Chief William Miles, presents the Queen with the Pocahontas Cameo.
Here is a download of an e-book that tells the story of the Pocahontas Cameo.
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Cameo carved by Benedetto Pistrucci, (Italian, 1783–1855).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Gift of Assunta Sommella Peluso, Ada Peluso and Romano I. Peluso, in memory of Ignazio Peluso, 2003 (2003.431)
Cameo carved by Leone Leoni (Italian, 1509–1590)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Milton Weil Collection, Gift of Ethel S. Worgelt, 1938 (38.150.9).
Cameo carved by Leone Leoni (Italian, 1509–1590).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Milton Weil Collection, Gift of Ethel S. Worgelt, 1938 (38.150.9).
Cameo carved by Adolphe David (French, 1828–1896)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Milton Weil Collection, 1940 (40.20.12)
Giovanni Pichler (Italian, 1734–1791) Rome Sardonyx; mounted in gold as a ring.
The vessel, improbably slung by one handle over the top of the maiden's arm, is superbly delineated in the tawny top stratum.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Milton Weil Collection, 1940 39.22.42)
Italian (Florence). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Milton Weil Worgelt Collection, 1938 (38.150.13)
Cameo carved by Alessandro Masnago, ca. 1576–1612 Italian (Milan)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Milton Weil Collection, 1938 (38.150.33)
Cameo carved by Giuseppe Girometti (Italian, 1779–1851)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Purchase, Gift of Assunta Sommella Peluso, Ada Peluso and Romano I. Peluso, in memory of Ignazio Peluso, 2004 (2004.164)
Giovanni (Gian) Jacopo (Giacomo) Caraglio (Italian, ca. 1500/1505–1565) Kraków
Sardonyx with inlaid gold and silver details; mounted in the 19th century as a pendant in gold with enamel, pearl, and ruby
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.869)
Giuseppe Girometti (Italian, 1780–1851) Rome
This cameo reiterates the head of an ancient marble statue of Thalia, the muse of comedy, in the Vatican Museums' Sala delle Muse
The Milton Weil Collection, 1940 (40.20.38)
This cameo was carved from a three-layered sardonyx. It is a fragment of a larger portrait of the first Roman emperor, Augustus (27 BC - AD 14).
He is shown in a majestic pose, and wears a sword-belt, symbolising his military authority, and the aegis usually associated with the goddess Minerva. The jewelled headband was added in the medieval period.
Collection of The British Museum
The Roman Cameo is mounted on a blue background and set in a jewelled brooch.
Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Cameo collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The cameo shows a bust of Agrippina, grand-daughter of Augustus, wife of Germanicus and the mother of the emperor Caius (Caligula). While the wreath indicates she is a member of the imperial family, her hairstyle is typical for many noble women of the period:
From a collection at the British Museum
A portrait of the Emperor Claudius in frontal view, crowned with a laurel wreath, bearing a sceptre and clothed in tunic and toga.
Constantine the Great and the Tyche of Constantinople. Sardonyx. 18.5 x 12.2 cm.
Reworked in the early nineteenth century by the master Benedetto Pistrucci. Inventory No Ж 146.
Collection of the Hermitage, Russia
The cameo is 12 cm high and set in a gold rim. It depicts two cornucopia (with an eagle between), out of which sprout four portraits, two on either side.
On the left is the Emperor Claudius and his new wife Agrippina (as Cybele, the goddess of fertility) opposite them, Agrippina's parents Germanicus (also Claudius's brother) and Agrippina. Its 49 AD date places it soon after Claudius marrying Agrippina in January 49, and makes it possible that it was an official marriage gift to the imperial couple.
Cameo collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Carved by Dioscurides, c. AD 10–20
Dioscurides was Caesar Augustus’ favorite gem cutter, and his work and copies of it are seen from all over the ancient Roman world.
The Gemma Augustea is a large low-relief cameo gem cut from a double-layered Arabian onyx stone. One layer is white, while the other is bluish-brown.
The size of the gem also made for easier manipulation and a grander scene. It stands 7½ inches tall with a width of 9 inches and an average thickness of ½ inch.
Cameo collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
This portrait of a man with laurel wreath is probably of Emperor Tiberius. The work is signed "Herophilos Dioskourid[ou] ("Herophilus, son of Dioscorides).
The colour of the glass was intended by the artist to imitate turquoise.
Cameo collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
A Mughal carving from India. This Jewel is from the 17th Century.
The Al-Sabah collection, Kuwait National Museum
Detail from the Mughal carving from India. This Jewel is from the 17th Century.
The Al-Sabah collection, Kuwait National Museum
An exquisite hard-stone carving in a three layer agate. The hair detail and the Rams head are carved from a brownish black layer.
From Pommeraie Antiques, Milan
Italy, AD 1530.
A rock crystal ( quartz ) intaglio carving by Giovanni Bernardi
Collection at the British Museum, London
Skillfully carved in three layer agate with the top layer showing as the brown of the clothing.
Collection of the British Museum
A double portrait of the couple Ptolomy II Philadelphus and Arsinoe II Alexandria, carved in Sardonyx, with three layers.
Bought in 1814 and originating from Malmaison, a gift from Josephine Beauharnais to Alexander I St Petersburg, Hermitage State Museum, inv. n. GR 12678
This cameo was carved by Benedetto Pistrucci, Rome, Italy, before AD 1812.
Purchased as an antique by Richard Payne Knight, part of his collection at the British Museum.
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Cameos are often worn as jewelry. Stone cameos of great artistry were made in Greece dating back as far as the 6th century BC. They were very popular in Ancient Rome, and one of the most famous stone cameos from this period is the Gemma Claudia made for the Emperor Claudius.
Ancient methods of hardstone engraving were based on principles still in play today. The pieces were worked by manipulating various drills (in antiquity made of relatively soft metal, eventually replaced by iron) against them. The actual cutting was accomplished not with the point of the drill itself but by using the drill to rub powders into the stone.
At all times the stones must have been gripped fixedly to prevent their shattering. When magnifying glasses were introduced into the art is unclear; today they would be virtually indispensable. In the nineteenth century, new methods, including the intervention of photography, allowed greater accuracy.
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.
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Creating Unique Custom Jewelry for 29 years. Portrait Cameos © Copyright 2010 Gareth Eckley.
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