History of the Cameo
Queen Victoria even enjoyed wearing cameos along with other queens and princesses over time. Many people still enjoy collecting and wearing cameos.
History
Cameos in their modern form have been around since the 1st and 2nd centuries. The wealthy of this time loved to collect cameos that were carved portraits of family members or scenes with a mythical theme. At this time, the cameos were probably carved from stones such as agate.
At the end of the 5th century, which also saw the fall of the Roman Empire, cameos became unpopular due to different religions not liking idolatry in any form. Most art became about religion for about 900 years in fact.
The Renaissance period reawakened the artistry and love of cameos. This period did a lot for the arts in general. The cameo grew in popularity. Actually, it was the family of Medici in Florence who made cameos popular as jewelry again. Then around this same time in Germany, there was an agate mine discovered making the region the heart of cameo production. Along with being a rich find as far as the agates this region also perfected the techniques in carving and the color of the cameos of today.
About 1805 the Italian carvers started using shells to carve their marvelous designs for cameos. Shell became very inexpensive and was used quite often to carve cameos. These shell cameos could be worn on a daily basis because they were considered less formal than those that were carved out of stone. The stones that they preferred to carve with were agate, sardonyx, and onyx. The stones offered more variety in colors in the layers of the carvings. The carvers found other material such as shell when they could not find the stone that they preferred.
In the Victorian era, women started having their portraits carved into cameos. Also, carvers started carving an anonymous woman on the cameos. This is how most cameos are done to this day. Of course, floral designs and even mini landscapes could be carved also. Some cameos even depict different historical events.
Today
Cameos can be carved using coral or shell. Carvers are extremely picky on which shells they carve for cameos. The shell needs to have good coloring horizontally and be broad in its shape. The coloring needs to be lighter colors on the top of the darker quality colors. Most of these shells today come from the West Indies, Madagascar, or the Bahamas. A carver of master status oversees the process and with the improved tools of today, the cameos are very intricately done.
The blue agate is layered similar to shells with the light color on top of the darker tones. An agate also has different layers that run parallel to each other. The agate from Brazil is gray in color from very light to extremely dark gray naturally. Sometimes the softer under layer is dyed to the desired color. Actually, there is only about 2 percent of the agates mined that qualifies for carving cameos. This are often carved using special ultrasonic etching equipment.
Still Collectible
Cameos are still collected today. Many wind up being passed down through generations as treasured family heirlooms.
