The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-22
The ART OF CAMEO CUTTING BEING REVIVED

grace of the powerful Medici family. Of
tered asylums and honor to men VINO
could interpret beauty in any medium.
Inc same influences which developed
the genius of Michael Angelo and Giot-
to In frescoed architecture inspired the
long-dead workmen who had left their
skill and talents recorded in the en-
graved Jewels handed down from the
age which had known Pericles.
AsFIorence witnesses the renaissance
OF the art of cameo cutting and. intaglio
engraving, SO Florence remains to this
day the home of the greatest masters
of that art. There are cameo cutters in
other Italian cities. and in London and
in New York as we'll, but in Florence
still reside the men who taught these
others their art, the high priests of this
pretty cult which so expresses itself
that magnifying glass is required to
read all its beautiful secrets.
In London there is one cameo artist
whose work is better than that Of the
best Of the ancients His name is
James Ronca, and he is pupil of the
brother of Benedetto Pistrucci. In New
York there is one artist of worldwide
fame, l.. Bonet. He has little studio
in the big Hartford building, where, far
up above the fog and smoke of the city,
he manages to get, during few hours
of every pleasant day. enough bright
sunlight to work the marvels of his
needle like gravers in the many-tinted
shells which furnish his media of color.
The Phoenicians and Greeks and
Egyptians used stones mostly in Their
art. They chose sardonyx, which con-
sists of layers of three or four different
colors. 1t was the Italians and Leva.l-
tines of the Renaissance who discover
ed that certain shells of mollusks, IN
which many cOlors occur in thin strata,
furnish a medium for cameo engraving
infinitely preferable to the sardonyx or
lapis lazuli of the ancients.
Mr.. Ronca and Mr.. Bonet both use
shell in preference to the more refrac-
tory semi-precious stones. There are a
number of shells which lend themselves
to the cameo cutters needs. Bulls
Mouth" (cassis refua), a red sardonyx
lining with a white lime upper strata,
is one of these 1t comes from the ISL
and of Ceylon and from Borneo. "Blcka
Helmet is another. Its scientific name
Is cassis tuberosa, or Madagascarien
but it is not found in Madagascar at
all. 1t is brought from Jamaica and
Nassau in the West Indies. @ 4
Horned Helmet" cassis cornuta,
with yellow or orange ground, and the
Queen Conch" of the West Indies are
other mollusk shells in favor with the
engravers. All have the white, lime
stratum of some strongly contrasting
tint, which in the life of the mollusk
lay beneath it's epidermis.
The cameo cutter employs but little
machinery in his art. A wheel revolv-
ing on a spindle, over which emery
powder and water drip constantly, is
used to cut his shell into such sizes
and shapes as he may desire. A little
hand gripstone rubs off the rough edges
G1nnaS
about the edge.
The shaped block of shell is secured
for convenience to a wooden handle.
Sealing wax of peculiar composition,
carefully applied, is the adhesive me-
dunn employed. With pumice stone,
any discolorations are removed, and
then the little disk of milky white shell
surface is ready for the dainty touch
of the little steel engraving tools.
Some cameo cutters leave thin SUI
per-coating of white over the finer cut
tings until the design is practically fin
ished-this is to protect the delicate
color-surface beneath from scratches.
Mr.. Ronca does not do this. but he Is
workman of exceptional delicacy of
touch.
When the cutting of gem is finished
the surfaces and edges are polished
with pumice stone, and rotten stone
mixed with diluted sulphuric acid. The
polishing is done with pointed box
wood stick, and is a work of great
delicacy. 1t finished the cameo Is re-
moved from it's wooden holder, great
care being taken not to chip it in the
melting of the adhesive wax. The set
ting of the gem is the work OF the
jeweler, not of the engraver.
Mr.. Bonet, New Yorks most eminent
cameo artist does not affect portrait
ure SO much as idyllic or NEUROLOGICAL
subjects. In this he follows the mas
tiers of the Renaissance rather than
those of the classic period. The Ger
man artists of the sixteenth century
were fond of depicting biblical subjects.
Their detail work was little short of
marvellous. In one German cameo,
barely two inches square. of date 1870,
"The Death of the Virgin is pictured
with no less than 10 figures in the COM
position Under powerful glass the
group becomes mural alto-reievo of
irreproachable proportion and exquisite
sculpture.