Tea at Trianon: History of Cameos

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, July 31, 2022

History of Cameos

From DSF Antique Jewelry:

Often in ancient times cameos depicted living heroes, rulers and mythological themes while paying homage to their respective gods and connecting cultures through trade like Rome, Greece and Egypt. In the centuries that followed, cameos have been used for various purposes and decorated with a range of carvings, precious stones and metals.

Of the earliest forms of cameo, many can be traced back to prehistoric petroglyphs depicting religious figures and mythological images onto rocks. With the rise of the Roman Empire, cameo craftsmen expanded upon their uses and portrayed political portraits into their artwork. Cameo carving greatly progressed during the Renaissance and Elizabethan periods when elite women wore cameos to showcase their cultural status. (Read more.)