cameo

pic source:diluca1929.it

I was surprised to read today, in an "Oxford Mini School Dictionary", the definition of "cameo" (also called "cammeo")
as follows: "a small hard piece of stone carved with a raised design".
It is true that the origin of the cameo carving starts something like 323 a.C. on stone (onyx and other layered stones), but there is an important jewellery production which is much more recent and definitely very well known which is carved on a handful of types of shells from the "Cassis" family, since they present layers of different colours, ideal for bringing out profiles in carving.
So therefore I believe it would hardly be out of place to mention "shell" as well as "stone" in the definition...

 

This is true my dear friend ... and they are beautiful examples you have put up. I have several antique pieces of jewellry, including marquesite (sp?), ivory (my mother's) and jade .... but sadly not a Cameo.

 

In the sixties when I was a kid we had a holiday in Sorrento.
I vaguely remember going to a factory where they were carving cameos out of shells, cant remember exactly where it was but it was somewhere around the Naples area I think.
Remember my sister buying a small one on a ring for just a couple of thousand lire.

I was pretty young at the time but found it quite impressive.

 

Good for you Pete. A holiday to Sorento. In the 60's I thought the only people who went to Sorento were film stars. But maybe you were :wink:

Cameo ? well the English language changes and moves on. In some ways I learned English as a second language.
I look at the definition you have put up Miraflores - a small hard piece of stone.
That's correct, but I think now we also think a cameo is a small snapshot in time. Something which just captures that moment.
Any other thoughts ?

 

It can also mean a small or bit performance in a play or film - a 'cameo performance'.

 

if I remember rightly it was £52 per person per fortnight all in.

Not exactly film star stuff, but it was fun.

My Dad was returning to some old haunts from WW2

 

We also went on holiday to Sorrento on a school trip I believe around '78 and I remember the local boys speaking English so fluently!
I have been to Napoli a few years ago, and I so look forward to go there again if anything to eat those "seafood spaghetti" which were unforgettable...
nice, Pete.

 

Well I was still at school at the time but my Mother worked and most of what she earned went on the annual holiday, it was saved all year.

When I started work in 1970, I also was only getting £4 a week.:lollol: