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 Precious
stones always exert attention with the glittering shine and their major
capacity is to distinguish against the crowd showing the high status of
the
wearer. Nevertheless, neither diamonds nor golden bars can clearly
define their
destination as gems, which are created by craftsmen who possess the old
art of
glyptic. Cameo and intaglio come as authentic sign ofelegance and
ever-lasting beauty put into stones. The art of glyptic is revealed to
the fullest extent
thanks to the perfect skills of jewelers to use this manner when making
brooches and necklaces for ladies and signet rings and cufflinks for
men, rings
and pendants, or just keepsakes. These accessories come as things for
ever and
ever occasions.
Art of
glyptic back in the past
Glyptic as the
jewelry technique of carving on precious and semi-precious stones was known
back in the 4th millennium B.C. it was widely practiced by craftsmen
from Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and Aegean
Sea Islands.
The major glyptic items are gems, stones of various texture and shape, often
they come as oval gems with the carved pattern. Gems are classified into
intaglio and cameo according to the performance technique. The intaglio pattern
is carved deep inside the stone while cameo has prominent shapes. The raw
material for glyptic were soft rocks as serpentine, haematite and solid rocks
as cornelian, agate and various chalcedony, crystal. The intaglio was
preliminary known as the only technique for glyptic. Thus, during diggings of
burial places form the 1st century A.D., the intaglio from
chalcedony was found with the image of a bird pecking a fish. The intaglio was
made by the craftsmen five centuries before the burial. Such scene is too common
for antique intaglios and so, the coat of arms of Sinope city had the picture
of an eagle attacking the dolphin in the center.
Our ancestors
had decorations as the figure of animals, birds and people; they used to wear
first signet-rings, mainly expressing dung-beetle. So, the signet-ring
belonging to Caesar depicted Armed Venus or Venus armáta. When the signet-ring
touched the wax or clue, the perfect imprints were made, the prototypes of
modern stamps. In the 4th century B.C. the jewelers of Hellenism
epoch created first cameos. Unlike intaglio, cameos depicted the real scenes
from ancient myths, pictures of gods and people, made in gems. The word cameo is
supposed to mean from Italian the «shell», which is fairly squares with reality
since previously the sea shells were used to make such gems. The most reputed among
the gems is the cameo Gonzaga called after the name of the Duke Louis Gonzaga,
whose family possessed the jewelry throughout 16th – 17th
centuries. The cameo depicted the faces of Egyptian ruler Ptolemaic II and Arsinoe,
his wife. The jewelry was made by the anonymous craftsman who lived in the 3rd
century B.C., from the polychromic agate in three layers trimmed with gold.
Catherine II
was a knee-high to cameo whose luxury collection of jewelers is kept in
Hermitage. During her reign the antique jewelry were in demand, and even higher
than diamonds. Gold, pearls and precious stones were just trimming elements to
glyptic items.
Glyptic in modern jewelry
Mademoiselle
Coco Chanel is known for the little black dress and a thread of pearls, and cameo
brooche is the other distinctive feature for her. She loved her jewel much to
wear all the time. The fashion for glyptic was revived along with vintage
items, laces, silk and classic style in design. The new Russian line of cameos by
«Agate Cameo» resembles the old brooches and pendants from grandmas as gems
made by jewelers from 19th century.
The Jewelry
House Dior Joaillerie in collaboration with the designer Victoire de
Castellane launhed the black-and-white collection of cameo-brooches and
rings antique styled adding more glitter to the décor of diamonds, gold,
grenade and sapphires.
Responding
the fashion trend the jewelers by Tagliamonte launched the collection of gems
called Diamond based upon the images of the ancient Gods as Venus, Athena, Marc,
Jupiter, hidden in the colored murano glass. The gems were trimmed in golden
frames, diamonds, pearls, corals and other precious and semi-precious stones.
The Italian
jewelers of Pomellato came with the idea to revive the true sort of cameo looking
for the shells for the work and thoroughly examining the quality of the
material. The collection was called Eva for the Bible scenes, the central
figurine of decoration was the snake, the Devil. The pink gold was
traditionally used for Pomellato.
The jewelers
by Agatha changed their preferences and stepped aside from classic style in
glyptic. The designers opt for rubber, glass and wood as the material for cameo
attracting more attention to these jewels.
The price
range for cameo depends on the material and complexity of performance. So, the cameo
broche from the Joan Rivers Collectio used from the jeweler alloy with some
acryl, crystals and enamel costs around $100 USD. And the cameo brooches made from
the shell, white gold and diamond of 0,01 carat is a little bit cheaper than
$1000 USD.
Glyptic
shown at red carpets
The fashion
for antique cameo and intaglio was so storming that it involved celebrities and
show-biz persons who, as a fact, set trends for vintage decorative accessories.
Splendid Sharon Stone is keen on rings and earrings with cameo made as classic
glyptic style. Gems are so universal that can be used as brooches and pendants.
Today
fashion followers decorate their handbags, dresses and belts with cameo gems.
Extravagant Pink was getting married wearing a white-snow dress by Monique
Lhuillier. The zest of her ensemble was the black band with the bow and cameo
brooch in antique style.
Glyptic
takes take to create and jewelers still make strength of the stone into the
eternal item. Touching with precious stones that have gone through centuries
and epochs, we perceive their majestic power to the full extent. And we have
the challenge to stay in history if own the cameo with our portray or those of
our folks.
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