Below are some examples and price guides of cameo jewelry and glass depicting grapes including a shell cameo necklace and a lava cameo brooch.

SHELL CAMEO NECKLACE, CIRCA 1820-1830
Ten graduating shell plaques, each carved to depict a mythological scene, including Psyche and Eros, Terpsichore with her lyre, and Eros holding a bunch of grapes, mounted in gold, length 44.7cm, fitted case

Sold for £4,096 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2023

Legras cameo enamel vase, wild grape vine

Cascading the rim about a water flow textured backdrop. 10 1/2”T. Cameo signature. Enameled France below the base. Very good condition.

Sold for US$150 at Forsythes’ Auctions, LLC in 2024

HIGHLY UNUSUAL 3-TIER CARVED HARD STONE CAMEO BROOCH, High carat gold.depicting the bust of a Bacchanta maiden with vines and grapes in her hair. The back indistinct signed. L. cameo 3.7 cm. L. brooch 4.6 cm. 19.8 grams.Fitted case.

Sold for $504 (includes buyer’s premium) at Doyle in 2022

Tall Galle French cameo glass vase in a fire polished finish with dark amber grapes set against a frost and yellow ground, signed in cameo Galle, 14 1/2″ ht. CONDITION: no chips, cracks, repairs or material defects found. Jaremos attempts to call any materal flaw that affects the price, but minor scratches and color variances are inherent to glass and antiques.

Sold for US$700 at Jaremos in 2023

Lava cameo brooch. Female figure with grapes and vines. Frame tests 14k. 1-3/4″ wide x 2″ high. Hairline crack to back.

Sold for US$120 at Cordier Auctions in 2023

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Below are some examples and price guides of cameo glass items depicting tulips including a Galle vase and a Tiffany Studios vase.

Gallé
Large tulip vase, 1920-1936
Cameo glass.
51cm high
Signed in cameo Gallé.

Sold for £3,187.50 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2022

An Art Nouveau antique style table lamp, produced in the style of Emile Galle. Matte cameo glass in light green, yellow, and white with tulip flower relief. Bears raised pseudo makers mark on shade.

Sold for US$275 at Hill Auction Gallery in 2023

Tiffany Studios
Cameo vase with tulip petals

USA, c. 1906
hand-blown and wheel-carved Favrile glass
4.75 h x 3.75 dia in (12 x 10 cm)

Etched signature and number to underside ‘L.C. Tiffany – Favrile 4194 A’.

Sold for US$3,800 at Rago Arts and Auction Center in 2023

Daum Nancy textured yellow to orange mottled glass decorated with gilt highlighted stemmed red tulips, signed Daum Nancy, 5 1/2″ ht.

Sold for US$1,900 at Jaremos in 2022

Emile Galle
(French, 1846€“1904)
Tulip Vase, c. 1920-30s
acid-etched cameo glass
signed in cameo
H 17 3/4 x Diameter 5 inches.

Sold for US$1,100 at Hindman in 2022

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Information on Socrates and Socrates cameos. Socrates, 470/69-399 BC, is credited as the father of modern Western philosophy. He was an Athenian citizen who devoted his life to philosophy but because he did not write anything, he is also an elusive historical figure. What we know about his life, his conversations, his beliefs (virtue in knowledge, self-awareness, etc), even his satyr-like looks, is from the subjective writings of his pupils Plato and Xenophon and the dramatist Aristophanes. Surviving classical portraits were probably rendered after his death. His image was worn by his followers and was later a popular subject in Roman, Renaissance and neo-Classical cameos whereby the wearer demonstrated his taste and refinement by his knowledge of ancient Greek culture. Reference: Bonhams

His method of enquiry was to enter into a penetrating discussion with his companions, questioning the nature of knowledge itself in pursuit of absolute truths. Socrates himself wrote nothing, but versions of his conversations are recorded in the written works of his pupils Plato and Xenophon. Socrates’ pursuit of true knowledge brought him into conflict with the piety laws of his native Athens, where his eventual prosecution led to enforced suicide by drinking hemlock. Reference: The British Museum

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Information on Alexander the Great cameos and intaglios. Alexander the Great was the ruler of Macedon 336 BC-323 BC. He conquered the Persian Empire (c.333 BC) and Egypt (332 BC) and extended the borders of his empire as far as India. He was known in Iran and India as Iskandar. Reference: The British Museum

Alexander the Great’s accomplishments and legacy have been depicted in many cultures. Alexander has figured in both high and popular culture beginning in his own era to the present day. The Alexander Romance, in particular, has had a significant impact on portrayals of Alexander in later cultures, from Persian to medieval European to modern Greek.

Alexander features prominently in modern Greek folklore, more so than any other ancient figure. The colloquial form of his name in modern Greek (“O Megalexandros”) is a household name, and he is the only ancient hero to appear in the Karagiozis shadow play. One well-known fable among Greek seamen involves a solitary mermaid who would grasp a ship’s prow during a storm and ask the captain “Is King Alexander alive?” The correct answer is “He is alive and well and rules the world!” causing the mermaid to vanish and the sea to calm. Any other answer would cause the mermaid to turn into a raging Gorgon who would drag the ship to the bottom of the sea, all hands aboard. Reference: Wikipedia

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Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. The Romans did not stress her relation to battle and warfare as the Greeks did. From the second century BC onward, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena. Reference: Wikipedia.

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Cameos have often depicted the Virgin and Child, especially throughout the Roman Catholic religion. Tender images of the Virgin Mary with her son are among the most beloved in Christian art. Even early images from about the 6th century AD depict her gently cradling or supporting a haloed child or infant on her lap. Devotion to Mary in her dual role as the human mother of Jesus and a divine entity reached a peak in the 14th to 16th centuries, creating great demand for depictions of the mother and child. The term Madonna is Italian for “my lady” and was conferred as a title of respect or high rank, but came to be synonymous with the mother of the holy child and also with the physical representation or manifestation of the two. Small works of art depicting this theme were generally objects of personal worship and prayer intended for intimate use in a private setting, usually a home or a small chapel. Larger and more expansive scenes were produced for altars in public churches, often commissioned by a family or guild as an expression of devotion and an outward display of wealth. Over the centuries different themes emerged, but always with the mother and child as central figures in the scene. Reference: The National Gallery of Art

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Nymphs were graceful beings who presided over the woods, grottoes, streams and streams etc. They were depicted as beautiful maidens of fairy-like form and robed in more or less shadowy garments.

There were three main classes of nymphs. These were water, mountain and tree or wood nymphs. Reference: Myths and Legends of Greece and Rome by E M Berens 1892 edition.

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Information on mermaids in cameos and other art. Mermaids are usually depicted as half human and half fish. They have been popular in many forms of art, including cameos, for many years.

Depictions of entities with the tails of fish, but upper bodies of human beings appear in Mesopotamian artwork from the Old Babylonian Period onwards. These figures are usually mermen, but mermaids do occasionally appear. The name for the mermaid figure may have been kuliltu, meaning “fish-woman”. Such figures were used in Neo-Assyrian art as protective figures and were shown in both monumental sculpture and in small, protective figurines.

The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria c. 1000 BC. The goddess Atargatis, mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, loved a mortal (a shepherd) and unintentionally killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake and took the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid — human above the waist, fish below — although the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as a fish with a human head and arm, similar to the Babylonian god Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo. Sometime before 546 BC, Milesian philosopher Anaximander postulated that mankind had sprung from an aquatic animal species. He thought that humans, who begin life with prolonged infancy, could not have survived otherwise.

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There are many legends regarding Ariadne in Greek mythology although it seems Ariadne was a princess of Crete. She was a daughter of King Minos and his Queen, Pasiphaë, and the legacy of the god Zeus (on her father’s side) and the titan Helios (on her mother’s side). She is most commonly known for helping the Greek demigod hero Theseus get through the Labyrinth in Ancient Greece. She became the immortal wife of the god Dionysus after Theseus abandoned her. Her Roman counterpart is Ariana. Reference: Fandom

Ariadne fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and, with a thread or glittering jewels, helped him escape the Labyrinth after he slew the Minotaur, a beast half bull and half man that Minos kept in the Labyrinth. Here the legends diverge: she was abandoned by Theseus and hanged herself; or, Theseus carried her to Naxos and left her there to die, and she was rescued by and married the god Dionysus. Reference: Encyclopaedia Britannica

In  cameos and other art, Ariadne is often portrayed with her husband Dionysus. This can be either as the figure of Dionysus or by symbolism. The symbolism can be a panther,  either together in sometimes portrayed with a panther. Panthers were the preferred mount of Dionysus so this is often portrayed with Ariadne. Also, ivy was associated with Dionysus so Ariadne is often portrayed wearing an ivy wreath. Sometimes she is depicted sleeping which probably relates to the legend of Theseus leaving abandoning her while she is sleeping on the shore of Naxos.

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Information on Perseus, the Greek hero who slayed Medusa. In Greek mythology, Perseus is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty, who, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, was the greatest Greek hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. He beheaded the Gorgon Medusa for Polydectes and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. He was the son of Zeus and the mortal Danaë, as well as the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles. Reference: Wikipedia

Perseus is often portrayed in cameos with the head of Medusa or with Andromeda.

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