Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I have always assumed that in most cases the person who cut the cameo & the one who 'commessed' it are not the same person. I could be completely wrong, but they seem like somewhat separate skills & visions. Have never seen one where I thought the cameo was cut with the expectation of embellishment.

 

I think Plato gets the wings for the Phaedo.

 

@PepperAnna Stumbled across a Paoletti impression of a bearded figure with little rounded wings more at the back of the head described as Indian Bacchus with the wings of Sleep, in the index as Sonno, Sleep. Another entry for Sonno looks more like yours. (Tomo I, 459 & 470)

 

Hello everyone. I’ve been wandering here for some while and posts here gives a lot help with my collection. I want to start sharing here with some of my collection as thanks for all the help, and make contributions to the group as well. Recently I’ve acquired this beautiful Medusa, and there seems to be a signature on the back. I can’t tell what the signature is. Please help me recognize it if you have any thoughts, thank you very much!

 

Oh, she is a stunner. Mount not too shabby either. We like our photos full size.





Are we seeing everything inscribed on the back in the photos? Nothing you can see but camera didn't capture? I feel as though I have seen these marks before, but...? Floor is open to all & any suggestions.

(Like your avatar too.)

 

Welcome, @nick1998 ! I'm mostly a lurker in this thread. Your cameo is gorgeous!

 

Simply amazing- I'm jelly. Congratulations!

 

I believe this is silverplated. The catch slot where the pin goes is in the middle of the clasp. I will further clean and lightly like her. Is she Art Deco period?

 

Holy cow! If I came across that I would probably faint dead away!!!!!!

 

NICE! I'm seeing somehing and then "Jr". No idea if any carvers were father and son acts or not.

 

I think of these as "Corsage Lady". She seems to be a modernization of the earlier neoclassical Flora types, first appearing in the 1930s & continuing into the 1940s. I see her as having more of a retro art nouveau look, a romantic image of womanhood, updated from the goddesses of yore.

Think your girl was not just cut in Italy but set there as well, so good chance metal is 800 silver.

 

There were father/son & uncle/nephew gem engravers, but do not know of any where both had the same first name & used Junior to distinguish one from the other. It does look like it could be Jr. Tr or Fr wouldn't entirely surprise me either.

I think what's tickling my memory is some points of resemblance with the signature of Filippo Verge, but that's not it.

 

Thank you @Bronwen for helping with the photos! I’m editing from my mobile and everything is still unfamiliar to me. Guess I’ll have to take some time to get used to it.

As for the marks on the back, I remember checked it all and the scratches in the photo is the only thing I saw, but sometimes clue of signs go easily out of my notice. I left it back home, not with me currently. But I’ll go back home recently, and I would check it carefully and then update what I found here.

Also, for the suggestion @Bronwen @evelyb30made, it gives me some hint. What if the later on is “F” something, could it be a reduction of “Fec”, short for “Fecit”? I’m only thinking of this because of how the Saulini like to sign their works.

 

You have already been successful in getting your photos uploaded. Many new posters have difficulty with the file size limit of 1mb. Making them full size instead of thumbnails is easy: you will see the choice next to each attached file & also a choice at the top of the list to make all of them full size with a single click. You can do it either way, but do not do both, that will result in duplicate photos.

I took your photos of the back & put them in an editing program to cut out excess background & increase contrast.

 

Please also provide a photo of the back that shows the clasp & the hinge clearly. They are clues to the age, & the age may be a clue to the identity of the carver.

I had a acquired a number of cameos that were signed before I knew to check & did not notice at all. Especially on shell, incised marks can be so faint they can only be seen when the angle of the light is perfect. Look again, but try not to poke out your eye when you do it!

It's a reasonable thought. For some reason, the use of F, fec, or ft after the name is much more common on pieces signed on the front, but of course there is no reason it could not be used on the back. What you sometimes see on the back but not on the front, presumably for lack of space, is "graveur", "engraver", or "incisore" after the name. However, I really cannot see the second inscription as some variation on fecit.

 

Is there something in the circled area? Or is that a lighting artifact?

 

Thank you @Bronwen! Always learned from here! Now that you mentioned it, I recall that I have kept the photos when I acquired it. Here’s the full view of the back, where the tube hinge and a c clasp can be seen.

 

That is indeed curious. I do not remember seeing that part as inscription, but yes sometimes the light does magic things in certain angle. I’ll remember to particularly check that later when I have the chance.

@Bronwen I’m also very interesting in your mentioning of the sign of Filippo Verge. I do have a cameo that I think signed by him, but the signatures on hardstone is very different from those of shell. I have little knowledge of shell cameo signatures and hardly recognize them, except for the very legit ones. Could you share more of the thoughts?

 

I don't know if there are any examples of work in shell by either Vergé out there. I have only seen work in hardstone. Antonio was one of the suppliers of cameos to Castellani. I think these 2 are his hand, although I cannot guarantee it:



This one is questionable: is the F. for Filippo? or for Fecit?



The ones we can be sure about are by Filippo, where he signed both his names, or signed Vergé in a way that looks like those others:



On this piece of mine he seems to have been carried away by writing Filippo, then had to cram Vergé in:



Then there are ones that look like they were done with a vibrating engraving tool:




That last, not very good photo, is inside a silver ring with a tiger eye cameo, which I have also not been very successful at photographing. I have had to wonder whether there was a successor Vergé company since the piece seems out of keeping with other work.



When I checked half an hour ago, I got an AI search result saying there was nothing for Filippo Vergé, so I guess for now this will be the authoritative source.

 

Well, am now drifting down the Vergé rabbit hole.

Somehow Sotheby's managed to take a photo of the back without capturing the least hint of what they say is inscribed on the back, but maybe sheds light on the engraved F. Vergé shown in the earlier post, which is also on a cameo of the Antinous Braschi.

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auc...ntonio-verge-active-19th-century-italian-rome

"signed on reverse F. Vergé / fece nel 1869 Roma"

I'm willing to bet this is Filippo's work:




This Ariadne, sold on etsy as possibly "Antonis" was also represented as Antonio's work but definitely not: