Technique and Materials

• Cameos are carved objects such as engraved gems, jewelry, or vessels.
• They feature a raised relief image, contrasting with intaglio which has a negative image.
• Ancient and Renaissance cameos were made from semi-precious gemstones like onyx and agate.
• Cheaper modern cameos are often made from shell or glass.
• Modern cameos can be assembled by setting a relief onto a contrasting background or carved directly from materials with different colored layers.
• 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, with the colors usually black on white on black.
• The layers are translucent, allowing the artist to create shading effects.
• Ultrasonic machine carved cameos are produced using the Ultrasonic Mill.
• Multiple copies of a master design can be produced quickly using this process.
• A film of diamond slurry is used to aid cutting, and the die vibrates ultrasonically in a vertical motion.
• The result is a cameo with a satin surface texture known as freshly fallen snow (FFS).
• The texture and lack of undercutting are markers used to prove that the cameo is machine-made.
• Hand-worked portrait cameos are carved by hand, usually working from photographs of the subject.
• Tooling costs involved rule out the ultrasonic carving process.
• Highly developed artistic ability, craft skill, and many years of experience are needed to create lifelike portraits.
• Subjects other than portraits are rarely carved by hand as agate cameos.
• Traditional themes of classical scenes from mythology or standard images of young ladies are more likely to be made using the ultrasonic carving machine.

History

• Stone cameos of great artistry were made in Greece as early as the 5th century BC.
• Roman cameos were popular in Ancient Rome, especially among the family circle of Augustus.
• Roman cameos became less common leading up to 300 AD but continued to be produced at a reduced rate through the Middle Ages.
• Cameo technique experienced revivals in the early Renaissance, 18th and 19th centuries, and during King George III's reign in Britain.
• The cameo trend was popularized by Queen Victoria, leading to mass production in the 19th century.
• Roman glass cameos imitated the appearance of agate or sardonyx.
• Cameo glass objects were produced between 25 BC and 50/60 AD, and in the later Empire around the mid-third and mid-fourth century.
• Only around two hundred fragments and sixteen complete pieces of Roman glass cameos are known.
• Early period cameos had a blue glass base with a white overlying layer, while later period cameos had a colorless background covered with translucent colored layers.
• Blanks for Roman glass cameos were produced by fusing two separately cast sheets of glass or by dipping the base glass into molten overlay glass.
• Shell cameos became prevalent during the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries.
• Renaissance shell cameos were typically white on a grayish background and carved from mussel or cowry shells.
• In the mid-18th century, new shell varieties like helmet shells and queen conch shells arrived in Europe, leading to an increase in shell cameos.
• Conch shells carve well but their color fades over time.
• Cameos carved from shells became popular souvenirs of the Grand Tour in the mid-19th century.

Roman Glass Cameos

• Roman glass cameos imitated the appearance of agate or sardonyx.
• Cameo glass objects were produced between 25 BC and 50/60 AD, and in the later Empire around the mid-third and mid-fourth century.
• Only around two hundred fragments and sixteen complete pieces of Roman glass cameos are known.
• Early period cameos had a blue glass base with a white overlying layer, while later period cameos had a colorless background covered with translucent colored layers.
• Blanks for Roman glass cameos were produced by fusing two separately cast sheets of glass or by dipping the base glass into molten overlay glass.

Shell Cameos

• Shell cameos became prevalent during the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries.
• Renaissance shell cameos were typically white on a grayish background and carved from mussel or cowry shells.
• In the mid-18th century, new shell varieties like helmet shells and queen conch shells arrived in Europe, leading to an increase in shell cameos.
• Conch shells carve well but their color fades over time.
• Cameos carved from shells became popular souvenirs of the Grand Tour in the mid-19th century.
• The species most used in good-quality cameos since the late 19th century is Cypraecassis rufa, the bullmouth helmet.
• The shell of this species can be up to 6 inches long and has whitish upper and rich orange-brown lower layers.
• The finest hand-carving of these shells takes place in Italy.
• The emperor or queens helmet shell, Cassis madagascariensis, is the most highly prized shell for carving.
• This shell has white and dark brown layers and looks similar to layered agate known as sardonyx.

Cameo Subjects and Notable Carvers

• Cameo designs traditionally depict scenes from Greek or Roman mythology or portraits of rulers and dignitaries.
• Agate portrait cameos were often gifts from royalty to their subjects.
• Antique cameos, some over 2000 years old, are displayed in museums or private collections.
• Cameo subjects can also include any image of a head in an oval frame, such as a photograph.
• Cameos have inspired artistic works, like Lev Mei's cycle of poems titled 'Cameos' and Th

Cameo (carving) Data Sources

Reference	URL
Glossary	https://harryandcojewellery.com.au/blogs/glossary/cameo-carving
Wikipedia	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameo_(carving)
Wikidata	https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28512
Knowledge Graph	https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=/m/01ljcw