1509 - Large shell cameo as a brooch

Large shell cameo as a brooch Circa 1860. Tompak, gold-plated. Total weight: 12.9 g. No hallmark or stamp. Large, high-relief shell cameo depicting two female figures in a landscape beneath a tree. The whitish relief layer stands out strikingly against the warm orange shell background. H. 4.8 cm, W. 4 cm, depth approx. 1.5 cm. Brooch backing on the reverse with a long pin. Signs of age and wear. A high-quality, unusually three-dimensionally rendered 19th-century shell cameo. The engraver skillfully utilizes the shell’s varying layers of color to create this multi-figure depiction, which appears almost fully three-dimensional. Particularly noteworthy are the finely detailed garments and the tree, whose trunk and foliage frame the scene and lend it a pronounced sense of spatial depth.