Your Ultimate Resource For Information About Cameos

Cameos are often worn as jewellery the world over. Stone Cameos were crafted in Greece during ancient times (even as far back as the 6th Century).

They were extremely popular in Rome, and the Gemma Claudia is one of the famous stone cameos from this period. It was made for Emperor Claudius himself.

Ever since then, this technique has since enjoyed sporadic revivals, especially during the early Renaissance, and once again in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the UK, this revival came about during the reign of King George III - who's grand daughter (Queen Victoria) was a major proponent of this cameo trend.

Not surprisingly, the visual art form of cameo even had writers of recent times captivated in its vast depths and beauty. The 19th century Russian Poet even went ahead and published a cycle of 6 poems, which were sold under the title kameu (or Cameos) in 1861.

There are three materials which are used for cameos carving: agate (also known as hard stone cameo), glass and shell.

Cameos are made by setting a carved relief (ex. a portrait). We call this sort of cameo an assembled cameo.

Alternately, it is possible to carve out a cameo out of a material having integral layers or banding (directly) where different layers are coloured

The use of dyes can be implemented to make these colours better.

Roman Glass Cameos and Shell Cameos are two of the most prominent conventional cameo techniques.

Roman Glass Cameos

Roman glass cameos are extremely rare objects. In all only about 200 fragments and 16 complete pieces are known to date. During the Roman period this cameo technique was used on artificial glass blanks. Identical copies were made in agate as well.

The most famous cameo of this type is the PORTLAND VASE.

Shell Cameos

Shell cameo carving is not a new technique. It was first seen in the Renaissance period (Around the 15th/16th centuries), before which cameos were made from hard stone.

The shell cameos from this period had a characteristic white + gray colour combination (with a gray background), and were made from shells of cowry or mussel. (Cowry is a tropical mollusk).