As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, October, 2005
|
Scenic shell cameo depicting the
"Three Graces". Courtesy: Skinner Auctions, Boston MA |
There is nothing like a Museum Exhibit
to spark interest in a collecting or potential fashion category.
Such can be the result of the on-going exhibit at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York entitled “Cameo
Appearances”. More and more often cameo jewelry is coming to
auction at still reasonable prices. $150/200 for example. If
they are considered miniature sculptures, it doesn’t matter if
they are in fashion to be worn as jewelry. Many are mounted as a
collection.
The carving of cameos began in antiquity
, in the first century, in the reign of emperor Augustus. It
also became popular in Greece at that time. During the
Renaissance a renewed interest developed for both carving and
collecting them. It was the Napoleonic campaigns that brought
classicism into fashion, along with cameos and intaglios.
Intaglios have carved designs hollowed out from the surface of a
design. Cameos may be carved from a variety of materials, shell,
etc. , through two or more layers. The design results in a
raised relief.
Cameo and intaglio carving were
considered an important art form and Italian carvers were
held in high esteem. The most important signed their works.
However, popularity brought forgeries and the faking of
signatures of renowned carvers. Aging and discoloration
was achieved with abrasive solutions. There were also
cheap imitations made. Pieces were also sold by dealers as
antiquities by removing any signatures.
Cameos went briefly out of fashion from
1820 to 1840. By 1850 shell cameos had become larger and
neo-classical subjects were replaced with women’s heads
and figures, often mounted in gold. Other subjects were also
portrait busts of famous people. Poets such as Dante and
Petrarch were carved on lava cameos. Brooches, bracelets,
earrings and necklaces used cameos from all kinds of
materials.
The shells came from Africa and the West
Indies. Coral was often carved into cameos. Other materials were
carnelian, Sardonyx, agate and paste... In the 1860s, as
families began to travel to far away destinations, such as
Italy, they discovered cameos made from the lava of Vesuvius.
Scenic cameos became popular , such as the “The Three Graces.”
CLUES: By the late 19th century
ingenious new ways to fake cameos were in use. Cameo-type
designs were molded in glass or porcelain. Careful examination
with a jeweler’s loup or magnifying glass will show no tool
marks. Glass imitations cast from an original cameo will have a
signature. Typical would be a raised, opaque white glass cameo
cemented to a dark background, usually onyx or carnelian. To add
to the confusion of dating, many antique cameos were reset from
the late 18th century to the early 19th. A clue to the age can
be the mounting materials. Gold, silver, gold filled, pinchbeck,
jet and cut steel were some of them. Pinchbeck is a metal
resembling brass, but actually an alloy of copper or zinc. It
was used mostly in the 18th century.
The quality of the carving is important
to value as is detailing. At auctions or antique jewelry shows
don’t hesitate to ask questions of the sellers. “How do you know
this for a fact ?” In the meantime do your own research with the
many books about antique
jewelry available. Don’t overpay unless you know what you are
doing.
