Featured Questions about this cameo. TYIA

Hi,
1. What age do you think this is?

2. Why is there a bail placed in the wrong direction?

3. Why would they have made this rounded in the back as opposed to flat? I thought it might have opened or something but I don’t see a hinge

Thank you for any help on this

 

Maybe the cameo is a replacement?

 

Your piece is originally a mourning brooch from mid 19th.
They held a piece of hair work under a glass, the opening is from the front, as a box lid without hinge, but very difficult to open (sometimes fixed!) because it is very tightly adjusted.
I don't know why the back is convex... They were nearly all like that.
The ring is a bail if the brooch is worn in original correct position, horizontally; may be too for for adding a security chain.
The cameo is not original to the brooch!
See this one:
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-...black-enamel-mourning-brooch-113-c-3d048ed95e

 

Kyra has already explained the marriage. The cameo is hand cut helmet shell. There is no generally accepted term for cameos like this one, but I think of them as fantasy village scenes. Have never seen any 2 alike. They seem to be the carver's own composition, using certain stock elements: gnarled trees; old or ruined buildings; a stream; a bridge; a woman or 2; geese; a goat; a few others.

Could have been that the glass on the brooch was broken. Fortuitously, someone found this cameo, with its sense of yearning, that could be fit into the opening & held down with the original frame.

As for the convex backs, I suppose it could be a way of disguising & smoothing out what would otherwise be a back surface far from flat. It's not a true bail; someone has added a large jump ring to what was originally an anchor for a safety chain.

 

Wow! Would have never guessed it was reworked into this cameo. Shame it isn’t totally original Thank you for the help. I was right on my thoughts on age and that it was likely a mourning piece. Trying to learn! You guys are great

 

The safety chain thing makes more sense. Ty!

 

IMHO, it would no longer be considered a mourning piece. A "non-mourning" cameo was put into a mourning setting. (Others may feel differently. )
I do love those old settings!