Cameo engraving, a traditional handicraft technique from Torre del Greco, is mainly carried out on sardonix shells, which have a dark brown background and therefore allow for a light engraving or on ‘Corniola’ shells, which come from Africa and have a background tending towards red.

This cameo is engraved on carnelian and has a and depicts the face of a beautiful woman

Cameo engraving is a unique and original workmanship with timeless appeal, a true timeless classic, it involves several steps, let’s discover them together:

-Uncapping: this consists of a cut on the upper, convex part of the shell, called ‘the cup’.

– Marking: the craftsman then proceeds to mark and shape the cut part, creating the contours of the cameos inside the cup and cutting off the superfluous parts of the shell.

-Aggabing: this stage creates the final oval or round shape of the shell.

-Pitching: the piece is fixed to a wooden mandrel using hot mastic combined with wax, Greek pitch and scagliola.

-Gouging: the chosen image can be sketched, albeit in broad strokes, and then modelled using burins of different sizes.

-Engraving phase: this is where the final touches are made to the smallest details.

-Polishing phase: this is done with oil and pumice and then rinsed with running water, degreased and dried with a white linen cloth.

-Degreasing phase: the last operation in the cameo making process, which, together with polishing, contributes to the added charm of the jewel created.

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