Cameos

I want to show you cameos. When I could walk well (not like I walk now:(( I went to the museum to take pictures of cameos. They were, of course, behind glass, I hope this did not affect the quality of the photos. 

 

 

 

A cameo is a type of carved semi-precious stone with a convex relief image. Cameos were used as miniature jewelry in ancient times. Wealthy Greeks and Romans wore them exclusively for beauty, as especially valuable works of jewelry art. The most famous cameos come from the city of Alexandria in Egypt, created in the 3rd century BC. 

 

 

Ancient craftsmen skillfully used the multi-layered nature of semi-precious stones, using contrasts of color layers, from dark brown to bluish-gray and white, in several reliefs. By varying the thickness of the upper layer of the stone, through which the lower layer, usually of a darker color, shone through, a skilled craftsman achieved the effect of combining relief and light and shade in the image. 

 

 

 

 

These beautiful cameos are just decorations, but they introduce us to the faces of that distant era, to the life of people. I hope you liked one of the cameos. Perhaps some of you have cameos at home that are family memories or you have recently acquired them. Tell us!