Kamee & Intaglio Schmuck
The history of gemstones
The term intaglio refers to a deeply cut stone. A cameo forms the equally artistic counterpart - a stone with a raised relief. Intaglio and cameos, or rather pieces of jewellery set with them, flourished again at the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. Stone cutters now endeavoured to copy gems from antiquity or the Renaissance. However, they soon began to create their own motifs in the style of antiquity, drawing inspiration from the literature of classical mythology and Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Cameos and intaglios as souvenirs of the Grand Tour
The emerging enthusiasm and general interest in classical antiquity that gripped the nobility and the upper middle classes at this time closely linked cameos and intaglios with a very special tradition of the time, namely the "Grand Tour", the journey of the upper classes to archaeological sites in Greece and, above all, Italy, on which culturally-minded people set off to study the architecture and works of art of antiquity. The best cameo cutters of the time also worked in Italy and so it became obligatory for the educated traveller to acquire finely cut cameos or intaglios as a souvenir. Once back home, these either became part of a fine collection of gems or the ornate objects were further crafted into high-quality pieces of jewellery.
What are the fine ornaments made of?
The small works of art were most often cut from mussel shells. Layered agates were also popular, but were the most difficult to work with due to their hardness. There are also gems and cameos made of glass paste and so-called lava stone, an artificially produced carvable material made of different coloured, powdered lava and admixtures of adhesives, which produced attractive results.
Halsbandaffaire - your expert for cameo and intaglio
With us you will find a large number of high-quality gems and cameos crafted into wonderful pieces of jewellery. These historical objects depict the jewellery tradition of a very special era and charmingly tell of the close connection between jewellery and history.