Vintage Pendant Brooch With Shell Cameo in Gold Setting, Circa 1985

Two winged creatures, naked and innocent, interact with a young woman in a light robe. She is kneeling towards the small creatures. A suggestive garden landscape with a pergola or trees frames the lovely scene. What are the little creatures doing, who seem to be gripped by joyful excitement, and what is the lady's task? Is it ultimately the goddess Venus and is one of the two winged creatures Cupid, the god of love? Questions like these often occupy us when we look at 20th century cameos, and often the meaning of the small scenes cannot be fully deciphered. However, one observation becomes apparent. While cameos from the 18th and 19th centuries were generally cut from classical antiquity, which found their way into the cameo cutters' workshops via elaborate engravings and prints, this approach seems to be increasingly lost in the 20th century. The themes and depictions are interpreted more freely and a deeper level of meaning is lost: goddesses become snub-nosed girls, mythological scenes become depictions whose main purpose seems to be decoration. What remains are the craft techniques with which pieces are first sawn out of the shells of large sea snails and then engraved. The meaningful content of the depiction so often found in early cameos gives way to a delight in figurative representation in flat relief. The scene described above is set in a 14-karat gold frame, which makes the cameo equally wearable as a brooch and pendant. We date the piece of jewelry to around 1985. It came to us from a Berlin gem collection.

Estimate:£419.33

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