Featured Shell Cameo stick pin set in Whitby jet?

Hi,
Just got the below stick pin, would like to ask if anyone can recognise the depiction. I don’t think is coral, maybe shell. It is set in Whitby jet.
Any idea of the age?
Thank you
Kind regards,
Simona
@Bronwen @PepperAnna @Any Jewelry @Ownedbybear @KSW

 

Looks rather like it was once a button on the back.

 

Bacchus?

 

Socrates?

 

Thanks for the enlargement MOS.
PS-This recent post of Aquitaine's is worth checking out-
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/t...-bronwens-seen-it-already.78051/#post-9433702

 

Hm. Test for jet: gentle rub on unglazed ceramic and it will smear brown.

 

I have a document file titled Antiquers Tidbits. The test for jet is being added. Thanks ownedbybear.

 

Most welcome. The underside of a loo cistern lid works well!

 

Thanks for the link! I had missed that one.

 

Thanks O'Bear-You read my mind !

 

Tested and it is Whitby jet, brown mark on the ceramic.
I don’t think it was a button as the pin is glued to the Whitby jet.
The interesting part is how the cameo is glued to the Whitby jet, the glue looks like mud.
Any idea of the age of the pin?
It looks like Bacchus to me as well, but I have a strange feeling that I may be wrong about it.
I think @MaJa may like to see the back of this pin as well.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Simona

 

The cameo is carved in conch shell.

Top marks to those who saw Bacchus (Dionysus). Although grape is the prevalent vine you see wreathing his head, ivy is also an attribute for him. His wife, Ariadne (yes, the one from Naxos) is generally shown with ivy rather than grape vine.

Glue may be hide glue.

 

Very nice, Simona.

That is a test for jet, but how do you know it is specifically Whitby jet? Do you know of others like it that were made in Whitby?

 

Bald, often depicted with a very snub nose, as he was described as looking like a satyr.

 

Shell cameos in Whitby jet frames are plentiful, especially conch shell ones. The pin/black combo must have had a vogue, or perhaps it was because conch shell cameos generally have a flat back, so they sit more firmly & can be glued in more securely than curved helmet shell.

Here's a great helmet shell cameo of Hercules, poorly jammed into a jet mount:


My impression is that cameos had to be made to fit the jet frame, not the other way around.

 

I have a jet setting with helmet shell - someone probably cut it down and jammed it in after the conch shell fell out or got broken.

 

Whilst it’s found elsewhere it’s really only the Whitby stuff that’s fine enough to be worked properly.

 

Thank you so much for sharing and educating me. I am wondering approximately how old it is, would like to think is Victorian, but I have been wrong before.
Thank you.
Simona

 

I don't know when cameos set in jet first came on the market, so don't know the oldest it could be, but I can't recall ever seeing a jet & shell brooch I thought was later than the 19th century, judging by the findings.