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La Traviata Cameo Size: Overall with frame: 2 - 5/16 by 1 - 7/8 inches Cameo only: 2-1/8 by 1-5/8 inches Material Cameo: Shell Frame: 11.5 grams of 18 k gold Date: 1850's Origin: France Condition: This is an exceptionally appealing 3/4 frontal figure of a young lady of fashion posed against a background composed of a balustrade, an urn with flowers and a pillar. This is an exceptionally appealing 3/4 frontal figure of a young lady of fashion posed against a background composed of a balustrade, an urn with flowers and a pillar.She is wearing evening dress in a style often shown in Winterhalter paintings of the late 1840's, with a pointed-waist bodice over a wide crinoline skirt. Her decolletage is enlivened with a lace flounce and there are more flounces, tied with bows, on her sleeves. The lady is gloved and bejewelled, her jewellry consisting of a bracelet on each arm, a wreath of pearls on her head and a brooch on her bosom (thus, interestingly, a brooch within a brooch.) The composition is well-balanced, with excellent proportion. The face, hair and hands are finely detailed and the face is demurely pretty. Her hair is worn in a medieval-revival plait, a hairstyle made popular by Queen Victoria after she was painted and sculpted in the 1840's wearing a similar coiffure. |
| It is the delicate carving of the garments, however, which is truly remarkable. A master hand has carved the shell to convey that the lady is dressed in silk and lace; the fabric, particularly the flouncing, is rendered with lovely fluidity and a sense of the fragility of the lace. There is even, extraordinarily, a suggestion of the whalebones in the bodice. The lady holds a nosegay in her hands, suggesting the trademark bouquet of camellias carried by Marie Duplessis, who died of consumption aged 23 in 1847, and who was the inspiration for Marguerite Gautier, the tragic heroine of La Dame aux camellias by Dumas fils and, later, for Violetta Valery in Verdi's La Traviata. The period garments, the charm and youthfulness of the girl in the cameo, and the nosegay all go to indicate that the cameo may well be a representation of the celebrated courtesan and thus it is dubbed "La Traviata". The cameo is carved from shell, is in excellent condition with no cracks or obvious wearing to the fine details. The frame, of recent manufacture, is of 11.5 grams of 19K gold and has a C-clasp. There is no pendant bale. Mid-nineteenth century cameos depicting the costume of the day are exceedingly uncommon, as the vast majority are on neoclassical themes. This is, therefore, a rare and desirable piece, of museum quality, with a retail value of $1500. |
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