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Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

Discussion in 'Jewelry' started by Bronwen, Dec 20, 2017.

  1. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    This is not mine, just a saved pic:

    Mouhe cherubs 1A.jpg
     
  2. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Figtree3, Bookahtoo, bluumz and 2 others like this.
  3. mirana

    mirana Well-Known Member

    Very pretty. I don't let a lil break stop me....if the price is cheap anyway. :p

    Looks like a regular theme...

    Screenshot_20250412-204538.png
     
  4. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

  5. mirana

    mirana Well-Known Member

    kyratango and Bronwen like this.
  6. mirana

    mirana Well-Known Member

    A couple more of the broken bits gang that came in a couple lots:

    Re Venus Cupid Mirana 1 A.jpg
    Venus and Cupid with a dove? I'm sure it's missing a building to the right. It is signed on the back but broken in the worst spot so all I have is "re 2" or t, F or J? :confused: I had a look in my files and I haven't spotted anything matching the "re" yet.

    Re Venus Cupid Mirana 1 B.jpg

    This one...Victory with (a) Caesar? I'm pleased to have one with some horses now.

    Dolcini Victory Caesar Mirana 1 A.jpg

    Signed by our pal Alessandro Dolcini.

    Dolcini Victory Caesar Mirana 1 C.jpg
     
  7. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    kyratango and mirana like this.
  8. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    upload_2025-4-16_2-56-33.png

    Could be El? Still doesn't mean anything to me.

    I'm getting mixed signals from the scene depicted. The lady is overly dressed for a typical Aphrodite, but the cutter may have been trying to appeal to more modest sensibilities. The carved block between them suggests a grave stone & you could see a mourning scenario of a soul being released were it not for the fact that the bird is tethered by a ribbon.
     
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  9. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Cameo anachronism alert. Marie Antoinette, available in US on PBS. First season she is seen a number of times wearing one of those Italian necklaces that feature silver scroll work, glass gems & a small, poor shell cameo. To be fair, the color of the 'stones' goes well with her light blue gown, but the necklace was made at least 100 years later than the time portrayed.

    Haven't watched all of second season yet, but she has turned up wearing earrings with Ponytail Girl dangles, also blue.
     
  10. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Last edited: Apr 17, 2025
  11. PepperAnna

    PepperAnna Well-Known Member

    I visited the Walters Museum last summer and spoke with the director who is responsible for 18th and 19th century pieces, because of the Neri cameos of Fourth Earl Fitzwilliam we had in common. His expertise is in Sevres porcelain. He doesn't have anyone on staff who is an expert in cameos or intaglios. I offered my services pro bono, but it is Museum policy to only allow employees to handle museum items. Somehow I need to get on staff there..... :)
     
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  12. PepperAnna

    PepperAnna Well-Known Member

    I have been away from this group quite a while dealing with family stuff and life in general, but I haven't paused collecting. I have a bunch to show. So we have some catching up to do. :)
     
    Bookahtoo, kyratango, Bronwen and 2 others like this.
  13. PepperAnna

    PepperAnna Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]I wanted to share this cameo with you. It is a beautifully carved queen conch cameo. I believe it to be a poetrait cameo of a real person because of the way it was carved. I have attached a picture in b&w because it highlights the sculptural qualities of the cameo. On the reverse, it is clearly signed L. Avet for Louis Avet.

    Avet's greatest acheivement was as the first teacher of famous American sculptor, Augustus Saint Gaudens. He apparently was a cruel and miserly taskmaster, eventually causing St. Gaudens to quit and move on to Jules Lebrethon's atelier. Avet was trained by Luigi Michelini in Rome and supplied cameos to famous jewelers in New York City. He also had stores in New Orleans and Cinncinati, Ohio. Screenshot_20250418_220510_DuckDuckGo.jpg 20250418_215320.jpg 20250418_215022.jpg 20250418_215231.jpg 20250418_215112.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2025
    bluumz, Figtree3, kyratango and 2 others like this.
  14. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    [Started this hours ago, before PA showed us her first goody.]

    Ooh, ooh, ooh! Show, show, show!

    I don't know who is out there anymore with an interest in cameos & an institutional affiliation. Victorian shell cameos of the type we mostly study & collect (& can afford) have never received a lot of curatorial attention.
     
  15. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    She's just lovely, and, as you rightly point out, so sculptural, and so full of life. Conch shell really is an excellent material for cameos of persons, perhaps even better than ivory; it has the depth, but can also have that blush.

    Wonder if it's possible that, like the Michelini I brought up in another thread, she is based on a real person, but a copy of an earlier gem.
     
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  16. PepperAnna

    PepperAnna Well-Known Member

    I think it is very sad there is so little interest in these cameos or their carvers. There are so many beautuful pieces where the true subject names have been lost, the provenance is vanished, and little to nothing is known of the artists. I can't think of any other art form where this much information (and relatively recent at that) has been willingly discarded. And unfortunately, when we go, even more will be forgotten.
     
    kyratango, Bronwen and mirana like this.
  17. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    not if you guys keep this thread alive and current !!!!!!!!

    It is said , to have hope , you need faith !
     
  18. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Therein, I think, lies the rub. Work in shell, being seen as much easier to do than work on stone, has not been seen as much of an art. James Ronca, when approached about heading an academy to keep the skill alive in Britain candidly admitted that he did not see there being a future in it. Leonard Forrer did not keep track of cameo artists unless they worked at least sometimes in stone, & missed both Tignani & Rosi in his Biographical Dictionary. I once teasingly chided James Draper at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for not having more examples of some of the beautiful work that can be done in shell. He replied that what they have is what Mr. Weil gave them. It's true; if Milton Weil had not given them his collection they would not have much in the way of modern cameos at all.
     
  19. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    And Peter keeps the site up. It's true though that this & related threads are some of the best info on the Internet.
     
  20. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    then , maybe , this thread needs to be backed up , or archived in some wy that it could be disseminated or accessed for the future !
     
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