Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Not as many multi full figure cameos appeal to me, but I had to have this one. Appears to be young Queen Victoria on the occasion of her coronation in 1837, surrounded by some putti with nice abs...



I looove the details on this. Layered clouds, amazing fruit and flower wreaths and swags...even the figures have such attention. The tiny toes carved away from the cloud to hang, and the fat ankles! Each putti has a different hair style. This is my largest piece to-date at 2 3/8" and the artist made use of the space!

I'm guessing the image was based on these two of Queen Vic, from the time of her coronation.






When I bought it I could just make out an "L" when zoomed in and I assumed it must be Lamant. And huzzah, it was...



So now I'm interested...it was discussed in a couple threads that there were at least 2 Lamants. In this one the translation that might reveal both Victor and Louis were carvers. There are multiple documents in the Signatures thread that place Victor in Paris circa 1850, and a Lamant in England in 1865. Also the descendant who says Louis was in England in 1852.

Now I have a piece that is the "separate letters" hooked "L" Lamant who is making what seems to be a piece of the English monarch around her coronation.

Does this mean:
- He made it in Paris as a souvenir for English tourists. This seems an interesting thing to do in France 7-ish years after the July Revolution and the installation of "popular sovereignty" as opposed to a hereditary one Queen V enjoyed. I have to imagine that looking like you supported absolute monarchies during this period was dicey. They exiled their king for good in '48.

- He lived in England around 1937 and then moved back to France at some point?

- Someone asked for this commission well after Queen V was on the throne, married, and a mother to 7 in 1850. It seems odd to me to make an image celebrating the coronation of her youth at this point.

I'll probably never know the answer but it's a curious data point to the overall Lamant mystery.

 

A lovely and unusual cameo. What a great find. It is really special.

 

It would be great to figure out the Lamant mystery. To add to it, here are a couple of cameos I found over the weekend. I didn't know Lamant made commesso cameos. The second one is signed on the front and back.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/37225134400616400/



https://www.bada.org/object/extremely-fine-carved-polychromed-oval-comesso-cameo-christ

 

Aaah!! I'm glad to see more of these! I really enjoy them. @bluumz found one back in 2020. I would have really re-considered my upper limit budget for that cavalier.

 

I would have this in such a heart beat, just WOW. I'm not really into cameos but I follow this thread to look at the beauty and this for me is one of the best examples so far.

 

I had to go have a little look and The Fitzwilliam Museum Lamant commesso example is amazing!

 

I realized a couple of the commesso cameo pictures didn't upload correctly (too big) so I replaced them. Sorry!

 

The original files are the biggest I've ever seen uploaded to the web for a cameo and I appreciate it...it's like having a loupe on it! Really interesting to see construction on this type too. Thanks for sharing!!

 

@mirana, that cameo from the Fitzwilliam Museum is stunning. What caught my eye, however, was the setting. I have 2 cameos with the exact same setting.

 

Thanks for referencing the Blummz cameo. I don't think I had seen that one. I would love to find a commesso cameo like the cavalier. They are so beautiful. Of course, neither of these are mine, and I think the unset Jesus is for sale.

 

Oh my, he is stunning!

 

A before and after photo of my cleaned Erato cameo. She's been through some trauma but was too beautiful to pass up. I've shared a "before" photo on here a few weeks ago, so she may look familiar to some of you.

 

I've come across this eBay listing where the seller says they've cleaned the cameo 100% but it still looks very dirty. What could be happening here? I'm not interested in this cameo, but I'd like to learn more about what to keep an eye out for if this sort of staining is common.

 

Yea, she looks still dirty. I can't imagine what she looked like before they cleaned her!

 

Hmm looks like she was probably in a jewelry horde and got scuffed up by the surrounding metals. I have some earrings with something similar. Might be a little hard to see in this photo (which is why I was fine with buying them at $19 and so small no one would see it). It definitely looks like what silver does when it scratches surfaces. It's not removed by just soap and water. Might take an eraser or other very fine abrasive...which isn't great.



That cameo also just has grime still encrusted. I get impatient with long soaking so I use dental picks extremely carefully (pushing against the dirt, not scraping the shell) to encourage it out.

 

Ah yes, I can see the similarities to the faint marks on your earrings. Thank you!

 

Yes, she's not dirty, she's stained. Mirana is probably correct about what happened, unless some toddler took a pencil to her.

Price is ludicrous, even if the diamond is real. And, "This item is shipped to jewelry experts at GIA for verification before delivery." The experts will pronounce on the quality of the stone & let the shell pass as is because they don't know any better. Maybe they'll "correct" the description to coral.

 

@Bronwen I was surprised by the price as well! I've started to find that several sellers (including legitimate jewelers) overprice cameos to the point where I can't believe anyone would ever buy them. I've got my eye on a couple of small cameos (each about an inch in size) that are nice but not excellent, and am hoping that one day the sellers will realize their prices are too high.

 

A lot of them allow you to make an offer. I had my eye on one for over a year that was ridiculously priced. I made an offer for a 1/4 the price and it was accepted. I'll sometimes look at who's selling...a seller with a lot bunch of random objects is more likely to accept offers than an estate jeweler that's content to sit on stock and wait for the right deep pocket. I do get good laughs out of the truly terrible ones in gold fill that are priced 100+.

 

...that no one who knows cameos would buy at 1/10 the price,if that much.