Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/658

 652 CAMEO in one direction and 10 in another, and con- tains 22 figures. It is often known by the name of agate de la sainte chapelle, from the holy chapel of the palace to which it was con- signed hy Charles V. It was there regarded as representing the triumph of Joseph under Pharaoh. It came originally from the East in the 13th century. This collection contains many other choice works of this kind, and among the largest and best is one representing Germanicus carried off by an eagle. In the Vatican at Rome are a renowned cameo said to have belonged to the emperor Augustus, and several antique cameos cut in turquoise. At Naples is one ranked among the finest, repre- senting the apotheosis of Ptolemy on one side, and the head of Medusa on the other. In Eng- land there are some remarkable cameos, chiefly in private collections. One of the most cele- brated is in the Marlborough collection; it represents the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, and is the work of Tryphon, who is supposed to have lived under the immediate successors of Alexander in Macedonia. Of the ancient cameos, the most noted is the Mantuan vase at Brunswick, representing on one side Ceres seeking her d'aughter, on the other the goddess teaching agriculture toTriptolemus. At Yeka- terinburg, in the Ural mountains, Atkinson speaks of seeing a workman engaged in cutting a head of Ajax, after the antique, in jasper of two colors, the ground a dark green, and the head a yellowish cream color, in very high re- lief, and intended for a brooch. It was a splendid production of art, made, however, at a cost for labor of only 3s. 8d. sterling per month, and 36 Ibs. of rye flour. In other countries, where this skill commands higher prices, the great expense of cutting these hard substances has led to the substitutipn of softer materials, and varieties of porcelain and of enamelled glass are now often used. But the material most extensively employed is the shell of various species of mollusca, which, while it is easily carved, presents layers of a fine natu- ral polish and beautiful colors. The use of shells began in Italy about the year 1820, and for some years the whole consumption was about 300 per annum, all of which were sent from England, and sold for about 30s. sterling each. Since then this art has been conducted with great success in Rome, and to a much greater extent in Paris. In 1847 the consump- tion had become very large in Paris, so that the sales in that year were reported to amount to no less than 100,500 shells, at an aggregate cost of 8,960, and the value of the cameos was estimated at 40,000. The shells are of four varieties, known as the bull's mouth, black helmet, horned helmet, and queen conch. The queen conch is referred to by Woodward as the cassis Madagaicariensw. This and the C. tuberosa he describes as presenting a white upon a dark claret color ; the 0. cornuta, white on orange ground ; the C. ru/a, a pale salmon on orange ; and trombu gigas, yellow on pink. The black helmet is probably the C. tufierosa, which presents a white upper layer upon a dark, almost black ground. The horned hel- met is no doubt the C. cornuta with a pink ground. The bull's mouth, the under layer of which is red resembling the sardonyx, is prob- ably the strombus giyas. These shells have three layers, the upper and dark-colored serv- ing for the hair, wreaths, armor, &c. ; the next, white, for the figure; and the third for the ground. The pieces are cut out of the required size by a metallic blade fi-d with diamond dust, or emery and water, and are shaped by grinding and whetting. Each piece is then cemented upon a stick, which serves as a handle during the operation of cut- ting. The design is marked out with a pencil, and then scratched in with a sharp point. The cutting is afterward done with the use of a number of delicate pointed instruments made of steel wire, as also of small files and gravers. Holtzaffpel gives particular directions respect- ing the process. " The general shape should be first wrought, with care to leave every projec- tion rather in excess, to be gradually reduced as the details and finish of the work are ap- proached. To render the high parts more dis- tinct during th process of carving, it will be found convenient to mark them slightly with a black-lead pencil. Throughout the cutting great caution should be observed that in remov- ing the white thickness the dark ground is not damaged, as the natural surface of the dark layer is far superior to any that can be given artificially; indeed, should th ground be broken up at one part, it would be requisite from its lamellar structure to remove the entire scale or lamina from the whole surface, a pro- cess that will be found very tedious and much more difficult than the separation of the white from the black thickness. In order that the finished cameo may possess a distinct outline at all points of view, it is desirable to adopt the system followed in antique cameos, namely, to leave all the edges of the figure quite square from the ground, and not gradually rounded down to the dark surface. Should the latter method be followed, it will be found that the ouline is in many places undefined, owing to the color of the white raised figure of the cameo gradually merging in that of the dark ground. This evil is entirely avoided by leaving the edges of the figure quite square for the thickness of about ^ of an inch. The surface of the cameo should be finished as nearly as possible with the cutting tools, as all polishing with abrasive powders is liable to remove the sharp angles of the figures, and deteriorate the cameo by leaving the form undefined. When, how- ever, the work has been finished as smooth as possible with the cutting tools, the final polish may be given by a little putty powder used dry upon a moderately stiff tooth brush, applied with care, and rather to the dark ground than to the carved surface ; this is the concluding process, after which the cameo is ready for re-