Cameo Brooches – A little history lesson

Experts trace the origins of the cameo back to ancient rock carvings of figures known as petroglyphs. The petroglyphs were primarily used as a way of keeping a record of things. The cameo as we know it dates to c 300 BCE in Alexandria where people wore the cameo as a statement about who they were and where their loyalties lay.

Over hundreds of years the cameo has been used in a variety of ways, and many of them were used to show gods, goddesses, kings and heroes. Young women in ancient Greece wore cameos with the dancing figure of Eros, because they hoped to charm a man. Cameos have been used on shields and helmets, on crockery, and on jewellery.

During the Elizabethan period, women collected and wore cameos to make a statement about their position. In the eighteenth century men had cameos made of military leaders such as Bonaparte It is said that the emperor Napoleon wore a cameo to his wedding and he loved the cameo so much that he founded a school where apprentices could be taught the art of carving. It was in the nineteenth century that the cameo really came into its own. In 1805 Italian carvers started to use cameos to produce their own designs and by the end of that century shell was seen as an inexpensive and perfect medium for carving.

Cameos in the Modern Era

The tradition of carving cameos from shells began in the sixteenth century and was later popularised by Queen Victoria. Since Victoria’s espousal of the cameo, the shells are usually carved to depict a woman’s profile. The pendants were often worn as pendants during Victoria’s time or attached to black velvet ribbon and worn around the neck.

One of the reasons that the cameo was so popular was that it was less formal than most other types of jewellery and ideal for daytime wear. Besides the shell cameos the Victorian carvers used stones such as onyx or agate to provide extra colour for their creations. Many well off Victorian ladies enjoyed their gardens and so flowers also became a popular motif for the cameo.

The increased industrialisation of the Victorian era led to the onset of the mass production of jewellery and cheap cameos made from celluloid and glass. Women and girls who love the delicate beauty of the carved shells have worn the cameo ever since. Dating what might be an old and valuable cameo can take hours of research and needs someone who knows exactly what they are looking for. The actual carving can be used to date a cameo, particularly the classical designs of the Victorian era. In the last quarter of a century it has been possible to use a German laser technique to produce the images, but it will not have the same smoothness as some of the cameos of the past.