Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

It never rains but...

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...link&queryId=d667d39eebf5be64189eab774a73c274

 

This was part of a couple of lots of forlorn cameos I bought off a uk seller who apparently valued the gold more than a complete item.

She was really icky.


A good soak in dish soap water and a gentle needle push for any deep bits.



Good ol Charles Schmoll signature. I think this is on the better end for his carvings/wares.


Z/M? W/Z I think less likely due to the positioning of the through stroke.

I have an earlier broken cameo that I've experimented with a bit looking for an acid-free and un-affixed option in "restoration." I came across a cameo at The Walters Art Museum where they used layers of painted mylar to "restore" the shape of the cameo in order to put it on view. I bet the mylar does a decent job at mimicking light play, but I'm trying clay because I don't want to glue to the shell. I understand they probably used a water soluble, stable glue, so it is an option if I want to try something else later.



She is also signed....

 

I would consider her more of an Arethusa/nymph type than Roman woman. These & ones I think of as Ariadne types were a subject he came back to repeatedly.

My feeling is that the additional notation on the back, possibly inventory related, goes this way up & is Z/M:



After reading the Walters treatment description for their Samarian woman, had to wonder if @kyratango has been moonlighting there. Think I once used tissue paper & white glue to keep a broken off bit connected to the rest of a piece. That's the limit of my restoration efforts.

Can't believe the Walters makes no note of the signature on their piece. Maybe they didn't want to draw attention to what they couldn't decipher. It's driving me wild. Feel sure I've seen it before, but...? Think it goes this way up:



But maybe this way?

 

I thought she reminded me of the Arethusa types, but lacking any sea theme or the interesting "trident" looking earring she sometimes has, I figured generic was safest.

The Walters has a few with signatures that are not mentioned, I think (I'd have to look again). I've found a sprinkling in other museums. It seems if they don't know what it says, some prefer not to mention it.

The signature makes me crazy too. At first I thought Carnesecchi but it's not the same. I think the first is right way up as there's the tiniest hook on the last line as if lifting the tool.

It's not Civilotti is it? It's not the same, as it's rougher, but the beginning is a similar cadence, the parts at the end have the right amount of peaks.

 

Posting this specially for @Any Jewelry . First time I've seen a keris on an engraved gem:



https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...link&queryid=63adec5ea57457c71e90086214bd4bf0

 

Hammered for 110 GBP, so a little competition. About 145 USD at today's exchange rate + fee, close to 200 USD.

 

Thank you for thinking of me.

But... strictly speaking not a keris, but a European flamberge or flambard dagger:



I believe flamberges are also used in some American fraternities or secret societies.

 

Cool... a new word & a new image that interconnects Medieval romance, the Bible & freemasonry. My kind of of thing.

I really like the figure on this seal. Have never seen one like it. He actually gestalts to me as Poseidon/Neptune. If so, guess one would have to see the blade as wavy. The star on the shield could be seen as Polaris, since it was so crucial to navigation.

 

This was a nice thrift store find today. It's sterling with all this very nice cameos.

 

That is very cute! I would have snatched that up too and worn it. That's a rather old style box clasp huh.

 

Yes. The clasp is what sold me on it. In another shop is a tiny cameo ring. I'm the only bidder. My wife tells me it's been there for weeks. We could have owned it by now. The cameo is tiny. The ring is also tiny. It looks like it was meant for a child.

 

I knew the moment I saw her, which was too late to catch the auction before it ended, so didn't see hammer price:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...link&queryId=1aca74d31ea8f2f494d9b6f5ba8c7169

 

She was in Hattemerbroek, of all places. A small village in the Dutch Bible Belt, where wearing cameos would be considered too frivolous.

Reminds me of a certain member and her story about how cameos used to be worn by the village harlot.

 

Having read the old cameo threads... That was a wild section lol.

 

Makes a girl want to put on more makeup and hike up her skirt.

 

That's how you counter-act the notion that cameos are just for "grandmas". Harlots out here doing the good work of making them fashionable.

 

When I posted didn't have time to put up the images, so we'll have them someday when the link becomes inert.




I spotted her because I had seen this one years ago:

 

Nice catch! That nose is spot on.

 

I especially like cherub/putti/cupid cameos. There's too much damage on this one so I won't be bidding but... anyone recognize the signature?

 

Mouhé. Cupid & Psyche. These days we generally depict Cupid with a bow & arrows only, but Venus also gave him a torch, to inflame passions. Delightful piece, will go right in my Mouhé file.