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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 591910, member: 5833&quot;]Niiiiiice.&nbsp; Earlier 20th century, Naples.&nbsp; I&#039;ve seen lots of these whole helmet shell lamps over time &amp; own a few of the &#039;shades&#039; without having the complete lamp set up, &amp; can say this is one of the prettiest I have seen.&nbsp; You say it is not the greatest cameo.&nbsp; No, not one for serious collectors of &#039;important&#039; gems, but very good for its type.&nbsp; After it went into decline as the Victorian era ran down, there was a flourishing again of Italian cameo cutting, greatly improved technically from what it had fallen to, but in what I think should be designated the <i>nuovo stile italiano</i>, in which art nouveau beauties became the model for the classical goddesses.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not sure if the couple are meant to be Venus &amp; Cupid or Cupid &amp; Psyche, a bit more the latter than the former, I think.&nbsp; If you run a search in this thread for Bouguereau, should turn up some paintings that are the sort of thing that inspired this scene.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m fascinated by the feet of the lamp.&nbsp; While every cameo is different, there were a limited number of base designs.&nbsp; They often end in goats&#039; feet.&nbsp; You have a scene of love above &amp; a trio of these guys below:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]176473[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>At first glance the wings made me think Cupid, then I looked more closely.</p><p><br /></p><p>The plug/wiring look in excellent condition &amp; part of me so much wants to say, Oh, keep it in its original state.&nbsp; But know they always advise rewiring very old lamp, for safety.&nbsp; Phooey!</p><p><br /></p><p>Really great find - congratulations!&nbsp; Will you keep?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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