Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Ha, I agree it looks fine that way
The backing is brown wrapping paper, a little crinckled by the pressure of the mounting, as the glass isn't domed enough...

Your pâte sur pâte Marie Madeleine is stunning

 

For those who haven't seen the details of the now framed Aurora:

 

And here I thought that was one of your special artistic touches. It looks better that way, no?

 

@Makanudo If you're still out there, it has recently come to my attention that there is a thriving industry producing fake engraved gems 'from antiquity' in that part of the world.

 

@Bronwen
That is a fact I could have shared with you immediately, but I thought of it as of common knowledge....
It all comes down to individual expertise.

Thanks

 

It seems to be common knowledge among folks who handle antiquities regularly, but my own knowledge base mostly contains info pertaining to engraved gems from about 1780 or so onward, & my primary interest has always been learning to recognize the subjects portrayed on them, with a preference for mythological/allegorical/religious subjects, not historical.

Glad to hear you were already aware of the high probability of fraud and were not relying on my judgment on that score. My feeling was that they were fake, even though in your initial inquiry you gave me no info about them at all. If they were something you were considering buying, hope you didn't.

 

Link no longer connects - goes off into the new eBay bizarro land of expired listings, but it was this sort of thing:

 

Tried to buy this girl but my next bid would have had to be AU$240 and I chickened out. Such is life.
Cheers
Stephen

 

She's lovely, but another lovely one will come along at a price you like better. Whole helmet shells quickly start to take up a lot of space. Whether for resale or your own home decor, you may be better off with something a bit more compact.

There are so many things I would like to know about cameos that I would probably have to go back in time as a fly on the wall to find out. Between things that were thought too obvious or inconsequential for anyone to write down, or were considered secrets of the trade & not written down, I do a lot of conjecturing. These pretty ladies wearing hoop earrings who are still recognizable as classical figures must all date to around the same time, guessing art nouveau, but early enough that the old conventions had not yet been abandoned.

Your girl, draped in grape vine is a bacchante/maenad. Here are her sisters Diana and Flora:



They are both good sized pieces; Diana is in a micromosaic brass easel frame & sits on my desk.

 

Some very nice carvings here again!
Bronwen, the micromosaic frame is a beauty!

 

Merci, ma cousine française. I see I really should take it apart & clean it up a bit. It has been lying flat because the very delightful, naughty Pontiac likes to knock it over, so the dust is settling into the crevices.

 

I'll take one of these for my next birthday.

https://pin.it/chxjbmzsnaffte
https://www.christies.com/lotfinder...mary&sid=e31f4d7e-3517-4f1d-9694-eec62aab40ad

 

as you say Venice, I do believe it shows the transport of the deceased to San Michele, the graveyard island. in the background perhaps Murano island with smoking chimneys ?

 

It's just as well that I'm generally not that taken with carved gemstone cameos (& what are 'single cut' diamonds?). I manage to spend quite enough on pieces in lesser materials with more interesting subjects. But I wouldn't object to finding this one in the toe of my Christmas stocking.

 

Thankfully one of those was on Pinterest and the other is already sold. Single cuts are old school, i.e. the diamonds that don't look like CZs. They're even more primitive than rose cuts, but I figure if they were good enough for Elizabeth I they're good enough for the likes of me.

Thanks Fid. I knew there was a reason we kept you around.

 

I still think corpses don't hold on to the gunwale. Would expect arms crossed over chest. And well behaved cherubim don't crawl over the dear departed. I have no problem with the possibility that San Michele is in the background.

 

Oh well. I hope to put it on FeeBay this fall, provided they don't outlaw helmet shell in the meantime!

 

Heavens forfend!

 

You should see what gets redlined on Facebook. Over there, 80s costume jewelry has been known to violate community standards. You can post naked selfies, or mostly naked selfies, but not goldtoned pins apparently. Not if the pins are for sale anyway.

 

I've never been on FB - sounded too intrusive to me from the get-go. Is it anything offered for sale they get tetchy about? Fear that 'goldtoned' will be misconstrued as solid gold & someone will hold them liable? Too weird altogether.