Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

The name refers to the scene itself. Dogs are considered symbols of loyalty and fidelity, so this cameo depicts the Allegory of Fidelity. There are many paintings of this allegory and it is also a common one on mourning jewelry. Here is a painting that is similar.

 

What a lovely little cameo. It looks great now that it is clean. I hope you figure out how to wear it. Pink conch is one of my favorite mediums for cameos.

 

Since I posted it elsewhere, adding this antique tortoiseshell medusa cameo to this thread. She's a bit broken in places but that seems appropriate for her. She looks off center because there should have been sneks to the right of her.


Growth lines seen with the naked eye and UV, for anyone interested in identification.

 

Ooooh, lovely!
("sneks"... took me a few seconds... snakes?)

 

Danger noodles, if you please. (yes)

 

Found these unmounted cameos at the flea market Saturday for $5 for both.

 

Very pretty. I love the Deco era ones where you can see they even made the flowers more linear and angle shaped.

 

What is this rather dramatic scene?
That's an odd-looking bird flying overhead!
(Sorry, no photo of the back available.)

 

The bird looks like an owl. Beyond that, dunno .

 

looks like Lupa on the right column ...

 

She looks like she's trying to warn them...

 

..about owl droppings....?

 

Cassandra?

 

According to this lesser-known version of the myth, Cassandra's prophetic gift is the result of an event during her childhood.
As children, Cassandra and her twin brother, Helenus, were left overnight in the temple of Apollo.
While they slept, sacred serpents from the temple purified the children's ears.
This act enabled the twins to understand "divine sounds of nature" and the voices of birds, granting them the ability to tell the future.

In modern contexts, the owl primarily symbolizes wisdom, knowledge, and protection, continuing a tradition rooted in ancient mythology like that of Athena. It also signifies mystery, intuition, and the ability to "see through darkness" or deception, revealing hidden truths. While sometimes associated with the unknown or even death in older lore, its modern symbolism emphasizes insight and guidance, particularly in literature and "spirit animal" concepts.

 

Andromache fainting?

 

She saw the tax bill and the light bill. Can't blame her.

 

Made my day, thanks!

 

Looking at this, at first I saw Cassandra as well - komokwa's comment about Lupa had me thinking about her cousin, Aeneas. But when I think of Rome and warnings (as suggested by mirana), I think of the Ides of March. Followed that lead a bit, and now I believe this depicts Caesar on his way to the Senate. I searched up paintings of Calpurnia and Caesar and came across this:



Étude pour César allant au Sénat le jour des Ides de Mars by Alexandre-Denis-Abel de Pujol (1785-1861). Admittedly, I'm not confident the woman is Calpurnia. I found a resource from the Valenciennes Museum of Fine Arts ("La ligne souple Dessins d’Abel de Pujol 21 octobre 2011 - 03 janvier 2012") that suggests that the above image was a study for a palace ceiling painting that might've been destroyed in the 1848 revolution - but my French is rusty, so take that with a grain of salt. Here's a similar Abel de Pujol work:



Such a cool subject, especially if it's a destroyed piece of art captured in a cameo. I had fun looking into this; thanks for sharing.

 

Great job researching!!!

 

Thanks! Currently, researching potential sources/references for cameos is one of my favorite pastimes when I have just a few minutes here and there. It's interesting to see what key features are used to communicate the subject and how the cameo artist adapted a work within the limits of their medium and skill level. It mostly entails scrolling through artwork, which has led to me seeing some amazing pieces I don't think I'd have come across otherwise!





For example, the cameo of the Annunciation of Mary with the obscure signature that I posted about is very similar to Titian's Annunciation, which was new to me. I find it absolutely captivating; she looks like she is glowing. I also previously mentioned a cameo I own after the Bacchus/Ariadne bust in the Capitoline Museums (in the Sala del Gladiatore, apparently) which has become one of my favorite pieces - if only because I spent so much time looking into how many copies of the bust exist and how many are still identified as Ariadne. I have a whole fringe theory about that one.



Presently, I am looking into what the subject of this cameo might be, and if it might be referencing a particular work of art. I don't have it in hand yet and won't until December. In the meantime, I'm exploring the idea that it might depict Diana's followers bathing. I'm still uncertain if that's the subject (no moon for Diana, leftmost figure looks masculine to me but no horns to indicate Actaeon, no pregnant Callisto...), but I'm enjoying searching and have found a few works that have similar enough compositions to keep me looking on the off chance I may come across something definitive.


(Actaeon stumbling across Diana & her nymphs bathing from a 16th century piece by Parma)