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DESCRIPTION |
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We offer for sale
here a wonderful banded orange and white carnelian
agate cameo depicting the great High Renaissance
Venetian Painter, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio Titian).
The cameo dates to the late 19th or very
early 20th century. (This cameo could be
mid to early 19th century but it is best to
error on the side of caution when judging the age of
these beautiful miniature works of art.) This portrait of Titian is carved in a medium matt relief, with polished highlights standing against a polished background. The rectangular stone the cameo is sculpted from measures approximately 19mm tall by 13.5mm wide. The sculpted cameo image measures approximately 17mm tall by 11mm wide. The cameo is set in a 14 -15K solid yellow gold, simple rectangular pin. The gold pin bears no hallmarks but it has been tested and is guaranteed to be at least 14K solid gold. The pin is decorated with tiny engraved dotted lines around its edge. The engraved lines look like reversed millgrain work. The quality of the cameo is quite high. This is a genuine recognizable portrait done with great attention to proportion and detail. The complexity of the portrait indicates that it was done by a very talented artist. The portrait is readily recognizable as Titian. If one compares it with the several self-portraits done by Titian, the cameo is an unmistakable miniature sculpture of the artist. The points of similarity are many but several stand out. The long nose, the long beard, the fur collar and the beret of the cameo are all found in one or the other of Titian’s self portraits. The self-portrait I like best, as a comparison to this cameo portrait is Titian’s Self-Portrait with a Young Woman in the Rijks museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. That self-portrait has the same type of beret as this cameo. The Titian self-portraits in the Prado in Madrid and in the Staathiche Museum in Berlin have different berets but still reconfirm this cameo as a portrait of Titian. As a further confirmation of the subject of this cameo we have a finely scratched inscription on the back of the cameo that identifies it as Titian. On the back of this stone we have three finely scratched inscriptions. The first is a number that appears to be 522 or possibly 523 or 525. The second is the identifying name written as Titis, a misspelling or variant of Titian. It can be nothing else given the obvious portrait on the front. The final inscription appears to be a monogram, most likely of the maker. It looks like a script written EOI but the E is backwards (a Greek letter possibly?). The inscription definitely identifies the cameo as Titian regardless of what the other inscriptions mean. I have encountered these, mostly indecipherable, inscriptions on a good number of finely carved hardstone cameos and intaglios. For the most part, I think, they were short cryptic notations, makers’ monograms, values etc. for the use of the engraver and those selling his stones. I have often thought it would be great contribution to the study of engraved gems if these scratched inscriptions could be catalogued and deciphered. Maybe then the identity of this talented artist could be known. What a job it would be to undertake this research though. The condition of this cameo is superb. It has no damage or wear. The pin that the cameo is mounted in is also in great condition. The only "problem" the pin has is that its pin closure clasp has been replaced at some time in the past with a modern one in white gold. This pin was probably made in the first quarter of the 20th century but the new clasp is mid 20th century. This is a great portrait cameo bearing all the hallmarks of a master engraver. It may even be a signed one. We just don’t know how to read the signature. |