Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

@mirana @PepperAnna @bluumz

I need all the guns on this one. What a marvelous piece! I do not know what the source of the image is, if it is indeed not the cutter's imagination, so I cannot name the young couple, but it is clear what's going on: Athena, goddess of wisdom & general good sense & self control, is trying to protect a youth from the onslaughts of the lust of the flesh & the temptation of a beautiful young woman. It's not a scene I recognize either from mythology or from other engraved gems. It feels rather like a scenario known as Hercules at the Crossroads.



Despite the T hinge, C clasp & overlong pin stem, this is not a Victorian piece. It belongs to a period when shell cameo cutting, after falling in quality, had a resurgence in the 1920s. Has the back been checked for a signature? There's glare in the photo. I could see this being by Giovanni Noto.

 

For those who don't like links:

 

Its gorgeous! Is the setting then older than the cameo itself? That pin looks awfully light wieght for what seems to be a heavy piece.

 

what a stunner !!!!!!

 

your friend got...........

a she or a he...
where was it got...
how was it got....

 

No, the cameo & the mount are contemporaneous. What you're noticing is one of the clues to its age & origin. Large, beautiful shell cameos in very spare gold settings with older looking findings are characteristic of that period. You wonder how they thought such flimsy accommodations could hold these big pieces.

 

@Vector

Looks like it is Athena/Minerva (in her role as Mentor in The Odyssey) protecting Telemachus from Venus and Cupid(s).

There's this fresco from the King of Naples' (Joachim Murat) palace:


Note our man in the Cameo is a boy (same as Telemachus), and has a cord and (probably) cloak.

There's this one from the British Museum by Abraham Raimbach ("Minerva in the Clouds Above Telemachus"):



It's a lovely cameo! Lots of detail and good work on the features. I wonder who would want to wear this theme. A mother hoping to protect a young son from love before he has gained wisdom?

 

Great work! That is no doubt the inspiration. The cameo has so many details, have to wonder if there's not another painting out there that is even closer.

 

Always a big thanks to Browen!

 

We first spotted this lovely piece last winter while poking around an antique shop in London. My friend fell in love with it right away, but the price tag and a tiny chip on Athena's nose made her hesitate. Turns out she couldn't get it out of her head though, and finally caved and bought it recently!

 

@mirana
Thank you for the information! It is indeed probably for the purpose you mentioned.

 

Oh interesting! Good to know if I find any cameos on eBay or something. Thank you!

 

It seems there may be writing on the reverse of the cameo starting at the bottom of the cameo and going up towards the pin. The cameo itself is lovely. What an unusual subject!

 

Scratches, I think.

 

Found a thing I thought I would never add to my collection. Of course the previous owner took 2 very far away and blurry photos. He's 2.25" high and so nicely detailed.



High relief carving. Mounting is silver with a gilt brass rope. I'm guessing he's a Putti, probably carved in France?



The conclusive ivory lines...



I thought I'd include these close-ups for learning. You can actually see the crossed lines on the front of him too, on his chest.



I'm so happy to have gotten one of these antiques! Circa 1860-80-ish? They're beautifully carved and I've been jealous of the fine pieces you all have. I just figured it was going to take a long time for me to find one, let alone one I could afford...

 

G_d bless bad picture sales!

 

Singular is putto. But the strap across his chest is for a quiver, so Cupid, or a cupid.

Like as not, although at least one of my portrait pieces was carved by a Brit.

 

Signed elj or something similar. Scrap the low carat frame and toss the shell?

 

Think I've seen that signature before, although never been able to assign a full name to it. Amazing what gets signed & what doesn't. As much as I love cameos, I won't weep if that one is broken out of there for scrapping the frame.

 

She's not a great beauty to me, but it does surprise me what similar pieces sell for so you might give it a whirl to see before scrapping....

auction auction (not actually agate) auction