Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I wonder what an 1800 year old cameo looks like......... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...lewoman-buried-jewellery-1-800-years-ago.html

 

Thanks for the link, Holly. Must have been seriously exciting for those who discovered Neko's grave. Too bad the article didn't provide a photo taken head on.



Engraved gems, both intaglios & cameos, of 2,000 years ago, even older, can just blow you away. When you factor in limitations on tools, lighting & magnification, they are more incredible still.

 

There weren't any real limitations 2000 years ago at least not for shell cameos.They had metal tools for scraping much the same as those still used today.They picked out children with myopia to train in carving since they didn't need artificial magnification and many carvers today only use sunlight from a north facing window for light.

 

It's not clear whether shell was not used that much in antiquity or those pieces just haven't survived well. We do know that stones were valued for virtues they were believed to have of their own, beyond anything depicted on them and that intaglios, because they functioned as seals, were more common than cameos, which were decorative or amuletic. Shell ornaments and beads are found at prehistoric sites throughout Europe, so it's not that worked shell has completely disappeared from the archeological record, but once culture and technology had advanced enough, stone seems to have become much preferred. The making of impressions of gems in glass paste also became highly developed.

I have not previously encountered the proposition that myopic children were employed in gem engraving. If you can point me to anything written on the subject I would be really interested. You would need a kid whose vision wasn't also distorted, with good eye-hand coordination, able to use a bow drill, possessed of a lot of patience and the ability to copy from a drawing or an existing gem. No doubt would have had to be a boy, probably from a social class allowed to educate its youth. Finding a good apprentice must have been tough.

I can imagine shell being used as a practice material by those first learning the art. More seems to be known about techniques than about training programs.

 

In the usual way of the currents in the information flow, today's e-mail brought news of an upcoming auction that includes this shell cameo, described as 3rd century BCE:



This stone one in high relief, dated to first century BCE 'or later':



As well as this one, said to be first century CE:



You can see the other cameos and intaglios being sold by following the link, scrolling down a little, and searching the lots for 'cameo' and 'intaglio'.

 

@kyratango Remember these 'Parfum La Gaterrie' cameos? I still don't understand the tag on the back, but one has just turned up on eBay they makes me wonder if they were not also made by Banbiere.

 

Hi Browen, someone on the eBoo boards posted a question about this cameo and I offered to repost it here to see if you can answer their question. This is what they wrote:

The one subject has what looks like a crescent moon headpiece. I am thinking this might represent Diana the huntress. Who is the other lady?? With the long curls I do not think that the other is her brother Apollo but the faces are very similar. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

It's an odd pairing, but they are correct, the one with a crescent moon is Artemis/Diana; the other lady is a fellow Olympian, Demeter/Ceres. The faces are alike because that seems to be the only way the cutter was able to do faces - not very well.

 

Correction: 'should have been 'made by Danbiere.'

 

Thank you very much Bronwen

 

Ooh, @kyratango Just for you:



Not sure I would call them cameos, as seller does, but would certainly go well with all your entomological jewellery.

 

@Bronwen sorry to be late to answer, I'm on summer vacation with poor internet on my phone!
It does look same than Danbiere pieces, but I don't know if the parfum la Gatierre pieces are that old... No infos came out from Google

 

Ha, thank you for the tag
I love them!!! But less the price
BZZ BZZ

 

I love the Pan cameo locket, Bronwen. I picked these up at a show yesterday. The frame on the lava cameo looks a little beat, and looks like a pin repair, but no chips or cracks, and I fell in love with the beauty of the cameo.


Bronwen, is this unusual because of the carving of the bosom?
14k

 

The settings, color of material are too much the same. The low relief Parfum La Gaterrie cameos are less sophisticated work. Maybe made earlier? Or more cheaply?

I knew you were en vacances, but wanted to post & tag so I didn't forget.

 

Moi aussi.

 

Thank you. Spent way more than I'm usually willing to part with, but have never seen anything similar & couldn't resist.

She is an especially lovely bacchante, fortunately, despite the distressed condition of the mount (yes, clasp has been replaced, probably to a safer one) the cameo appears undamaged. Bacchantes are common in lava, but the typical pose is with one shoulder forward. Yours is unusual.

She's a subject surprisingly not seen all that often compared to some others, but the bare bosom & diadem indicate she is Aphrodite/Venus.

 

Thank you, Bronwen. The lady said the Venus one is a book piece due to the bosom, IDK. I find I like the Venus/Aphrodite and bacchante pieces the most. My grandmom had a huge long grape vine she made juice and jelly from, and I grew up around the corner from a beautiful, old winery, Renault.

 

Wonder what book she meant? And in what sense she meant it? Certainly not one of a number by the same designer, the way something might be, eg., a book piece by Hattie Carnegie. Not likely to be the one shown in a photograph of the type in a reference book. Just another example of the type. Nudity is one of Aphrodite's principal attributes; she's always in some degree of undress greater than that of other goddesses.

Drape her a bit and add a snake curled around one breast, and suddenly you've got Cleopatra.

 

Wilhelm (William) Schmidt is known for his cameos cut in unusual materials that are difficult to work, particularly opals. Just came across these two pieces & was knocked out of my sandals:

https://gem-a.com/news-publications...em-a/gem/cameos-natural-history-museum-london

Will put up the one image & let you see the rest at the site.