Cameo and its history. Gemma with in-depth image: intaglio or cameo? Gems as works of art

Usually round or oval in shape, with carved images. There are gems with incised images (intaglia) and with bas-relief convex images (cameos).

The art of stone carving has been known since antiquity. In ancient Mesopotamia, gems were made as early as the 4th millennium BC. Gems were especially popular in Ancient Greece (from the 6th century BC) and Ancient Rome. In the Middle Ages, gems were used to decorate church utensils, books, and on the vestments of priests. Ancient gems were worn in the form of fasteners on clothes, like medallions in a frame made of precious metals. Often, gems were decorated with signet rings. Gems were often used as seals and amulets.

In the manufacture of gems, various materials are used. Usually, darker material is taken for the lower layers of cameos, so that a carved image of a lighter stone stands out against its background. Sardonyx is often used, which has layers of various colors. Also in the production of gems, agate, hematite, garnets, carnelian are used.

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Literature

Gems of the State Museum of Georgia. Tt. I-V. - Tbilisi, 1954-1972.
Neverov O. Ya./ Rev. ed. N. A. Sidorova. - M .: Science, 1982 (1983). - 144, p. - (From the history of world culture). - 185,000 copies.(reg.)

An excerpt characterizing Gemma

The old countess, without letting go of his hand, which she kissed every minute, sat next to him; the rest, crowding around them, caught his every movement, word, glance, and did not take their eyes off him with enthusiastic love. The brother and sisters argued and intercepted places from each other closer to him, and fought over who would bring him tea, a handkerchief, a pipe.
Rostov was very happy with the love he was shown; but the first minute of his meeting was so blissful that it seemed to him that his present happiness was not enough, and he kept waiting for something more, and more, and more.
The next morning the visitors slept off the road until 10 o'clock.
In the previous room, sabers, bags, carts, open suitcases, dirty boots were lying around. The cleaned two pairs with spurs had just been placed against the wall. Servants brought washstands, hot water for shaving, and washed dresses. It smelled of tobacco and men.
- Hey, G "bitch, t" ubku! shouted the hoarse voice of Vaska Denisov. - Rostov, get up!
Rostov, rubbing his eyes that were stuck together, lifted his tangled head from the hot pillow.
- What's late? “It’s late, 10 o’clock,” Natasha’s voice answered, and in the next room there was a rustling of starched dresses, a whisper and laughter of girlish voices, and something blue, ribbons, black hair and cheerful faces flashed through the slightly open door. It was Natasha with Sonya and Petya, who came to see if he got up.
- Nicholas, get up! Natasha's voice was heard again at the door.
- Now!
At this time, Petya, in the first room, seeing and grabbing sabers, and experiencing the delight that boys experience at the sight of a warlike older brother, and forgetting that it is indecent for sisters to see undressed men, opened the door.
- Is that your sword? he shouted. The girls jumped back. Denisov, with frightened eyes, hid his shaggy legs in a blanket, looking around for help at his comrade. The door let Petya through and closed again. There was laughter outside the door.
- Nikolenka, come out in a dressing gown, - Natasha's voice said.
- Is that your sword? Petya asked, “or is it yours?” - with obsequious respect he turned to the mustachioed, black Denisov.
Rostov hurriedly put on his shoes, put on a dressing gown and went out. Natasha put on one boot with a spur and climbed into the other. Sonya was spinning and just wanted to inflate her dress and sit down when he came out. Both were in the same, brand new, blue dresses - fresh, ruddy, cheerful. Sonya ran away, and Natasha, taking her brother by the arm, led him into the sofa room, and they started talking. They did not have time to ask each other and answer questions about thousands of little things that could interest only them alone. Natasha laughed at every word that he said and that she said, not because what they said was funny, but because she had fun and was unable to restrain her joy, expressed in laughter.

Cameo is a symbol of refined beauty. This is a work of art, in which there is subtle grace, sharpness of forms, beauty and perfection.

Cameos are ancient works of art that embody the ideal of harmonious and beautiful, created by man.

To tell the story of the cameo, let's define some terms that may be needed in our descriptions.

Glyptic- the art of stone carving.
gems These are cameos and intaglios.
cameos- carved stones with an image executed in relief.

- stones or gems with an in-depth image. Since ancient times, they have served as seals.

Already in the IV century BC. masters of glyptics carved lions, sphinxes, scarab beetles in relief. But mostly they were one-color cameos. At the beginning of the III century BC. e. multi-colored gems appear. For their execution, a multi-layered stone - agate was used. Layering, that is, the polychromeness of the stones, allowed the craftsmen, using different colors of the layers, to achieve extraordinary effects in terms of color and picturesqueness. Multi-layered agate emphasized the play of different tones and their shades, and by changing the thickness, for example, of the white layer of agate so that the dark lower layer was visible through it, it was possible to achieve different shades. Ancient masters used Indian sardonyx, which had a combination of white, yellow with reddish and even brown hues, and Arabic, which was dominated by blue-black and bluish hues.

Where do cameos come from? - From Alexandria. The city, which was founded in 322 BC. e. Alexander the Great. It was here, at the mouth of the Nile River, that the skillful hands of Greek craftsmen made the great masterpieces of glyptics - a cameo with portraits of Ptolemy II and Arsinoe, the famous "Farnese Cup", "Ptolemy's Cup" and many others.

And after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, new minerals, diverse in color and brightness, began to be used in the manufacture of gems. Intaglios were more often used as seals, and cameos became a luxury item. They were inserted into rings, diadems, crowns, decorated the clothes of kings, priests and nobility. Furniture, musical instruments, caskets and other expensive utensils began to be decorated with expensive oriental minerals. The products that have survived to this day, created by craftsmen on orders from the mighty of this world, amaze with their beauty and delicate artistic taste.

In ancient art, masters of glyptics were held in high esteem. Many kings of Hellas had their own court stone carvers. Many of the nobility collected carved stones. For example, King Mithridates Eupator had a huge collection, which was very famous.

Cameo carving is not an easy task, it required not only patience and great skill, but also the ability to see the original beauty in the stone, which only a brilliant master can reproduce. How great the labor of carving cameos can be explained. After all, the master worked and created images almost blindly, since many, such as agate, are quite hard, harder than metal, and in order to cut them, you need not a metal cutter, but abrasives, for example, “Naxos stone”, corundum powder, diamond dust . And when the master turned the image, the abrasive powder mixed with water and oil covered the drawing.

It took years of continuous labor to make one cameo. And besides this, it was necessary to predict in advance, to see through the thickness of the mineral how its layers alternate, because they do not just go in parallel, they bend, do not match, change thickness - all this can destroy the intended image. Therefore, a person with selfless love for beauty, with virtuoso skill, could do it. And the image was born slowly. However, the carvers were able to reproduce many ancient paintings in stone - they turned out to be original galleries of painting in miniature. Some of the cameos are copies of lost forever paintings by great artists - painters. The strength of the stone ensured the durability of the lost. The masterpieces of architecture and sculpture are gone forever, the paintings of ancient painters have disappeared without a trace, and the ancient gems silently keep the beauty and secrets of bygone times.

The first gems in Russia began to be collected by Catherine II, who was seriously passionate about this occupation. And somehow, in a letter to one of the French enlighteners, she writes: “My small collection of carved stones is such that yesterday four people could hardly carry two baskets with boxes, which contained barely half of the collection; in order to avoid misunderstanding, know that these were the baskets in which we carry firewood in winter. Access to the collection was limited, not many people could see it. During the reign of Catherine II, up to 10,000 gems were collected.

Then the collection of the Hermitage continued to be replenished from the collections of the Russian nobility until 1917. And now the collection is growing. Not only archaeological expeditions contribute to this, but well-known collections of gems from mineral scientists are also transferred. For example, the collection of the famous Soviet mineralogist G.G. Lemlein added more than 260 ancient gems to the Hermitage in 1964. It should be noted separately the world-famous cameo, which is in the collection of the Hermitage, the Gonzago cameo, which appeared in Russia in 1814. The cameo was presented to Alexander I by Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's ex-wife. In 1542, the name of the owner of this cameo was mentioned for the first time - the Duke of Mantua Gonzago. After the defeat of Mantua by Austria, the cameo began to travel. For four hundred years it has changed its owners seven times. Now it is in the Hermitage.

The cameo was created by an unknown master in the 3rd century. BC. in Alexandria. It depicts Ptolemy II and his wife Arsinoe. Depicting Ptolemy, the master emphasized his resemblance to Alexander the Great. On his shoulder is the aegis of Zeus, the helmet of the monarch clearly repeats the helmet of the god Ares. On the heads of the rulers are laurel wreaths as a symbol of deification. Cameo Gonzago is a fine example of painting on stone. The master superbly and masterfully used all the layers of the stone. The profile of Ptolemy II seems to be highlighted in bright light, while the profile of Arsinoe is visible in the shadow of a bluish tint. The topmost brown layer has a helmet, hair, and aegis carved into it, while lighter inclusions in this layer are used to create the heads of Medusa and Phobos decorating the aegis. And that is not all. By changing the polish, the master gives the stone either bodily warmth or metallic luster.

Many antique cameos are distinguished by refinement and sophistication; mythological scenes can often be found on them. The extraordinary skill of the carvers is striking - their ability to depict complex multi-figure compositions, find the right rhythm of the drawing and give dynamism to miniature scenes. In addition to monarchs, copies of paintings by painters and mythological scenes, cameos depict the heroism of themes and the pathos of images. The Goddess of Victory is a favorite character in glyptic.

The culture of Ancient Hellas was also adopted by Rome. With the fall of the Ptolemaic kingdom (30 BC), the last power of Hellenism, many Greek masters gave their talent to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. A new style is born. Two-color reliefs are already preferred - white silhouettes on a dark background. Glyptics is becoming more and more dry, graphic and planar.

Epochs change, attitudes towards beauty change, sometimes cameos begin to be remade, as if reinterpreting the plots, subordinating them to the spirit of the times.

Cameos are not only beautiful works of art, but also a rich source of information about the material and spiritual culture of bygone times. The ancient world reached the highest peaks in the field of art, therefore, in subsequent eras, especially in the field of glyptics, many masters remained at the mercy of this beauty and perfection, and their gems are imitations or copies of those that personified the ideal of painting in stone.

What cameos in our modern world? Is there a place for them in jewelry?

Certainly there is. And recently, cameos have become especially popular. Today, as in the Victorian era, cameos adorn brooches, pendants, hair clips, and rings. Masters choose subjects not only antique, but also modern. There is also the watch company Breguet, which uses this technique, for example, in its Reine de Naples watches. The Reine de Naples watch was created by Abraham-Louis Breguet for the Queen of Naples, Caroline Bonaparte-Murat. She was the younger sister of Napoleon I and the wife of his marshal Murat.

Since this watch did not survive, its design was restored according to the descriptions found in the company's archives. Almost 10 years ago, the clock of the "Queen of Naples" began to count the time again. And then many more variants of this watch appeared, but the first model in the form of a cameo-chamomile appeared in 2008. And now, on the eve of the bicentenary of the model, the Breguet brand has released unique versions of watches especially for Russia. Watches with cameos appeared, where Peter I is on horseback, the profile of A.S. Pushkin, the image of George the Victorious. Bas-relief of a sea shell in the upper part of the dial, the bezel of the case is decorated with diamonds, the back case is made of sapphire glass. All listed watches are created in one copy.

And so, cameos are popular again and are a must-have item in the jewelry wardrobe. They combined the beauty of oriental minerals with the high genius of Hellas, the beauty of Man and Nature.

Miniature carved stones and shells with relief images of female and male figures, as well as various allegorical paintings, military scenes, animals and birds are called gems. A carved stone with an in-depth image is called an intaglio, with a convex one - a cameo.

Gems made on gems and colored stones have survived to our times in excellent condition, surviving the temples, palaces, sculptures and other monuments of art created at the same time.

Glyptics is the art of miniature carving on colored stones and gems (the name comes from the Greek word glypto - I cut out), glyptics has been familiar to people since ancient times.

The oldest known gems are the intaglios of Egypt and Mesopotamia, made at a high technical and artistic level, dating back to the 4th millennium BC. e.

Multicolor cameos

At the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd c. BC e. cameos appear. These are convex relief multicolored carved stones, most often carved on sardonyx, a multi-layered agate consisting of alternating white and brown stripes. The master uses the multi-layered stone in his work.

The multi-colored cameos were an innovation that distinguished them from the traditional one-color intaglios and the few convex gems of Ancient Egypt. In their work, the carvers achieved interesting pictorial effects and enhanced the relief of stones, skillfully using the different colors of the layers of sardonyx, combining contrasting bright colors or creating gradual transitions from black through various shades of brown to bluish-gray and white. Such works amaze with their skillful execution and artistic taste.

Carved stones - seals

Carved stones were originally used as amulets and ornaments, then sacred stones with images and symbols turned into emblems of their owner, especially in the distant past, where he played a special role. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, people did not know locks and keys. In all cases they used seals. Seals were placed on letters, official and private documents, on caskets with property, vessels with food products, amphoras with wine and oil, on the external and internal doors of houses. The doors of the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs were also sealed.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were already familiar with locks and keys, but the custom of sealing was nevertheless preserved. And in those days there were cases of violation of the right of personal property, so Solon's code of laws included forbidding carvers to keep prints of the seals they have carved . This was a measure aimed at eliminating counterfeiting and abuse of seals.

Gems as works of art

Gems in the ancient world won love as works of art.

Pliny the Elder wrote about the musician Ismenius, who had agents who followed the market and bought gems in all the surroundings and even in remote Cyprus. He did not spare money, he was only afraid of rivals, connoisseurs of carved stone like him.

Many Hellenistic kings patronized Glyptics:

Antique carved stones - gems - are not only beautiful as works of art, but also serve as a source of knowledge about the ancient world and its culture. They depict copies of statues and paintings famous in antiquity, the originals of which in many cases have not been preserved and have not survived to our times, but they can be restored from images on gems.

The gems also reflect the life of ancient society: scenes of hunting and war, rich and poor, barbarians and Greeks, athletes and actors, poultry and animals. Of particular interest are portraits of famous statesmen, artists and writers.

The seals also depicted the gods, those whom they considered their patrons - Aphrodite, Hermes, Nike, Eros. Images of state gods - Zeus, Demeter, Apollo and others, are rare.

Cameos as luxury items

Unlike intaglios, cameos were luxury goods and had no practical value.

At the courts of the Hellenistic kings, who were distinguished by wealth and splendor, began to emerge and develop a new, more complex type of glyptics. The technique of carving on hard stone has also become more perfect.

Cameos were then mainly an accessory of the women's toilet. They were inserted into brooches, medallions, pendants, rings, strung into necklaces.

superstition

A lot of superstitions were associated with many gems. This was especially pronounced in the works of glyptics of the last centuries of the Roman Empire, when the pagan religion was replaced by Christianity. At this time, the carved stone becomes an amulet.

The collection of gems of the Hermitage contains a carved sardonyx. On one side, a figure of a flying Perseus is carved, holding the head of a medusa in one hand, and a sword in the other hand. On the reverse side of the gem is an inscription in Greek: Flee the gout - Perseus is chasing you. Today it seems funny. :-)

Gems in the East

In the East, gems also played an important role in people's lives. So, in Iran under the Sassanids, the Shah granted his courtier, upon approval in a military, civil, priestly position, the regalia of the future power:

hat,
ring with print.

The personal seal of the courtier was obligatory on business papers, letters, orders and orders.

On service seals, a portrait of a priest or nobleman with all his regalia was often carved.

Rings in history

Arab and Persian historians loved to describe the rings in detail. It was believed that the colored gems inserted into them had mystical power and could influence the fate of people.

Damage to the stone was considered a bad sign.

The importance of the ring for an enlightened Persian can be judged from excerpts from an 11th-century work. Nouruzname (The Book of the New Year) given in the book by A.Ya. Borisov and V.G. Lukonina Sassanian gems. L., ed. State. Hermitage Museum, 1963: The ring is a very good decoration, and on the finger it is appropriate.

The nobles say: it is not a man who does not have a ring ... A nobleman's letter without a seal is from weakness of mind and impure thoughts, and a treasury without a seal is from neglect and carelessness.

Stone carving craftsmanship

From the ancient master carving on hard stone required extraordinary diligence and skill. With the help of a knife and a drill, seals were cut out by hand in Ancient Egypt, Crete and Mesopotamia.

From the YI century BC. e. the stone began to be processed on a special machine, which was set in motion by a bow.

Agate, like most of the minerals used in glyptic, is harder than steel, so the stone was cut with a metal cutter using an abrasive. For many centuries, emery from the island of Naxos in the Aegean served as such an abrasive. And only after the campaign of Alexander the Great in India, the Greeks began to use a diamond saw and diamond dust. I had to cut blindly, not seeing the stone. Under an opaque layer of oil and diamond dust, one could miss an important feature in the decorative or structure of the stone. Magnifying glass was not yet known. But the ancient masters created, despite the enormous difficulties and primitive technique, beautiful works of art.

The carver spent months and even years of hard work on creating just one cameo.

Glyptics scholars say that it took about the same time to make a large cameo as to build a cathedral!!

Middle Ages

In medieval Europe, glyptics fell into complete decline. Its new rise began in the Renaissance in Italy and soon spread throughout Europe.

The heyday of glyptics lasted from the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century. At this time, many lovers of carved stone appeared.

At that time, crowned persons, aristocrats, scientists, and artists were engaged in collecting gems. Those who could not buy gems collected at least casts from them.

The appearance of outstanding gems on the market was an important event. For example, about the purchase of a wonderful antique cameo by Catherine II from the widow of the German artist Anton Raphael Mengs spoke in Rome for several years. Goethe, while living in Rome, also became interested in collecting gems. Leaving for Germany, he acquired a collection of casts from the best antique gems and said that this was the most valuable of all that could be taken away from Rome.

The huge demand for gems led to the fact that skilled carvers enjoyed extraordinary popularity and demand, they felt independently even among the crowned persons. The behavior of the Italian carver of the early 19th century is characteristic. Benedetto Petrucci in the palace of the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, sister of Napoleon I, who ordered him a cameo depicting members of her family.

Petrucci was summoned to Florence to the court of the duchess. I,” he wrote, “found the duchess and her little daughter sitting at the table at breakfast. The whole court was present while standing. As soon as the duchess saw me, she tilted her head in my direction, and one of the chamberlains told me that I could begin. I was not yet accustomed to the court, and therefore I took a chair that stood next to the duchess, on which her poodle lay. Paying no attention to him, I overturned the chair and knocked the dog to the floor. The unfortunate animal, unaccustomed to such treatment, began to bark, after which the duchess darted at me a look full of anger, and a whisper ran through the hall. But he pretended not to understand anything, sat down and set to work on the portrait. The courtiers - the French and Italians - surrounded me so closely that I had almost no opportunity to work. I soon shaped the wax, and Marquis X, President of the Academy and chamberlain, approaching the Duchess, told her that this was the first time he had seen such a resemblance. She forgot the offense I had done to her dog and graciously wished to see my model. She laughed and asked the ladies if they really found a resemblance, and after an affirmative answer, she told me: Come tomorrow - I will give you another session.

I will order that you be given accommodation in my palace and that you have nothing to lack.

Petruchio made wax models and then carved portraits of the duchess, her daughter, and husband into stones. After completion, he received numerous commissions for portraits from courtiers, but the Duchess, wanting Petrucci to work for her, allowed only a cameo of the Spanish ambassador's daughter to be carved.

The above episode is described by M.I. Maximova in the book Carved XYIII and XX centuries.

Gemma is an example of miniature carving on colored stones and gems - glyptics. This type of art appeared in ancient times. Thanks to the materials used, many rarities have come down to us in complete safety. A gem with an in-depth image is called "intaglia", with a convex one - "cameo".

The images that the carvers applied to the stones could be very different. Most often these were images of figures of women and men, animals, birds, military scenes or allegorical paintings.

Their most ancient samples appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The oldest gem with an in-depth image dates back to the 4th millennium BC. e. The first cameos appeared at the end of the 4th-beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. Most often they were carved on sardonyx or multi-layered agate, where white and brown stripes alternate, which the craftsmen skillfully used in their work. The resulting multicolor pattern distinguished the cameos from the Egyptian intaglios.

Initially, gems were used as amulets or jewelry. Gradually, they began to depict the emblems of the owners. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, the gem with an in-depth image began to be used instead of printing, which was not only applied to papers. She was marked with the doors of the dwelling, chests with property, amphorae with wine, since the locks and keys were not known. The Greeks and Romans applied gems only to documents. Moreover, in the vault there was a prohibition for carvers to leave prints from the made seals so that they would not be forged.

Gems are beautiful works of art, they have preserved knowledge about the culture of the ancient world. Often they depicted copies of famous paintings and sculptures, many of which have not reached us. Only intaglios and cameos have preserved the idea of them. Antique gems depicted patron gods, athletes, actors, scenes of hunting, war and peaceful life, portraits of public figures, artists and writers.

The intaglio was a collector's item already in the ancient world. A cameo, that is, a gem with a convex image, was considered only a luxury item. As a rule, these were women's jewelry: brooches, pendants, rings, whole necklaces were assembled from them. Gradually improved carving technique. Many gems were real amulets. This was especially common in the last centuries of the Roman Empire, when the pagan religion was replaced by Christianity.

Gems were also valued in the East, they played a big role in public life. In Iran, the shah, approving a courtier for a military, civil or priestly position, favored the regalia of power: a belt, a hat and a ring with a seal, which was necessarily put on business papers, orders and letters.

Persian and Arab historians have often described these rings in detail. It was believed that a gem with an in-depth image could have mystical power and be able to change destinies. It was a very bad sign to break or simply damage the stone.

In the Middle Ages, glyptics fell into decline, its further heyday fell on the Renaissance and continued until the middle of the 19th century. But even today, a convex gemma can be used as an elegant feminine adornment.

The word "glyptic" came into Russian from Greek. In literal translation, it means - "hollow out" or "cut out." Thus, the art of glyptics involves carving on ornamental, semi-precious and.

Glyptic is one of the oldest types of decorative and applied art, which required special knowledge and a high level of performance from the masters. Minerals with images carved on them are called gems. They have long been used as jewelry, seals, as well as talismans and amulets.

Types of gems

There are two types of gems, which differ in the features of the technique of execution:

Intaglio— gems with an in-depth image.

- precious or semi-precious stones with a convex, relief image.

The difference between intaglios and cameos lies in the fact that intaglios turn out to be monophonic, while cameos are multi-colored and colorful. Both those and other types of gems have been used since ancient times for the manufacture of seals, jewelry, as well as decorative details for.

Features of making gems

Intaglios and cameos are made both on soft types of stones and on minerals of a high degree of hardness. All types of stones were processed manually or using simple machines with rotating cutters. Among the soft types of stones are the following, which are the most popular among craftsmen:

Steatite- this mineral, in fact, is a kind of dense talc. Steatite also has many other names: wax stone, ice stone, soapstone, tulikivi (which means "hot stone" in Finnish), soapstone and wen.

Steatite seals - intaglio

Hematite is a widespread mineral of iron, one of the most important iron ores. Translated from the Greek, the name of the mineral means "blood-red". In the common people, hematite is called red iron ore.

Brooch "Mirror cameo" on hematite

Serpentine is the scientific name for the mineral popularly known as serpentine. A similar name was given to the stone for the fact that its color options are similar to the colors of snake skin.

Cameo - pendant "Tulips" from solid serpentine

To create intaglios and cameos, ancient craftsmen did not need too sophisticated equipment. It was enough to have a set of strong cutters, a special machine and some types of abrasive substances that were used to apply an image to very hard types of minerals, among which are the following:

Agate- is one of the varieties of quartz, and is a mineral with a banded color, which is often formed into a pattern in the form of an eye. Agate makes very beautiful jewelry.

Cameo - pendant "Goldfish" from solid agate

Cornelian- is one of the varieties of chalcedony. The mineral can be orange, yellow-brown, bright yellow, orange-red and pink-red.

Carnelian cameo "The Enchanted Castle"

Pomegranate - belongs to the group of minerals and is a transparent, very beautiful stones of dark and blood-red color - almadins and pyropes.

Chalcedony- is one of the varieties of quartz. A translucent mineral can be painted in different colors, and each mineral is called in its own way: red - carnelian, brown - red - sard, greenish - chrysoprase, blue - sapphirine, matte dark green with red stripes - heliotrope.

Rhinestone- is pure silicon dioxide of natural origin. Due to the absolute transparency and high decorative properties of the mineral, it has long been used for the production of jewelry and luxury goods. At present, for the manufacture of cameos and intaglios, ordinary, artificial crystal or specially processed glass can also be used.

Sardonyx- is a variety of the well-known onyx mineral. Sardonyx is characterized by coloration with alternating layers of reddish-brown and white.

To work with these minerals, abrasives were used because the usual metal tool was not suitable for processing them, since it could not even scratch their surfaces.

In addition, cameos and intaglios can be made on ivory, processed glass or marble.

Cameo "Girl" on marble

Thus, glyptic is the art of carving precious, semi-precious and ornamental stones. This is one of the oldest types of art, which originates from ancient times.

Many samples of relief images on minerals have survived to this day, because the exceptional strength of the material made them truly eternal works of art, on which time has practically no destructive effect.

Intalia "Charm"

It was quite difficult to make intaglios in the form of seals, because the plot or drawing depicted on them had to appear in reverse, mirror form. In addition, the products were, as a rule, very small in size, so the master could be engaged in the manufacture of one intaglio for a long time.

Glyptics of ancient times

The skill of stone carving was already known to the Egyptians and Assyrians. The gems of Ancient Egypt, Sumer, Babylon and Assyria amaze with their grace and extraordinary beauty.

The oldest works of glyptics, created in Mesopotamia and Egypt, date back to the 4th millennium BC, which indicates a high level of development of crafts in these states. These were mainly seals - intaglios, the prints of which are compositions on mythical themes.

Older works of glyptics are also known. These are the famous gems of Urartu, created in the 9th-7th centuries BC. Iranian gems are also known, the manufacture of which dates back to the 6th-5th centuries BC.

The seals of ancient Egypt usually took the form of a sacred beetle - a scarab. Hieroglyphs or images of mythical characters were carved on their underside. But on the gems of Crete (III - II millennium BC), portrait images of people first appeared.

The art of glyptics reached its heyday in ancient Greece and ancient Rome. It was here that unique samples of products from precious and semiprecious stones were created, which today amaze with their elegance and subtlety of work.

Greek gems often had the form of scarabs borrowed from Egypt. In the 5th - 4th centuries BC, forms of ancient glyptics developed, which are commonly called classical. The gems of that time depicted figures of gods and heroes, animals and birds, as well as popular scenes from mythology.

Until the 4th century BC, the production of intaglios was widespread - a kind of gems that gave convex mirror images on prints in soft wax or plastic clay.

And only the ancient Greek masters first mastered the art of making carved relief cameos, which became real works of painting in stone. In the Hellenistic era, the art of glyptics flourished not only in the mainland of the ancient Greek state, but also on individual islands - Cyprus, Samos, Chios, Melos, as well as in Ionian cities. Skillfully made by Greek stone carvers, beautiful cameos were primarily used as jewelry.

During this period, cameos made of multi-layered semi-precious stone sardonyx came into fashion. These products often reached considerable sizes. Therefore, such paintings in stone could well be used to decorate residential premises.

At the palaces of monarchs, portrait glyptics became extremely popular, some examples of which have survived to this day and have gained worldwide fame. Among them is a cameo depicting the ruler of Egypt - King Ptolemy II.

Also widely known throughout the world "Gonzaga Cameo", on which relief images of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his wife Arsinoe II were applied. This work of carved art was made in the III century BC. To date, the cameo is kept in Russia, in the Hermitage museum collection. The Gonzaga cameo is made of three-layer sardonyx and represents a paired portrait of the royal spouses, who were brother and sister in origin.

Of great interest for its artistic performance is the cameo of Emperor Constantine, made of sardonyx in the 4th century AD. To date, this unique work is in the museum exposition of the Hermitage.

The subjects of the plots depicted by the most ancient masters are diverse and cover various spheres of life. In intaglios and cameos one can see the reflection of the spiritual and material world of our ancestors, their religious beliefs, the development of culture and major political events, as well as images of famous people of that time.

The beautiful image of the great commander Alexander the Great is also captured in a cameo of amazing beauty. At the moment, a unique product is in the Paris Cabinet of Medals.

Famous masters of the art of glyptics

Almost every historical period had its own wonderful masters of glyptics. The famous Greeks Agathop, Solon and Dioscurides worked in ancient Rome. In the Middle Ages, the art of glyptics developed in Byzantium, the Middle East and China.

In Western Europe, glyptics revived during the Renaissance, in which the leading role belonged to Italian masters. Among them are Bellini, Jacopo da Trezzo, who not only copied antique samples, but also created portraits of their contemporaries.

The last flowering of the art of glyptics was observed in the period from the 18th to the beginning of the 19th centuries, in the era of classicism. At that time, everyone was talking about the skill of the Italian carvers Pichlers. In Germany there was the famous carver Natter, and in France - Jacques Huet.

In Russia, the most famous carvers of this time were Esakov, Shilov and Dobrokhotov. In the 19th century, the art of glyptics again fell into decline, although people continued to admire and admire the works of ancient masters.

However, the 21st century has made its own adjustments, and carving on precious stones has again become a popular art form. In particular, cameos and intaglios are very popular in jewelry these days.

Modern stone carvers in their art are in no way inferior to the ancient masters - on the contrary, many modern tools and technologies have appeared in their arsenal, which greatly facilitate the process of stone processing and applying the most delicate and elegant images to it.