~Michelangelo
Carved gemstones, shells, and chocolate today.
What is an intaglio? A carved gem used to imprint sealing wax. Cameos have layers — they are sculpted in one layer with another contrasting layer serving as the background.
Cameos
photo by Amanda Krueger
Cameo vase, Hercules restoring Alcestis to her husband Admetus
Artist: Alphonse Lechevrel (carver)
photo by Black Country Museums
Cameo , Sanibel Shell Museum
photo by Corinne Loomer
Cameo Ring with Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin
This sardonyx cameo features portrait busts of Queen Marie Antoinette of France (1755-93) and her son the Dauphin (1785-95).
Walters Art Museum
Sasanian intaglio with the portrait of a king and a Pahlavi inscription: “the Mazdaean lord Shapur, king of kings of Eran”
Portrait of Roman Emperor Caracalla, amethyst intaglio, ca. 212
From the treasury of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris
Top Hat Skeleton Gentleman
by Daniel Proulx
White Chocolate Cameos
photo by A Forest Frolic
Beautiful little works of art...and practical, too. As you say, intaglios were used with sealing wax, and the cameos were little portraits.
ReplyDeleteThe cameos in that collection in the top photo are exquisite. And the shell cameo was amazing.
But I would love to get my hands on the chocolate cameos. ;-)
oh oh, swoon....
ReplyDeleteI've loved cameos since I was a teenaged girl (and I'm now ancient of days). That carving on the shell was divine!
Thank you for this treat for the eyes. You always come up with such amazing finds! I get a lot of "stuff" in my email box, but YOURS always gets opened.