Pages

December 17, 2012

Cameos


A few years ago, I received an antique cameo as a gift, and my interest was piqued. 
Cameos are works of art unto themselves. 
They're intricate miniature sculptures, dating back to the Victorian ages. 
Now, THIS is craftsmanship! The detail is amazing. 
The beauty of a hand-carved cameo is unsurpassed.

Cameos are usually a portrait of a Roman or Greek god or goddess, royalty, or a Biblical figure.
Famous paintings have also been reproduced onto a cameo. 
Coral, ivory, shell, and turquoise are among the many materials used for carving.

Shell is the least expensive and therefore the most popular. 
On certain shell cameos, you can detect as many as 7 different shades,
according to the number of layers in the shell. 
The first photo below illustrates this.

Enjoy the rich beauty of these cameos. 
My favorite is the woman with the veil. Gorgeous.




Shell
Antiquingonline

Flight into Egypt - RubyLane

Three Graces - antiquejewelrymall

Sardonyx - antiquecameos.net


Mother-of-Pearl

Antiquesnavigator

waterrosez.blogspot.com


Coral
via papercitymag

via faycullen.com

via antiquesnavigator


Bloodstone, Amethyst, Tortoise Shell, Turquoise.

Jesus Christ in bloodstone via portraitcameos.com


Amethyst via romanovrussia.com


Tortoise Shell - antiques.com


Turquoise Athena - eragem


Lava
via jewelryexpert.com



Medusa via antiquecameos.net



Here's Guido Renin's painting 
"St. Michael the Archangel Slaying the Devil"
and a cameo of the same:

loopholesonlife


antiquecameos


View my post about a modern artistic interpretation
of a cameo found here.
Here's a hint: O-R-E-O!




1 comment:

  1. Very interesting. I wonder what tools were used to get such details.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving a comment!
I'd love to hear what you think!