Cameo pendant with a woman’s profile and floral elements

Cameo pendant with a woman’s profile and floral elements

Cameo engraving, a traditional artisan technique of Torre del Greco, is carried out mainly on sardonyx shells, which have a dark brown background and therefore allow to obtain a clear engraving or on “Corniola” shells, coming from Africa and with a background tending to red.

This cameo is engraved on carnelian and has a and depicts a beautiful woman’s face
It’s possible order the silver necklace with golden bath for an additional price.

The cameo engraving is a unique and original workmanship with a timeless charm, a real timeless classic, it involves several steps, let’s discover them together:

-Uncapping: it consists in a cut on the upper and convex part of the shell, called “the cup”.

– Marking: the craftsman then proceeds to the marking and shaping of the cut part, making the outlines of the cameos inside the cup and cutting off the superfluous parts of the shell.

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

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

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

-Engraving stage: this is where the finishing touches are made in the smallest detail.

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

Degreasing phase: the last operation in the cameo manufacturing process that, together with polishing, contributes to giving greater charm to the jewel created.