Look in any tray of jewellery, and a cameo will always stand out from the rest of the pieces there. This is probably because it gives us a picture of something—a classical head or a group of children—and we all like a picture.

But perhaps the word picture is rather misleading when we are talking about cameos. For a cameo, properly speaking is not just a “little picture“—in other words a “miniature”. Nor even is it just a piece of sculpture, or carving in low relief. It is, in fact, a kind of carving in layers of different colours or textures, so that something carved out of the top layer stands out in contrast to the ground beneath. (more…)

When talking about cameos we had a look at the large conch shell, with its cameo carved out of the layers of the shell.

Another kind of shell is used for all that charming shell ware our forebears liked so much. Perhaps the most popular was mother-of pearl, the lining of pearl mussel shells, and everyone will surely have somewhere in a drawer some fruit knives and forks with handles of this shimmering material. There were also tiny pocket knives for the handbag, buttons (see page 61), fansticks, and one often sees in antique shops whole heaps of those mother-of- pearl counters used for playing games in Victorian evenings. Some were square, some oblong, others were fish-shaped and sometimes you will find them carved with the owner’s initials. Needle cases and thread winders in mother- of-pearl were mentioned under “Workboxes”. Bouquet holders, spectacle cases, album covers all used mother-of-pearl. But perhaps the most attractive pearl ware are the many trinket boxes and jewel caskets, sometimes in combination with tortoiseshell, sometimes inlaid into papier Bache, very often just plain, but skilfully arranged in panels of different shades. (more…)