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Cameo () is a method of
carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...
an object such as an
engraved gem An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...
, item of jewellery or vessel. It nearly always features a raised (positive) relief image; contrast with intaglio, which has a negative image. Originally, and still in discussing historical work, cameo only referred to works where the relief image was of a contrasting colour to the background; this was achieved by carefully carving a piece of material with a flat plane where two contrasting colours met, removing all the first colour except for the image to leave a contrasting background. A variation of a carved cameo is a cameo incrustation (or sulphide). An artist, usually an engraver, carves a small portrait, then makes a cast from the carving, from which a ceramic type cameo is produced. This is then encased in a glass object, often a paperweight. These are very difficult to make but were popular from the late 18th century through the end of the 19th century. Originating in
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohe ...
, the finest examples were made by the French glassworks in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Today the term may be used very loosely for objects with no colour contrast, and other, metaphorical, terms have developed, such as
cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
. This derives from another generalized meaning that has developed, the cameo as an image of a head in an oval frame in any medium, such as a photograph.


Technique

Ancient and Renaissance cameos were made from semi-precious gemstones, especially the various types of onyx and
agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancie ...
, and any other stones with a flat plane where two contrasting colours meet; these are "hardstone" cameos. In cheaper modern work,
shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...
and glass are more common. Glass cameo vessels, such as the famous
Portland Vase The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase, which is dated to between AD 1 and AD 25, though low BC dates have some scholarly support. It is the best known piece of Roman cameo glass and has served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelai ...
, were also developed by the Romans. Modern cameos can be produced by setting a carved relief, such as a portrait, onto a background of a contrasting colour. This is called an assembled cameo. Alternatively, a cameo can be carved by the traditional, but far more difficult, method directly out of a material with integral layers or banding, such as (banded)
agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancie ...
or layered glass, where different layers have different colours. Sometimes dyes are used to enhance these colours.


History

Sir
Wallis Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. He made numerous trips ...
alleged that the noun "Cameo" apparently comes from Kame'o, a word used in kabbalistic slang to signify a "magical square", i.e. a kind of talisman whereupon magical spells were carved.E. A. Wallis Budge, Amulets and Talismans, University Book, Inc., 1968, page 390-393. Cameos are often worn as jewelry, but in ancient times were mainly used for
signet ring A seal is a device for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, including an embossment on paper, and is also the impression thus made. The original purpose was to authenticate a document, or to prevent interference with a ...
s and large earrings, although the largest examples were probably too large for this, and were just admired as
objets d'art In art history, the French term Objet d’art describes an ornamental work of art, and the term Objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish th ...
. Stone cameos of great artistry were made in Greece dating back as far as the 5th century BC.The Farnese Tazza (a cup) is the oldest major
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
piece surviving. They were very popular in Ancient Rome, especially in the family circle of
Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
. The most famous stone "state cameos" from this period are the Gemma Augustea, the Gemma Claudia made for the Emperor
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...
, and the largest flat engraved gem known from antiquity, the Great Cameo of France. Roman Cameos became less common around in the years leading up to 300AD, although production continued at a much reduced rate right through the Middle Ages. The technique has since enjoyed periodic revivals, notably in the early Renaissance, and again in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Neoclassical revival began in France with Napoleon's support of the glyptic arts, and even his coronation crown was decorated with cameos. In Britain, this revival first occurred during King
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
's reign, and his granddaughter, Queen Victoria, was a major proponent of the cameo trend, to the extent that they would become mass-produced by the second half of the 19th century. The visual art form of the cameo has even inspired at least one writer of more recent times, the 19th-century Russian poet
Lev Mei Lev Aleksandrovich Mei (russian: Лев Алекса́ндрович Мей (name sometimes transliterated as Lev Mey); ) was a Russian dramatist and poet. Biography Mei was born on 13/25 February 1822, in Moscow. His father was a German officer wh ...
, who composed a cycle of six poems entitled ' (''Cameos'', 1861), as reflections on each of the Roman rulers from Julius Caesar to Nero. In 1852
Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rem ...
titled a collection of his highly polished, lapidary poems ''Emaux et Camées'' (''Enamels and Cameos'').


Roman glass cameos

During the
Roman period The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
the cameo technique was used on glass blanks, in imitation of objects being produced in agate or sardonyx.
Cameo glass Cameo glass is a luxury form of glass art produced by cameo glass engraving or etching and carving through fused layers of differently colored glass to produce designs, usually with white opaque glass figures and motifs on a dark-colored backgroun ...
objects were produced in two periods; between around 25 BC and 50/60 AD, and in the later Empire around the mid-third and mid-fourth century.Whitehouse, D., Cameo Glass, in Roman Glass: two centuries of art and invention, M. Newby and K. Painter, Editors. 1991, Society of Antiquaries of London: London. Roman glass cameos are rare objects, with only around two hundred fragments and sixteen complete pieces known, only one of which dates from the later period.Whitehouse, D., Late Roman cameo glass, in Annales du 11e Congres. 1990: Amsterdam. During the early period they usually consisted of a blue glass base with a white overlying layer,Fleming, S.J., Roman Glass; reflections on cultural change. 1999, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. but those made during the later period usually have a colourless background covered with a translucent coloured layer. Blanks could be produced by fusing two separately cast sheets of glass, or by dipping the base glass into a crucible of molten overlay glass during blowing. The most famous example of a cameo from the early period is the
Portland Vase The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase, which is dated to between AD 1 and AD 25, though low BC dates have some scholarly support. It is the best known piece of Roman cameo glass and has served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelai ...
.


Shell cameos

Although occasionally used in Roman cameos, the earliest prevalent use of shell for cameo carving was during the Renaissance, in the 15th and 16th centuries. Before that time, cameos were carved from hardstone. The Renaissance cameos are typically white on a grayish background and were carved from the shell of a
mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which ...
or
cowry Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana'') ...
, the latter a tropical mollusk. In the mid 18th century, explorations revealed new shell varieties. Helmet shells ('' Cassis tuberosa'') from the West Indies, and queen conch shells ('' Eustrombus gigas'') from
the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...
and West Indies, arrived in Europe. This sparked a big increase in the number of cameos that were carved from shells. Conch shells carve very well, but their color fades over time. After 1850 demand for cameos grew, as they became popular souvenirs of the Grand Tour among the middle class.


Cameo subjects

Classically the designs carved onto cameo stones were either scenes of Greek or Roman mythology or portraits of rulers or important dignitaries. In history, agate portrait cameos were often gifts from royalty to their subjects. These antique cameos, some more than 2000 years old, are either displayed in museums or are in private collections.


Notable historic cameos

* Gemma Augustea Cameo – Roman, after 10 AD. Two-layered onyx.Cameo collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna *"
Tazza Farnese The Farnese Cup or Tazza Farnese is a 2nd-century BC cameo hardstone carving bowl or cup made in Hellenistic Egypt in four-layered sardonyx agate, now in the Naples National Archaeological MuseumInv. MANN 27611. It is a 20 cm wide and sim ...
". An ancient
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
bowl made of a very large cameo and purchased by Lorenzo de' Medici during the Italian Renaissance. * Cup of the Ptolemies, a large Roman or Hellenistic vessel. *
Portland Vase The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase, which is dated to between AD 1 and AD 25, though low BC dates have some scholarly support. It is the best known piece of Roman cameo glass and has served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelai ...
, the best known piece of cameo glass. * Great Cameo of France – Roman, c. 23 AD. Sardonyx. *Gemma Claudia Cameo – Roman, 49 AD. Five-layered onyx. *Herophiloska Cameo – Roman, 14 to 37 AD. This portrait of a man with laurel wreath is probably of Emperor Tiberius. The work is signed "Herophilos Dioskourid u ("Herophilus, son of Dioscorides"). The colour of the glass was intended by the artist to imitate turquoise. *"
Gonzaga Cameo The Gonzaga Cameo is a Hellenistic engraved gem; a cameo of the ''capita jugata'' variety cut out from the three layers of an Indian sardonyx, dating from perhaps the 3rd century BC.
": Ptolemy II and Arsinoë II. Sardonyx. 3rd century BC. *Agrippina the Elder Cameo. Carved in Italy in the period of 37–41 AD. The carving is a three layer agate. *Ptolemaic double cameo-Hellenistic, 278–270/269 BC. Eleven-layered onyx. *
Blacas Cameo The Blacas Cameo is an unusually large Ancient Roman cameo, high, carved from a piece of sardonyx with four alternating layers of white and brown. It shows the profile head of the Roman emperor Augustus and probably dates from shortly after hi ...
: Roman, about 20–50 AD. This head of Augustus was carved from a four-layered sardonyx. It is a fragment of a larger portrait of the Roman emperor-Augustus. *"The head of Flora Cameo" –
Benedetto Pistrucci Benedetto Pistrucci (29 May 1783 – 16 September 1855) was an Italian gem-engraver, medallist and coin engraver, probably best known for his Saint George and the Dragon design for the British sovereign coin. Pistrucci was commissioned by ...
. 1812 AD. In this cameo the top red-brown layer has been carved into roses. The face is carved from the white layer. The collector
Richard Payne Knight Richard Payne Knight (11 February 1751 – 23 April 1824) of Downton Castle in Herefordshire, and of 5 Soho Square,History of Parliament biography London, England, was a classical scholar, connoisseur, archaeologist and numismatist best ...
purchased the Flora cameo from an Italian dealer, believing it to be Roman. The Italian carver Pistrucci claimed to have carved it himself. Payne challenged Pistrucci to carve a copy to prove his claim. The ensuing publicity earned Pistrucci several commissions. * Schaffhausen onyx – Roman, Augustan-era, depicting
Pax Augusta The Pax Romana (Latin for 'Roman peace') is a roughly 200-year-long timespan of Roman history which is identified as a period and as a golden age of increased as well as sustained Roman imperialism, relative peace and order, prosperous stabilit ...
or Felicitas


Modern cameos

Many modern cameos are carved into layered agates. The layers are dyed to create strong color contrasts. The most usual colors used for two-layer stones are white on black, white on blue, and white on red-brown. Three-layer stones are sometimes made. The colors are usually black on white on black. The layers are translucent; this allows the artist to create shading effects by removing material to allow the background layer to show through. This way a very realistic, lifelike quality to a figure can be achieved. For example, thinning the top black layer on a three-layer stone changes its color to shades of brown. Removing material from the white layer creates shades of blue or grey, depending on the color of the base.


Ultrasonic machine carved cameos

The majority of modern agate cameos are carved with the aid of the Ultrasonic Mill. This is a process where multiple copies of a master design can be produced very quickly by pressing a master die onto the agate cameo blank. A film of diamond slurry is used to aid cutting and the die vibrates ultrasonically in a vertical motion. The master is often hand carved by a skilled cameo artist. The result is a cameo that has a satin surface texture described as "freshly fallen snow" (FFS) by Anna Miller.Anna Miller. Cameos Old and New. This texture and the lack of any undercutting are used by appraisers as markers to prove that the cameo is machine-made.


Hand-worked portrait cameos

These cameos are carved by hand, usually working from photographs of the subject. The fact that there is usually only one copy made means that the tooling costs involved rule out the ultrasonic carving process. There are very few people working in this field, as this is one of the hardest challenges for any gemstone carver. The combination of a highly developed artistic ability, craft skill and many years of experience are needed to be able to create lifelike portraits. It is quite rare, these days, for subjects other than portraits to be carved by hand as agate cameos. The traditional themes of classical scenes from mythology or a standard image of a young lady, are more likely to be made with the help of the ultrasonic carving machine as a limited collection of typically 50–200 pieces.


Shell cameos

Since the late 19th century, the species most used in good-quality cameos has been ''
Cypraecassis rufa ''Cypraecassis rufa'' is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cassidae. It is commonly known as the bullmouth shell or red helmet shell, and also as the cameo shell. Distribution This species is found off t ...
'', the bullmouth helmet, the shell of which can be up to 6 inches long. In this species, the upper shell layer is whitish, and the lower shell layer is a rich orange-brown. Modern sources for this shell are Madagascar and South Africa. The finest hand-carving of these shells takes place in Italy. The most highly prized shell for carving is the emperor or queen's helmet shell, '' Cassis madagascariensis''. This shell has white and dark brown layers and is known as sardonyx shell, and looks similar to the layered agate known as sardonyx. This shell is found in the waters of the Caribbean. The world center for cameo carving in shell is
Torre del Greco Torre del Greco (; nap, Torre d' 'o Grieco; "Greek man's Tower") is a '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, with a population of c. 85,000 . The locals are sometimes called ''Corallini'' because of the once plentiful ...
, Italy. The shells are first marked with a series of ovals in a process called signing, then cut into oval blanks for the cameo carver. The actual cameo is mainly cut with a metal scraping tool called a ''bulino,'' an invention of Jewish artisan Antonio Cimeniello. A number of metal gravers are used: flat-faced, round and three-cornered. To speed production, grinding wheels are used to quickly remove excess material. When the details are completed, the shell is then soaked in olive oil, cleaned with soap and water and selectively polished with a hand brush.


Notable carvers

*Giovanni Noto (1902-1985)-Torre del Greco, Italy *Tommaso Saulini (1793-1864)-Rome, Italy *Luigi Saulini (1819-1883)-Rome, Italy, (son of Tommaso)


See also

* Cross of Lothair contains in its center the three-layered cameo of the Roman Emperor
Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
. * Jasperware - popular ceramic imitation of cameos


References


Bibliography

* * * * Dunlop, Paul H., The Jokelson Collection of Cameo Incrustation, * * * * *


External links


Antique Cameos in the Hermitage Museum

Gareth Eckley (cameo-artist)

August Rudolf Wild 1891-1956, Gemmenschneider (cameo-artist)

Gerhard Schmidt, Gemmenschneider (cameo-artist)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameo (Carving) Ancient Roman technology Gemstone cutting Glass art Hardstone carving Jewellery components Types of sculpture