Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Oh, AI, you're such a kidder.

Male portraits in cameos are less common than female profiles, suggesting this may have served as an alternative to a painted portrait.

Source cited:

https://www.mainememory.net/sitebui...mat=list&prev_object_id=3510&prev_object=page

"Cameo images of men – and of living persons – are somewhat unusual. However, the carved cameo may have provided an alternative to a painted portrait."

AI's observation explains why my Pinterest board of women on cameos has 77 posts while the one of gents has 215. If in future AI cites this last statement for support, we will know it does not get sarcasm.

 

Just you wait, 'Enery 'Iggens.

 

I finally got my hands on a Georg Bissinger cameo! I am so chuffed. It is signed on the back and underneath the signature is inscribed "Blanche of Castile". Unfortunately, there is some unknown gunk on the back of the cameo making it difficult to photograph "Castile". I tried to clean it, but it didn't have much effect.
It is on the larger side and it has a bit of weight to it. The pin stem unscrews so that the cameo can be worn as a pendant without the risk of impaling yourself.
Blanche lived in the 1200s, so the ruff is about few hundred years too early, and there are not contemporaneous paintings of her. So I chalk this beautiful depiction up to artistic license. The details is amazing.

 

The sitter posed for free.(LOL) Gotta love it. I hope they had no clue, and sold the gold and pearls as goldtone and faux pearl. Probably didn't, but I bet the siggie blew right by them.

 

Really gorgeous, PA, both cameo & mount. Could the gunk be aged residue from an adhesive label someone was rude enough to put on her at one time?

Think by giving it that raised, 3-level rim around the figure Bissinger was trying to give the effect of earlier work, although he was honest in signing it prominently & legibly.

Think the ruff is too late? As you say, artistic license, his idea of how a queen should look. I'd be doubtful about the cross hanging from her ear, too, but he clearly wanted to emphasize her Christianity.

I imagine you have seen the one being offered on eBay? (For the curious, item 166716164947) I like yours way better. Waaay better.

 

Does the C clasp fold down? I see it does not have a permanently attached bail. It's too bad that detachable bails seem to get lost, separated (melted down?) so often. I only have one with the matching bail. Pin unscrews; clasp folds down:

 

Yours is beautiful. I have always admired it. My clasp does not fold down and as you say, it is missing the bale. But I don't mind. I love the quality of the carving.

Ruffs came into use in the 16th and 17th century, and she lived several centuries earlier.

I have seen the Bissinger cameo on eBay. I like mine better and didn't pay anywhere near that for mine.

 

I did so hope so. A really excellent piece, in every way. Well worth what you paid, I have no doubt. Was seller aware of the author?

 

Guess what I saw in Vienna in the window of an antique jewelry shop?

The Teresa Talani cameo that Sotheby's had in an auction a couple of years ago. I remember that it didn't sell at auction. The estimate was quite high.

It was just laying there at the bottom of the window. Unfortunately, the store was closed, or I would have gone in to get a closer look. Darn...

 

I see Blanche is a granddaughter of Eleanor of Acquitaine.

 

You are correct! They knew about the gold and pearls, but didn't get the signature.

 

No, the auction house couldn't read the signature.

 

My Leda is a copy of a work by Giovanni Pichler & so is this Cupid. An impression from the Beazley Archive:



The firm that I call, for convenience & lack of true name, Danbiere, used a similar one on the back of some of their relief plaques to add to the air of age & value:

 

There's a definite advantage in being old enough to be able to read cursive script.

 

I can be sure that Leda cost me vastly less, as the seller, in description & pic used for the original thumbnail, focused on the gold in the ring, at a time when gold was nowhere near as high as it is now. They did change to a thumbnail of the cameo after a couple of days, but did not mention the inscription at all, although it was partially picked up in photos. I bid the minimum, a lot for me at the time, fully expecting to be left in the dust, but...no other bidders.

 

That's what they get for hiring Gen Z and Millennials who weren't educated properly.

 

https://drouot.com/app-friendly/l/31282671

Umberto of Italy by Gaetano Lupi- this cameo up for auction yesterday. I had not seen this signature before, plus it is perhaps a new gent for Bronwyn's board.

 

@PepperAnna Can you find the link for the excerpt above? I don't know how you wrangle search so successfully. I stick with Goggly, because it still seems better than others, but between a focus on items for sale & the introduction of AI, it just seems to get worse & worse.

 

Lupi is new to me. Duly added to the files.

Umberto seems to have been a character. Cameo presumably taken from a coin or the official portrait used for the coin:



He seems to have kept his mustache almost like a pet:



Not everyone appreciated him:

On July 29, 1900, Italian King Umberto I was shot to death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in the United States before returning to his homeland to kill the king.

 

The new tariffs have made British & European auctions pretty unattractive for US would-be buyers, but I still keep an eye out. Have recently seen two items that would interest me if I were on the other side of the Pond:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...link&queryId=9068e52f2ff1431f5d6243bc777450ca

Think the estimate is so low because the mount is not of great value, but the cameo I believe to be early 19th century.



Then we have one of the Lamants, the one whose signature looks more like Lamont:

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-...wordalerts&utm_content=365084&utm_term=365084

A scene of an offering to Aphrodite/Venus, possibly one of his own devising.