Cameo carving, an age-old skill
Cameo carving has been practised on fine stones such as onyx, sardonyx and agate since Greco-Roman antiquity. This art consists of engraving a motif in relief in the gemstone, taking advantage of the strata or variegated layers of colour in the chosen stone. In glyptics, a distinction is made between two techniques: intaglio engraving produces intaglios and relief engraving produces cameos.

The art of the cameo requires a singular and demanding know-how that leaves no room for repentance. Heirs to a long artistic tradition built up over the centuries by master craftsmen who perpetuated this ancestral art, the artists capable of achieving these technical feats were referred to as "cameo artists" in 19th-century writings.

A brief history of cameos
Cameos flourished during the Renaissance, with motifs inspired by Antiquity. Francis I showed a great interest in glyptics and had precious stone cutting works set up, where many cameos were made in his likeness. During this period, the art of the cameo was exported from Italy to France and the rest of Europe with great creativity.

Cameo engravers were brought together in academies such as the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi in the Pantheon, founded in 1542 in Rome under the direction of the Holy See.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the rediscovery of ancient Italian cities led to a revival of cameo art. Many gemstone sculptors had workshops close to those of contemporary sculptors such as Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen, in order to create miniature copies of the works of cameo sculptors. The Metropolitan Museum in New York has a fine example of a cameo depicting Nessus and Deianira by Giuseppe Girometti (1779-1851), based on a marble bas-relief by Thorvaldsen.

Niccolò Morelli (1771-1838), famous glyptician
Among the emeritus members of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi in the Pantheon, Niccolò Morelli (1771-1838) left his mark as one of the most famous and talented glypticians of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Morelli's cameos are held in the world's greatest museums and most prestigious private collections. His clients include the Bonaparte family. Napoleon I saw glyptics as a symbol of imperialism, and gave them to his wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, and then to his sisters. Under the First Empire, the taste for engraved jewellery took off, with all women wearing them as necklaces, earrings and belts.

At its sale on 26 October 2023, Aguttes will be presenting a cameo by Niccolò Morelli. The jewel depicts a woman in profile, with features reminiscent of Sandro Boticelli's portraits of Simonetta Vespucci. Her hairstyle is in the antique style, embellished with a plant-shaped diadem, and she is wearing earrings with three pendants resembling those on the portrait of Isidora found during excavations in Egypt (Fayum, 2nd century) and preserved at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

For further information please contact
Philippine Dupré la Tour
+33 (0)1 41 92 06 42
duprelatour@aguttes.com
Philippine Dupré la Tour
+33 (0)1 41 92 06 42
duprelatour@aguttes.com