Contemporary artists continually push the boundaries of typical cameo conventions to help keep the craft alive.
What is a Cameo?
The earliest cameos took inspiration from prehistoricpetroglyphs, which documented important religious and symbolic iconography onto rock faces.
A 1913 photograph of Judge Mary Margaret Bartelme wearing a cameo brooch (Photo:Wikimedia Commons[Public Domain])
An Ancient cameo depicting the Roman god Jupiter (Photo:Wikimedia Commons[Public Domain])
A 16th century cameo brooch of the Queen of Poland in the MET’s collection (Photo:Wikimedia Commons[Public Domain])
An 18th Century cameo brooch from the MET’s collections (Photo:Wikimedia Commons[Public Domain])
