Time for Cameos

Thank you for the welcome. Pearls are another thing I had to learn to appreciate, that seemed irredeemably old fashioned when I was young.

 

Greetings, Bronwen! Beautiful pieces - I hope you will show us more of your collection!

 

Hello again, QGirl. Just used another of my pieces as an illustration for my course, Chalcedony 101, now appearing in the comments on your agate necklaces.

 

So nice to have you with us.
Enjoyed your post. Never realized that some cameos were signed.
Welcome to the board.

 

Thanks to you too, Cluttered. The aggravating thing is how very many gorgeous cameos are not signed. We can't imagine being so self-effacing. Then there are the ones that are signed but illegibly, or legible, but nothing more can be learned about the person. Many 19th century cameo cutters got their start working in shell, but if they never moved on to produce signed work in stone, there is very little, if any, documentation to be found.
Sometimes you get lucky. This is my most recent acquisition: shell, no setting, not the best condition, but top notch carving & signed.



I was making myself crazy trying to read the signature until I rubbed a little cocoa in for contrast.


I could find George Gammon Adams, but only as a sculptor and medalist, no mention of cameos, although did find wax models for portrait medals that are very like cameos. And then, seek and ye shall find: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=815123001&objectId=63101&partId=1
While I had a degree of confidence that my Adams was George from comparing the cameo signature to ones on medals, did not feel it was certain until I could confirm that Adams did sometimes turn his hand to cameos. Such are my little satisfactions.

 

I suppose many thought of themselves as craftspeople, rather than artists. I know that is still the case in the carving centres I visited in southern Europe.

 

That was true to a large extent. Most cameos & intaglios are copied from earlier ones or from art works in other media. The sculptures of Canova & the reliefs of Bertel Thorvaldsen provided neoclassical images perfect for translation onto engraved gems. Very few were creating completely new compositions.

On the other hand, I know of 2 cameo cutters who seem to have signed everything they ever did, including work from when they were still learning their craft. These 2 are signed by the same person.

 

Thorvaldsen, that's a blast from the past for me. When I first saw his wounded 'Swiss Lion' in Luzern, Switzerland, as a little girl, I cried my heart out. But I went back every time I was in Switzerland, it is so beautiful and moving.


Later I just had to visit the Thorvaldsen museum in Copenhagen, of course, beautiful.

 

The lion has been done as a cameo & I frequently consult the Museum's web site. His allegorical figures of Day & Night are seen often & are always popular:
http://cameotimes.com/index.php/profiles-1/allegorical/day-and-night?showall=&start=2

 

AnyJewelry..........TY for mentioning the museum....I will be in Copenhagen next June...but just for a couple of days.......if we have time after Tivoli, (but of course Tivoli's a must) we shall visit.

Brownen.....your cameos are so beautiful. I have never seen any quite like what you posted. TY for sharing them.

 

It is very nice to give some of them an outing where they can also meet some very nice people.

I have many more cameos than intaglios, in part because intaglios are so much more difficult to display well. Even museum curators find them vexing to exhibit. Now & then I do pick one up. I dithered a long time about this one, finally making a deal the seller reluctantly accepted as too little while I, knowing the setting was brass & fairly sure the intaglio was glass, thought it was still too much.

The brass setting cleaned up surprisingly well with toothpaste & elbow grease. The intaglio, quite a lovely figure of Hope/Consolation in a pale shade of carnelian:

 

Lovely!

 

Thank you, Judy. She is based on a Georgian intaglio in which Cupid is weeping over a grave marker while she consoles him. Don't know if you can tell: she is not only pointing heavenward with one hand, she is leaning on an anchor, traditional Christian symbol of Hope, with the other.

Thank you too for all the likes you have strewn on my postings.

 

My pleasure entirely to "like" all the posts on this thread.

I looked again for the details you mentioned...I see them now.

 

Think you & Any Jewelry are the main parties responsible for my having been awarded a 'trophy' a little earlier today. I'm new in these parts. Is there one where they send you cookies?

 

Pleasure Judy. Copenhagen is wonderful, have you been before?
Dragon spire, Copenhagen:

 

Oh, Judy and I are just wonderful.
Judy, Christmasjoy and KingofThings are the most supportive people on the forum.

There is one where they send you a bottle of Champagne, I believe that is after 100yrs membership. Just a little while to go.

 

AnyJewelry....Yes....many years ago.....again, only visited a very short time.
I don't remember seeing the Spire......most memorable to me, was seeing the Mermaid first hand.

We visited Tivoli in Sweden (Goteborg). Tivoli in Copenhagen will be a first.

 

Hi,
Thank you for showing the Danish Thorvaldsen pieces. I have two porcelain plaques showing day and night of his. I bought them in 1964 in Copenhagen.
I never knew the original maker of the plaques only they were Royal Copenhagen
Porcelain. I love Copenhagen and Denmark. Have visited there over 30 times. The other country I adore is Bermuda. been there 23 times.
greg

 

You'll like it. The little mermaid is lovely, and Nyhavn.