, it is probably in Italian.

Obviously there's no reason the name of the subject could not be put on the back. It is seen frequently with lava cameos of famous Italians. The one of Henri III I put on kyratango's post has his name on the back, so do one I have of Galileo & another of Charlemagne. They are all hardstone. I have never seen either a shell or a coral cameo with the subject's name; I have never seen a coral cameo that was signed at all. I have seen a cameo offered for sale as being signed by 'May', clearly incised in cursive. In that case, think it is likely to be an owner's name. Could be the case here, although think this form of etching would not be employed by a jeweller, for fear of marring the piece.

I do think you should think of her as April from now on, as she certainly could represent La Primavera.

 

It's pretty clear, himself had a look as well - I was somewhat surprised it said April. But perhaps, given these were imported exported shipped all over as plaques, it was made for an English speaking market. Who knows. It's made it even more interesting.

Cataract surgery is brilliant: Ma had it (at 84!) and so has my BFF, a tad younger. She ended up with 20/20 and no need for contacts or glasses. Hope it goes well.

 

Well, I wouldn't want to question Himself! Part of how I have come to have a collection interesting in its own little way is through spotting signatures where they hadn't been noticed or by recognizing illegible ones. Do you think you could get a photo? It can mean holding the piece in one hand so the light hits it just so, while working the camera with the other. Have more than one piece on which the signature is invisible unless at just the right angle to the light.

Have known a number of people who have had cataract surgery, each & every one absolutely delighted with the results. I'm so eager I'm not even nervous.

 

April is also April in German and some other European languages, including Slovenian and Croatian. I don't know if the Germans carved shell cameos, but while in Croatia, I was told there had been shell cameo carving in Croatia in the past. Since Slovenia borders on both Italy and Croatia, I wouldn't be surprised if they also carved cameos at some point.

 

Good luck!
My husband has had both eyes done, all went perfectly. His new vision was a revelation to him. (And to me, he can find things on his own now.)

 

After my boyfriend got home from having first eye unbandaged, he looked around his apartment, where he has lived for I don't know how long, & exclaimed, Oh, the walls are white! He had thought they were beige.

 

I am starting to think about April's setting. The cameo is beautiful, but seeing one in this type of setting is very unusual. Anyone know where this type of work was done? A little quick poking around, turned up this, something to see:

http://historicaldesign.com/print/?product_id=10863

 

It used to be done in several places, I had a French 19th century brooch with the same style Damascene work. It was gold inlaid damascene all over, with a small gold medallion of a French saint in the centre.
Nowadays we associate it with Toledo, but this brooch doesn't look like the antique Toledo work I know. The black is in pristine condition, which is unusual for antique Toledo. Not that I'm saying it isn't Toledo, but it could be French, or another place with a 19th/20th century damascene tradition.
Then there is Japanese damascene 'Shakudo' like work, but that has very Japanese motifs.
Have you seen this site:
http://milkywayjewels.com/damascene/Damascene.html

 

The damascene work on the front has remained in good condition, while the layer the frame is mounted on is downright crude. Holding the cameo in place using prongs on the back is a later, easier way of setting a shell cameo with undulating edges than building a custom bezel that follows every curve & holds the cameo without using prongs. In this case, looks like the entire brooch is curved. I'm inclined to the setting's being Spanish: skilled decorative work; simple underlying structure in base metal; just can't imagine a French jeweller making a piece in this manner. But...?

 

The hinge and clasp look fairly recent. My mother bought several brooches in Toledo in the early 60s, which all had the old style trombone clasps. But hinges and clasps were often replaced, of course.

 

The clasp looks to me like it has been replaced; hinge might be original. I regularly see sellers make Egyptian brooches older than they are because Egyptian jewellers continued to use the trombone clasp into the 1940s.

 

I'll see what I can do on the photo: may need to do the flour trick, it's a right pig to see the engraving.

I also think the frame is Spanish. I have quite a bit of Damascene and it's absolutely typical. And you're right, the whole thing is curved. I can't quite decide on the clasp being replaced or not.

I know what you mean about trombones, I've seen them on very new things.

 

Can't hurt, but may not be able to capture this kind of etching, which is so very superficial. I'm making this up as I go: maybe first trace the letters using a damp swab & then dust with flour?

I show a cameo on my intro thread that has the signature incised on what is called the 'truncation', the bottom edge of a bust or head on a cameo/intaglio. Was going absolutely crazy trying to read it. Needed to bring it up on a white background. The cocoa trick worked beautifully.

 

Hm. Good thought. Or even a tracing.

 

Or a rubbing?

 

That too.