Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/657

 CAMELOPARD CAMEO 651 These have been imported into Europe and America, and new varieties are annually pro- duced by horticulturists. Forty-five standard varieties have been developed, some having Camellia Japonica. single, some double, and some semi-double flowers, and being in color white, red, yellow, or variegated. Camellias thrive best when treated as conservatory shrubs, planted in the open border under glass, freely exposed to light and air, and sufficiently protected from the frost. Thus treated, they become large evergreen bushes, densely covered with foji- age, upon which their splendid flowers are conspicuously beautiful, and much more bril- liant than when the roots are confined in gar- den pots and cramped for want of room. They are propagated by cuttings, layers, and buds, as well as by seeds. Only a few seeds, how- ever, can be obtained, and these require two years to come up, but make the best stocks of any. The 0. reticulata, which grows in China, ia esteemed the handsomest of all the varieties. Its leaves are remarkably netted, and it has semi-double flowers, of a deep rose-red color, sometimes 6 inches in diameter. Two species, the G. sasanqua and the O. oleifera, are culti- vated as oleaginous plants in China, and the oil pressed from the seeds is said to be equal to the finest quality of olive oil. , CAMELOPARD. See GIRAFFE. < AMKLOPAUUALIS, the camelopard or giraffe, a constellation instituted by Hevelius. It lies between the north pole, the Wagoner, Cassio- peia, and the head of the Great Bear, and con- tains small stars of the 4th magnitude only. CAMENZ, or Kamenz, a town of Saxony, on the Black Elster, 22 in. N". E. of Dresden ; pop. in 1871, 6,406. It is the birthplace of Lessing, and contains a hospital dedicated to his memory Jan. 3, 1826. The town was almost wholly destroyed by fire in 1742. CAMEO, originally a variegated onyx, or other parti-colored stone, on which figures and landscapes appeared, and more commonly applied to a gem in different-colored layers, carved in relief with figures contrasting with the color of the background. Varieties of chalcedony, jasper, onyx, sardonyx, and some- times turquoise, are the most Common gems used ; but softer and cheaper materials are of late much employed for this purpose. Cameo cutting is an art of remote origin, and the word is of obscure derivation. The art was certainly practised by the Egyptians, and was brought to a high state of perfection by the Greeks ; and yet it is probably not so old as the simpler process of carving in intaglio. Besides em- ploying the natural gems, the Romans in the time of Pliny made use of an artificial paste in two colors, called vitrum obsidianum. But the hard stones used by the Greeks, by the delicacy of finish of which they are susceptible, and by the durability of the lines carved upon them, have proved a better material for trans- mitting to distant ages an idea of the high at- tainments of this cultivated people in art than either bronze or marble. Even now connois- seurs distinguish between modern gems and those cut more than 2,000 years ago, by the superior polish of the latter. In'the 4th cen- tury cameo cutting had fallen into disuse, the art ending, as it began, in lifeless stone. On its revival in Italy, in the 15th century, gem engraving received especial patronage from Lorenzo and Pietro de' Medici. Specimens of this period rival in perfection those of more ancient times. The art has since continued to be extensively practised in Italy ; but its intro- duction in other parts of Europe hardly extends beyond the present century. The chief peculi- arity of the Italian style is the converting of blemishes in the material into points of attrac- tion, and bringing them boldly out in alto rilievo, as if designed for some special repre- sentation ; while the Greek, seeking perfect harmony in the colors of the gem, by a series of subtle curves and most delicate lines running through its low relief, effectually concealed the labor, made so obvious in the productions of later times. The first cameo of which we have account was the ring of Polycrates, carved by Theodorus of Samos, about 550 B. C. Among the finest cameos are those in the imperial cabi- net of St. Petersburg : one of Perseus and An- dromeda, on a pale brown sard, the figures of exquisite finish in high relief; the other, known as the Gonzaga cameo, of Ptolemy II. and the first Arsinoe ; the same Ptolemy and the second Arsinoe appear on a gem of inferior merit in the Vienna museum. The latter is rich in cameos, and contains among others an apothe- osis of Augustus, wrought on an onyx 8| inches in diameter, which was purchased by Rudolph II. for 12,000 ducats, and is considered by some the finest cameo in the world. The apotheo- sis of Augustus and the princes of the house of j Tiberius, in the national library at Paris, is the largest and one of the most famous of these works; it is a sardonyx measuring 12 J inches