Jewellery Series Part I. Cameos
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Jewellery Victorian lava cameo bracelet. Seven vari- coloured oval panels depicting various Oval shell cameo brooch of the goddess Nix classical deities and heroes. Sold, together riding an airborne bat, holding two peacock with other lava jewellery, Bonhams Oxford, feathers, in gold mount with rope twist. Sold June 2007, £520. Carved shell brooch. Sold Bonhams Oxford, Bonhams Oxford, June 2007, £1,150. June 2007, £300. Jewellery Series Part I. Cameos by Zita Thornton Souvenirs bought by tourists visiting Rome, most likely on one of the new ‘Cook’s Tours’ in the nineteenth century, inspired the Victorian fashion for cameo jewellery. Following in the footsteps of earlier aristocratic travellers doing the ‘Grand Tour’, the new wealthy middle classes sought cultural enrichment by visiting the ancient sites in Rome and Pompeii. These tourists were not quite wealthy enough to commission a Neo-Classical sculpture or bust so craftsmen satisfied their appetite for classical art by reviving the ancient tradition widely used in Rome and Greece of carving cameos. Ancient cameos were, and still are, highly prized. Their ancient images portrayed important social customs, events and figures. Wearing a cameo was a means of showing loyalty and they were worn by men as well as women. In 2004 Sotheby’s sold an important Roman cameo, from the first or second century for £78,000. The form of a horse had been carved in sardonyx and set in a Murghal jade button in the seventeenth century. The Murghals greatly appreciated cameos. They were presented to princes and emperors. Their popularity only lessened with the decline of the Murghal court itself. In Elizabethan times Victorian oval alabaster brooch of a seated the tradition of wearing a cameo for loyalty was revived by Elizabeth I who favoured Cupid carved in high relief in a plain gold cameos and presented pendants or brooches to loyal subjects. mount. Sold Bonhams Oxford, June 2007, £420. During the Renaissance, Italian craftsmen copied and attempted to surpass the ancient skills of cameo carving and they changed hands for considerable amounts. In 2000, Sotheby’s sold a large sixteenth century oval cameo of an emperor carved in sardonyx and mounted on velvet in an ebonised wood frame for a whopping £163,000. Fortunately for lovers of cameos, later examples are much more reasonably priced and as they were produced in large numbers, are widely available. Originally, cameos were carved in hard or semi precious stone, chosen for their colour, such as agate, cornelian, onyx or the multi-layered sardonyx stone from India or Arabia. This stone was perfect for cameo carving as, when the white surface was carved away it revealed underlayers of brown, caramel or pink. However, hardstone took longer to carve and was expensive, so the popularity of shell cameos rose as engravers kept up with the demand from tourists flocking to Rome, and from those back home in Britain and other parts of Europe who were clamouring for cameos. Shell was softer and easier to carve and cameos could be produced more quickly and cheaply. In the mid nineteenth century a shell cameo was likely to cost around £1-£8 compared to a hardstone cameo at £5-£40. Today both kinds of cameo are equally sought after. It was usually the conch shell from the West Indies, Ceylon or Madagascar that was carved, giving the familiar pink and white hue, but Helmet or Bull Mouth shells were also used giving a brown/orange colour. Cameos were also carved into other materials such as coral and also lava, murky tones of cream, grey and terracotta were fashionable set into bracelets. Lava cameos were carved in high relief and their sharp lines have often been Late 19thC hardstone cameo brooch/pendant blurred by age. Cameos could be bought or shipped unmounted and set into a fashionable and earring suite, c1870. Carved in cornelian mount. The type of mount they were set into gives us a clue to their age. Physical features of a classical lady within a bi-coloured gold and the style of dress on portrait cameos gives a clue too. The long Roman nose was and pearl ribbon bow and foliate surround, fashionable in the first part of the nineteenth century. Later it became more upturned and with pearl droplets. Sold Bonhams pert. An upswept hairstyle indicates a late Victorian cameo. Shorter curls were in vogue in Knightsbridge, June 2007, £1,600. the twentieth century. ANTIQUES INFO - September/October 07 Jewellery Victorian cameo jewellery was most often set into gold jewellery nineteenth century mythological subjects became less popular and mounts with closed or open backs. The more elaborate the setting, the romantic, feminine vision found it’s way onto cameos in the the more expensive the cameo jewellery. Wirework, scrolling and form of portraits of maidens in a Classical style but more likely to Etruscan revival frames were popular. Sometimes they included be inspired by desirable women of the time such as the actress Sarah seed pearls or diamonds. Brooches were the most popular way of Bernhardt or the young Queen Victoria. Shell cameos need some wearing a cameo but they were also made into pendants, necklaces, care and attention as the shell is prone to dryness resulting in cracks. bracelets and earrings. When choosing a pair of cameo earrings However, this is easily remedied by moisturising with baby oil once check that the profiles face each other to ensure that you have an or twice a year. Apply with a finger tip or cotton bud and leave original pair. Twentieth century cameos are more likely to be overnight. Wipe off with a soft fabric cloth. Cameos should be kept machine cut and hand finished. The carving was not of such high away from other jewellery to avoid scratching or chipping. quality as the skill was gradually lost when the demand declined. Early nineteenth century cameos depicted classical or mythological Price guide subjects. These were often copied from Neo-Classical sculptures of Cameos were offered in Oxford at Bonhams in June this year. Most the time and some were carved by the sculptors themselves. exceeded their estimate. They included: Desirable cameos were carved by the Danish sculptor Bertel Victorian lava bracelet with seven varicoloured oval panels, Thorvaldsen, working in Rome. Gem engravers such as Tommaso estimate £200-£250, sold £520 hammer. Saulini and Calabresi transformed many of Thorvaldsen’s sculptural Victorian alabaster brooch of cupid in a plain gold mount, estimate designs into cameos. Particularly fashionable in the early nineteenth £150-£200, sold £420 hammer. century were Thorvaldsen’s reliefs of Day and Night. Produced in Shell cameo brooch depicting Nix airborne with a bat and peacock stone, shell or even plaster the theme was seen reproduced every- feather, estimate £300-£400, sold £1,150 hammer. where in Rome. Examples in cameo form carved by Saulini were Edwardian hardstone cameo on a bangle with a female portrait exhibited in London in 1862. The goddess of Night, Nix was shown profile in a rope twist border trifurcated mount with half pearl with two sleeping children in her arms, Hypnos meaning Sleep and shoulders, estimate £200-£300, sold £180 hammer. Thanatos meaning Death. The goddess of Day, Eos was shown Late nineteenth century hardstone cameo brooch/pendant and scattering roses, accompanied by a cherub bearing a torch to light earring suite, c1870. Carved in cornelian with a bi-coloured gold her way, heralding in the dawn. Also popular was Thorvaldsen’s and pearl surround, with pearl droplets. Estimate £500-£700, sold design of Cupid and Psyche ‘Cupid Reviving The Fainting Psyche’, Bonhams, Knightsbridge, June 2007, £1,600 hammer. based on a Roman fable and commissioned for the Roman Villa Torlionia. Cupid was a popular subject for cameos, appealing to www.antiques-info.co.uk Victorian romanticism. Other favourite subjects for cameos On the following two pages are over 50 cameos from our Price included those from the ‘Heroic Age Of Greece’ such as Guide Database where there are hundreds of cameos to study in a Thorvaldsen’s designs based on Homer’s Iliad. Later in the jewellery section which contains about 10,000 images. Gold and shell cameo bracelet c1855. Set at the front with an octagonal shell cameo depicting Cameo brooch showing three putti within a corded gold goddesses Night and Day, with border, on a strap of goffered a cameo pendant of a Grecian linking. Sold Sotheby’s 2002, lady, sold Fellows 2006, £110. Victorian shell cameo pendant £1,792 incl. BP. Sardonyx cameo with female brooch in an octagonal gold portrait in contemporary dress, setting with bust of flower inscribed on back, Xmas 1877. bedecked maiden. Oval shell brooch depicting St Anne with a lamb, set in a Unusual carved opal cameo Ancient Roman cameo depicting gold mount with rope twist on blue enamel ground, early 1960s Victorian style shell Hercules, in a late 18thC detail. Sold Bonhams Oxford 19thC, mounted in gold with cameo brooch/pendant with French gold and enamel frame. June 2007, £200. laurel leaves and seed pearls. white gold/diamond necklace. ANTIQUES INFO - September/October 07 Jewellery 16 22 Victorian gilt metal framed shell cameo bracelet, five graduated plaques carved with classical female profile. 11 Gorringes, Bexhill. Mar 02. 1 HP: £360. ABP: £423. Victorian cameo brooch, Victorian hardstone cameo 17 parian profile portrait of a depicting the head of a neo- young woman mounted on a classical lady in profile, set brown glass panel, gilt metal Georgian gold ring, mounted in an Etruscan style brooch/ rope twist bordered mount. with a carved onyx cameo pendant mount, 71mm. Rosebery’s, London. Sep 04. under crystal, depicting a 6 Cheffins, Cambridge.