THE HIGHLANDER AND HIS LADY-LOVE Date: The cameo dates to ca 1850 -1860. The frame is of 20th-century manufacture. Size: 2 by 1.5 inches Materials: Shell cameo set in an 18k gold frame. The frame has a tube clasp on the back. There is no pendant bale. Origin: Italy Condition: Excellent. There are no cracks, chips or other surface damage to the cameo. The flanges of the frame are unscratched and undented. The cameo is an outdoor scene of a man and a woman seated on the bank of a loch in Scotland. Small waves lap the surface of the loch. Rising from its far shore is a tree-covered mountain shaped like a sugarloaf. The terrain near the figures is rich with vegetation, including grass, moss, ferns and small flowers resembling thistles. The man sits at the woman's feet, resting his elbow on her knee. He wears a full beard and moustache. It is his clothing which identifies this as a Highland scene: he is clad in a tartan kilt and a short jacket. A tartan sash crosses over his left shoulder and billows behind him in a breeze. The artisan has carved the shell into a marvelous representation of plaid. The man is shod, his footwear resembling soft dancing shoes rather than ghillie brogues. He wears hose without flashes ending just below the knee. He has no bonnet. Between his bare knees he holds his sword. It is no slender ceremonial sword of the type worn with court dress, but battle weapon, a claymore. He looks like a hearty soldier, ready to spring up and ride to war at a moment's notice. The expression on his face is not fierce, however, and as he listens to the lady's song he seems lost in reverie.   The animal head at the man's waist appears initially to be a fox-head (the correct term is fox-mask) sporran, a type of sporran popularly worn with hunting tartan in the past and still occasionally seen today. Close examination, however, reveals the paws, body and tail of the animal curled up on the man's lap, apparently meant to be a pet. The presence of the fox, an animal impossible to tame and, moreover, a species of vermin hunted for sport, is problematical. Almost certainly it is a misapprehension on the part of the carver, a means of making sense of a puzzle. The common practice was to copy designs for cameos from mezzotints and likely the man in the print which inspired this cameo sported a fox-mask sporran. A cameo artisan in a small Italian village in the 19th century, unfamiliar with the niceties of Highland garb, would have been mystified by this curious accessory. By carving an entire fox, he transforms what he perceives as an absurd disembodied head into a pet nestled on the man's lap. The woman plucks a harp. She is young and lovely with large, expressive eyes and a pretty mouth parted in song. The hair on her slightly tilted head is becomingly arranged in ringlets. She is a lady of high station, sumptuously clothed in the style of the late 16th century. She wears a dramatic goffered ruff and a corset-like bodice of the type known as a plastron front. Her overdress, called a mantua, opens to reveal an underskirt embellished with a pattern of vertical pleats. Tiny pointed shoes peep out from under her skirt. The heavy, quilted cowl sleeve of her mantua falls back to show a graceful forearm. She wears a bracelet and a necklace. The delicate rendering of the garments is remarkable. A master hand has carved this cameo to convey that the lady is dressed in damask and silk. The dress falls in graceful, natural-looking folds and the fabric has a lovely fluidity, an effect very difficult to achieve in shell. At first glance, the scene appears to be an allegory of a writer and his muse, but identifying the writer has so far eluded all attempts. Of the best-known Scottish writers, Scott, Burns, Barrie and Stevenson, the latter two are eliminated as the cameo dates to mid-century, close to the time of Stevenson's birth in 1850, and probably pre-dating Barrie's birth in 1860. The man in the cameo, full-bearded as he is, cannot be Scott or Burns as both were clean-shaven. A likelier possibility is that this represents Lucia and Edgardo, the lovers from Donizetti's opera Lucia Di Lammermoor, which is based on a Walter Scott novel and set in the Highlands. If the lady in the cameo is meant to be Lucia then the harp she plucks is a flight of fancy, as in the course of the opera Lucia does not play the instrument. A harp interlude is, however, played during Act One. The lady's dress is consistent with the period of the opera. In the cameo a light wind flutters the man's sash and ruffles the lady's hair. Perhaps the scene illustrates the duet between the lovers, "Verranno a te sull'aure" ("Borne by gentle breezes"). The shell is superior quality, thick but beautifully translucent. The flanged gold bezel is artfully designed to make the most of this. Instead of enclosing the shell and blocking light as a heavier frame would do, its open design allows light into the cameo so that the translucency is apparent. This is a large cameo of delightful design and masterly execution, the carving rich with detail. The Highland motif is exceedingly rare. It has a retail value of $2,200.00. Appraisal Copyright 2001 by Corrie Tapp