Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-13
HISTORY OF CAMEoS.
Shells, Eggs and Stones Used Before
Onyx Was known.

From the Scientific American.
An interesting lecture was recently de-
livered by Mr.. Cyril Davenport at the Roy
al Institution, London. dealing with the
beautiful handicraft dating from Ptolemaic
times-cameos. Mr.. Davenport maintained
that first-rate intaglio on hard stone was
the finest work of art which could be
wrought by the hand Of man. Intaglios,
however, he explained, were normally In
tended for the purpose of making impress
sions, being therefore only a means to an
end, whereas a cameo was complete in It
self He described the processes necessary
to the production of cameo, including the
mysteries of the bow drill, cutting diamond
point, and modern gem-cutter's lathe.
short account was also given of the early
history of canoes on shells, eggs and soft
stones before the discovery of onyx as the
material specially adapted for cameo-cut-
ting. The Graeco-Roman, and especially
the Augustan, period was rich in canoes,
and almost every great Roman wished to
have his portrait cut in onyx. One of these
an exquisite portrait of the emperor him.
self. which formerly belonged to the Strozzi
collection. is perhaps the finest existing
cameo. Such portrait canoes were practi-
cally indestructible, except by accident
The large cameos-the Triumph of Bac-
chus'' at the Vatican, the Agate de There
Vienna-were described in detail and much
curious information was given about the
signatures on canoes. When these sigma
lures were in relief they were undoubtedly
genuine, but when in intaglo they might be
forgeries. and many such signatures were
known to have been forged during the rem
aisSance.
Regarding the glass plates. the finest
instances of glass canoes are to be found
upon the Portland vase and the AuldJo
vase, both in London, and on the Vase des
Vendanges at Naples.
The remar kable change from the classi-
cal and NEUROLOGICAL designs of the Graeco-
Roman times to the Christian themes of
the fourth century, when Constantine the
Great became Christian, is curiously Illus
trated in canoes. Hercules was christened
David" Perseus and the Gorgon became
David and Goliath and Venuses and
and the great Agate de There
at Paris was only saved from destruction
by being called the Triumph of Joseph in
Egypt Then at the renaissance they all
cred its lost position. The renaissance
cameo-cutters were very skilled workmen.
but in spite of their general high level they
had not succeeded in making any very i'm
portant' cameo although the "Hymeneal
Procession of Eros and Psyche realized
high price They were. however, eminently
successful in the setting of gems. Pope
Plus II and Lorenzo de Medici bestowed
Of engraved gems. Two very charming
pendants with cameo portraits of Queen
Eliza beth represented English work, and
fine recent work has also been executed by
Edward Burch. Marchant, Wray and Brett.
In Great Britain, however, the art was vir-
tualfy lost, and Bernardo Pistrucci, chief
engraver to the mint, who designed the
beautiful group of st. George and the
Dragon on the English sovereign coin, was
really the last great cameo designer. In
France fine work has been done in late
years by Adolph David, Henri Francois,
Georges Lemaire and others.