Much curious interest has been excited with respect to the derivation of the word Cameo, and the fact is curious that in that splendid repertory of all things rare, curious, and of interest, “Notes and Queries,” the only references to the Cameo are two in number. One is a question propounded in vol. viii., series iv., page 528, in which a correspondent puts the query, which was never answered, “What is the earliest known example of a shell Cameo?” The second reference occurs in vol. iii., series v., in which the derivation of Cameos is inquired for, and the answer appears in vol. iii., on page 31. Here Mr. F. Chance, Sydenham Hall, after learnedly discussing derivations from the Greek, Italian, Latin, German, and Spanish, winds up by saying with Dundreary, that Cameo is one of those words which “no fellow can make out.”

“The meaning of the word Cameo,” says a writer in the Housewife, “is literally a picture of one colour. In an ancient dictionary of arts and sciences, more than a hundred years old, which I have before me, the word is thus spelt and explained:—‘Camaieu or Camehuia, in Natural History, the same with camÆa.’ I look up ‘camÆa,’ and find the word descanted upon as follows:—‘In Natural History, a genus of the semi-pellucid gems, approaching to the onyx structure, being composed of zones, and formed on a crystalline basis; but having their zones very broad and thick, and laid alternately on one another, with no common matter between; usually less transparent and more debased with earth than the onyxes.’ Species are then described which I need not detail. Returning next to the camaieu, I find:—‘This word is also used to express a stone, on which are found various figures and representations of “landskips,” &c., formed by a kind of lusus naturÆ, so as to exhibit pictures without painting. It is likewise applied to any kind of gem on which figures are engraven, either indentedly or in relievo.’”

The Queen newspaper referred also to the derivation of the term, and added the following bit of historical research:—

“The term Cameo, in the language of art, is usually applied to gems or stones that are worked in relievo, that is, in which the object represented is raised above the plane of the ground, in contradistinction to intaglio, in which the subject is engraved or indented. The art of ornamenting precious stones with heads and figures is of high antiquity, but it was for the most part confined to intaglio or indenting, an easier process than relieving the work from a ground. Such stones were used for signets or seals in very remote ages by the Etruscans and the Greeks. One of the first names of great note that occurs in this branch of art is that of Pyrgoteles, who lived in the time of Alexander the Great, and who alone was permitted to engrave seal rings for the King. Tryphon, who lived under the immediate successors of Alexander, also deserves mention here, being the author of a beautiful and well-known Cameo in the Marlborough collection, representing the marriage of Cupid and Psyche.

“In ancient Rome the age of Augustus was remarkable for the excellence of the gem-engravers who were then living, amongst them Dioscorides, some of whose beautiful works have reached our times. Engravers in gems, both in cameo and intaglio, continued to flourish down to Marcus Aurelius. With the decline of the Roman Empire, gem-engraving was neglected, like the other arts, and it was not till the fifteenth century that the taste and munificence of the Medici caused a revival in Italy, and tempted artists to devote themselves to its practice. Cameos at that time were in great request for personal ornaments, and for inlaying or embossing vases and similar articles. Cameo collecting became a passion in Italy, and the gem-engravers of that period found special historians in Vasari and Marietti. In the succeeding century there was a considerable falling off, but in the eighteenth century the art again rose, and the names of some who exercised it will bear comparison with those of almost any age. The greater part of these were Italians; but two of the most celebrated, John Pichler and Laurence Natter, were natives of Germany, and their works challenge competition with the finest antiques. In England it was Josiah Wedgwood who revived the taste for Cameo-work by his admirable reproduction of the Barberini Vase, his unsurpassed portrait medallions, and his classical bas-reliefs on plaques, vases, and tea-sets, placed in beautifully tinted jasper, basalt, and other bodies. James Tassie of Glasgow, by his paste imitations of antique gems, 15,000 in number, also contributed to the popularity of Cameo-work; while W. Brown and Nathanael Marchand were famous as gem-engravers at the beginning of the present century. Marchand died in 1812 as a member of the Royal Academy, and principal gem-engraver to the King. The practice of working Cameo on shells is of comparatively modern introduction in Italy, and is carried on particularly in Rome.”