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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bronwen, post: 290199, member: 5833&quot;]She&#039;s a great incidental acquisition.&nbsp; I rarely see cameos that have actually been carved in jet.&nbsp; When jet is involved, it is more often as a setting for a helmet or conch shell cameo.</p><p><br /></p><p>Looks to me as though this was made in two pieces, just as it would have been if the cameo had not been of the same material.&nbsp; The outer part could be ground to shape and polished mechanically, by relatively unskilled workers, while the cameo had to be cut by hand.</p><p><br /></p><p>She is not a copy of anything I have seen before.&nbsp; I am inclined to think she could be a portrait of an actual person; portrait cameos are the only ones I see where the sitter is wearing a sprigged dress.&nbsp; The arrangement of the hair is another departure from the conventional curls loosely gathered up, tendril trailing down here and there.&nbsp; The carver has given a nod to the prevailing style in cameos by giving her what I think is meant to be either ivy leaves and berries, or grape leaves and grapes, as though she were a bacchante, as a final touch.</p><p><br /></p><p>Because I think this one may provoke some debate over whether it is carved or molded, I am adding a cropped photo of yours with the contrast a little enhanced, along with photos of frequently seen artificial pieces.&nbsp; And I&#039;m making them thumbnails so they do not take up two more pages.&nbsp; Click to enlarge.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]93863[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]93864[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]93865[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]93866[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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