Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Well there is just a whole lot going on in there, this will take some pondering.

 

Have not sorted out all the bits here, but my current favorite is Boudica:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudica

As of yet, my opinion is not set in stone.

 

I’m going to go with Athena/Minerva, goddess of war and wisdom. She has her spear, chariot horses on her helmet, and the guardian serpent of the Athenian Acropolis.

 

This is my latest acquisition. I have been wanting a high relief cameo for some time and acquired this one at a very good price! I think it’s nicely done. Is she Flora? Bacchante?
There are no marks on the setting but it tests as 9kt gold (I tested it). Seller advertised it as "gold filled" and stated it was gold over silver. I believe this to be true only of the pin/catch as it is an entirely different color than the setting. The pin/catch may have been added at a later date than the making of the piece? Using a loupe, I can see some nicks and scratches in the gold twist, and it is definitely solid, not plated/overlaid. There are some messy solder areas. Opinions on age?
I did find the scratched number 48 on the back of the shell, not sure what that means. At first I thought it might indicate size but the height of the cameo itself is approximately 30mm. The number is visible in the photo with the light behind the cameo, behind the neck of the figure.

 

Good answer, with a sorting of the one bit I was still struggling with -- the "medallion"...

EDIT: Well, I was also struggling with the lack of representation of Boudica's daughters.

 

We're sharp this Sunday. Yes, Minerva/Athena, after the one by Aspaios, which is thought to resemble the one that was in the Parthenon. This one was made by Girometti:



https://www.britishmuseum.org/resea...earchText=athena+bust&sortBy=imageName&page=1

You can tell that the auctioneer was misled by the sphinx that crests her helmet and the extravagance of the cutter of the shell cameo in adding more snakes to the Medusa on her shield so that they look like asps at the figure's breast.

 

She's so pretty! Wreathed in ivy, so a maenad/bacchante or Ariadne, the wife of Dionysus/Bacchus. That particular hairdo is especially associated with Ariadne. See:

http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/D4913B30-F3E7-4BBE-B257-7722293460FD

She was cut using a section of helmet shell from under a 'horn' of the shell to get that deep curvature. I can't tell from the photos whether the clasp has been replaced. It is from well into the 20th century, but the cameo & the rest of the mount look more turn of the century.

Numbers scratched into the back can be put there as inventory numbers by dealers or pawnbrokers. You sometimes see cameos described as being 'signed', only to learn from photos that there is a number this way, not initials or anything that could reliably construed as having been placed there by the cutter.

 

Thank you, Bronwen!
I agree with Ariadne. I was unsure about Bacchante since there were no grapes within the wreath in her hair.
The info about the horn of the shell is very interesting, I wondered how such high relief was achieved. The coloring of the horn of this particular shell was not so attractive, however!

 

There is more than one type of helmet shell used. Colors range from bright orange to more of a dull taupe. Think I like the deep chocolate brown ones the best.

 

Wasn't looking for her, but my "Pink Glass Lady" needs a new name.



oh, she's everywhere today.

 

Czech glass Psyche. They run in packs.

 

She's Czech glass Psyche minus the wing ornament. And yes, she is showing up quite a bit.

In other cameo explorations, I discovered a thing I never knew existed: "Victorian nail head covers".

 

What nails were they made to cover?

 

As best I can tell, nails used for hanging pictures. Some covers slipped over the nail head just like a button cover, others were a screw top (for a specially made nail).

However, my knowledge is all based on seller info -- so it's served with a grain of salt.

 

They used to hang pictures from a "picture rail" - a plate rail-type affair. That would involve visible nails, so it makes sense the Victorians would make covers for them.

 

She looks worried.

I'm interested in the setting. It has a sort of Art Deco feel to it.

I like this cameo, mostly because it seems unusual. Bronwen has probably seen some like it before.

 

The setting definitely has a deco vibe & the whole piece strikes me as 1930s. Not a portrait, a fairly contemporary looking 'pretty lady' of the period. Think what makes it eye-catching is the choice of shell, so that instead of a sharp contrast between background & figure, she almost looks like she is appearing out of a mist.

I always wonder why so many cutters left pointy little chins to go with pointy little noses, when they could have made the piece so much better by chiseling away a smidge more.

It actually required less skill to make something so big, but people like big, so should attract buyer interest.

 

Frequently, I wonder that frequently.

 

At times, I have had the temptation to take my little diamond dust nail file to one.