CAMEOS.* 



Bv ("VKM. Davknpokt, F. R. a. 



The word *■' cameo "' does not in any way liel]) toward a proper 

 understanding of the term. The real derivation of the word is 

 unknown. As we now understand them, cameos may be defined as 

 small bas-reliefs cut upon some substance ])recious because of its 

 rarity, beauty, or hardness. 



The earliest examples of the art are perha})s to be found in the 

 scarabs of ancient Egypt, combining both the cameo and intaglio, as 

 their bases are engraved with designs. Early instances also exist in 

 the form of small sculptures on the back of seal stones, of Greek 

 and Etruscan origin, as also rarely in jVIycenean work. Glass cameos 

 were probably made at Rome long before the Christian ei-a, and of 

 still earlier date are found small rosettes and medallions of clay 

 impressed with designs in relief and gilded. 



The ancient Egyptian scarabiri are usually made in some soft 

 stone, steatite, syenite, or serpentine, all of which can be cut by flint 

 or obsidian flakes, or even by hard metal chisels. But harder stones 

 were sometimes successfully cut, examples being found in amethyst, 

 carnelian, obsidian, and jasper. The majority appear to have been 

 made in molded glass or porcelain, usually with a green or blue glaze. 



About the third century B. C. the peculiar adaptability of the 

 banded onyx for cameo work was first generally realized, and it 

 rapidly became the favorite material in which the most skilled 

 artists worked; and cameos in time became valued articles of pei-- 

 sonal adornment, increasing in favor in proportion as the use of 

 seal rings declined. 



Onyx, which is a silicious chalcedony, is usually formed in irregu- 

 lar hollows in trap rock, and is deposited gradually in successive 

 layers from the outer contours toward the center, alternately cr3'stal- 

 line and amorphous. The crystalline laj^ers are white in reflected 



« Abstract of an address delivered before Ibe Society of Arts .Tanuary 1.1. 

 1901. Reprinted, by permission, from .Journal of the Society of Arts, .January 

 25, 1901. 



713 



