Thursday, February 23, 2017

Shell Cameos from the British Museum

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Young Hercules

16th century
shell cameo, mounted on glass
British Museum
bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane
 
During the Renaissance the fabrication of cameos from certain varieties of natural shell became common  an inexpensive medium that offered colored layers and was easier to carve in fine detail than stone. The general feeling among connoisseurs seems to be that cameos made from shell are somewhat less worthy of regard than onyx or agate, garnet or carnelian, emerald or amethyst. Collections at the British Museum are abundant in shell cameos from the 16th century and from the 19th century, but with curiously little in between.

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Henri IV as Winged Centaur
16th century
shell cameo
British Museum
bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Cupid and Psyche
ca, 1870
shell cameo
British Museum
setting by John Brogden, London

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Pegasus
16th century
shell cameo
British Museum
bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar
16th century
shell cameo
British Museum

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Paris with Apple
16th century
shell cameo
British Museum

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Venus and Cupid
16th century
shell cameo
British Museum

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Profile portrait of a woman
ca. 1852
shell cameo
British Museum

Anonymous Gem-cutter
Alexandra, Princess of Wales
1870
shell cameo
British Museum

Tommaso Saulini
Edward, Prince of Wales
1870
shell cameo
British Museum

Tommaso Saulini
Grand-Duchess Maria Nikolayevna
1830s
shell cameo
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Saulini Workshop, Rome
Dawn (Aurora) driving her biga
ca. 1860
 shell cameo
British Museum

Saulini Workshop, Rome
Goddess Roma (Minerva)
ca. 1860
shell cameo
British Museum

Tommaso Saulini
Phaeton driving the chariot of the Sun
ca. 1850
shell cameo
British Museum

                                          "The rest I resign to Fortune;
I pray her to help and take care of you better than you take care
of yourself. As I speak, the dewy night has reached its appointed
goal on the shores of the west. The time for delaying is over,
The summons has come, for the darkness has fled and Aurora is glowing.
Now grasp the reins in your hands – or if your ambitious purpose
can yet be altered, take my advice and not my chariot. 
Allow me to give my light to the earth, and watch me in safety
While still you can, while still you are standing on solid earth,
Before you have blindly mounted the car you so foolishly asked for."

 from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 2, Sun's address to Phaeton, translated by David Raeburn