Featured CAMEOS: Show & Tell or Ask & Answer

I think you're on the right track with "The Bath of Diana".
Cameo carvers often used some artistic license when copying works of art.
Perhaps this painting by Hans Von Marees was the inspiration for your cameo:

 

Ooo, very similar!

 

I have been hording a major backlog for months (a year? ) because I acquire more often than I can be arsed to resize and properly post, so I'm going to try and remedy that.

Here are four late 19th/early 20th c. that aren't top carvings imo but are pretty enough to go in the "I can wear these without excessive worry" part of my collection, and/or were a cheap thrill.

This Bacchante came in a lot with my Saulini and is set in 14K. She looks Art Nouveau to me. The carver added a background but got lazy with the grapes. I found her oddly charming, even with that sturdy neck.



Another that I think has Art Nouveau look. She was inexpensive and I've not seen any others with such an interesting free styling of shapes. Juno perhaps?



A coy Art Deco era Erato in silver with marcasites. She's got the simplistic carving style of the period, but I thought her well balanced and the leaves fairly nice. She's also a large 2" piece when the others with similar framing are around 1".



An Art Deco period Psyche who also came in the Saulini lot. Framed in 14K and large at around 2".

 

JMHO, the first one is not Art Nouveau style. The second one is trying but unsuccessfully

A lot of retro wana-be Art Nouveau style pieces miss the mark. Sorry, again JMHO.

I like the other two, though I wonder if the 4th one is newer than Art Deco period with her pointy, upturned nose.

 

The first one has an early lever lock clasp and swivel bail.

What do you mean "retro"? You have seen something of this style to compare to?

The last one I thought might be newer until I found another in the same frame that was definitively of the Deco era, which in hindsight made sense as a lot of the carvings I've seen from then had these weirdly squarish flowers.

 

I must have missed this, is it posted here? I'd love to see it!

Please do always post photos of the backs along with the fronts.

A pretty and wearable collection!
All look first half of the 20th century to me but I'm no @Bronwen. Oh, how I miss her!
I will admit, however, I was thinking perhaps modern for the first one until you mentioned the fixture. It has the look of some of Donadio's stuff.
I do think Art Nouveau as a descriptor is a bit of a stretch, especially for the first one, sorry. Something may be from the Art Nouveau period but that doesn't mean it is Art Nouveau style. Same with Art Deco. JMHO but I disagree with calling items "Art Nouveau-period" or "Art Deco-period" unless they are actually of those styles. Better to use "1920s", "1930s", etc.
I need to start browsing again... I haven't bought myself a new cameo in too long...!

 

Found your post about your Saulini and the book, fantastic!

 

She has a charming overbite and sleepy eyes, so different from her more classic sisters. She looks like a younger girl because of it, and I bet she speaks with a lithp.

Don't forget the odd shoulders. But she is definitely endearing, and I would think 1910-20, but I am no cameo specialist.
Very nice finds, all of them.

 

I feel the same.
We use the French term Belle Époque for the "Art Nouveau-period", and Art Nouveau only for the actual style.

We define any other periods by decades or quarter centuries, which often means we are able to be more precise in our dating than say 'Georgian' or 'Victorian', which the English-speaking world uses.

 

Sorry, I did say twice JMHO.

Retro:
A style that uses fashion and aesthetics from past decades, typically the mid-1900s to the late 1990s.

 

I see that @Bronwen has been posting in some other threads in the past couple of days. Welcome Back!

 

Thank you, my dear. Trying to take in these most recent additions.

A general comment about findings: I have noticed that at least some of the Italian workshops were putting on clasps & hinges suggestive of an earlier decade than the style of the cameo itself would indicate.

Mirana's first 2, with the Bay of Naples & Vesuvius behind them, are solidly 20th century productions. I can't tell if the thick necked girl is looking to her left or back at us over her right shoulder. Marcasite studded frames I associate with the 1930s.

Then there are the noses. I expect any one of them would garner compliments when worn.

 

With a nod to Ponytail Girl.

 

I was thinking that the goat is out of place for a scene of Diana & her followers bathing. Then it occurred to me that maybe the animal is meant to be the hind she loves.

I too thought the leftmost figure looks male. Could just be that carver gave it scant attention.

 

I haven't bought anything in quite a while, so nothing that way to show. However, had to put my two cents in with the auctioneer selling this ring as Renaissance with a classical goddess.



Sent them a handful of pix of her obviously modern sisters. They said they were going to talk to the relevant parties. The 1 watcher it has is me, so I suspect no one so far has been fooled.

 

It unfortunately does look like it was made to fool. If the gold is gold she's still worth a good bit in today's market, just not Renaissance surivor prices.

 

I'm impressed by the amount of effort someone spent on creating this.

In case anyone is not sure what is off about it, compare the figure I call Headband Girl, who seems to have originated in W. Germany.

 

I like Headband Girl, but not Renaissance jewel money kind of like.

 

I'm not either, but wonder if it could be Boschetti.



Not that I could find a cameist with that name, but it's plausible as an Italian surname.

 

I picked up these GF cameos today. I fell in love with the madonna pendant, the rest will be sold.
How should I go about cleaning the dry habille cameo? Her back is in good shape, had some gunk, got most of it off.