The discovery of the adaptation of the Conch-shell to the art of the Cameo engraver is traceable no farther back than the beginning of the reign of Her Gracious Majesty the Queen. The working of Cameos in precious stones, however, goes back beyond the earliest historical records; history contains no reference to the beginning or progress of the development. Tradition declares that the art was of Asiatic origin, and that it was practised by the Babylonians, from whom the Phoenicians carried it into Egypt. Thence the progress of the work is clearly traced to Greece and Italy, and in our own time to France and England. Those who have practised Cameo engraving in England may be numbered on the fingers of one hand. But it is not with the carving of precious stones this handbook deals, but with the youngest of all the processes discovered in connection with the production of the Cameo, that of working the beautiful Conch-shell.

The use of this shell for the purpose of Cameo-cutting was first practised in Italy, about the year 1820, and it was then believed to be of Sicilian origin. For many years all the shells used were exported from England, and the number averaged about three hundred per annum; these were valued at 30s. each. They soon became a favourite medium in Rome with the workmen, and the art was taken thence to Paris, where it flourished. In 1847 the sale of shells was reported to have reached 100,500, and their declared value was £8900, while the Cameos which were produced were estimated to be worth at least £40,000.

The prices of shells have since been very much reduced owing to an increased importation, so that shells of great beauty may now be purchased for 10s.; while they may be had in quantities as low as 1s. 6d. each. Choice black shells, however, still command a higher price.

The colour of the ground in these shells varies from pink and orange to an absolute black: this is called the Black Helmet (Cassis Tuberosa), and comes from the West Indian Seas. The shell with a pink ground is called the Queen Conch (Strombus Gigas), and is also brought from the West Indies. A favourite variety is the Bull’s Mouth (Cassis Rufa), found in the East Indian Seas, which has a sard-like ground. Another class is the Horned Helmet (Cassis Cornuta), which is brought from Madagascar; in this the ground is dark claret in colour. Occasionally shells are made use of having three layers, the upper, always dark-coloured, serving for the hair, or a wreath, or for armour; the second layer, which is always white, is used for carving the figure; and the third layer is the ground.

Messrs. Francati & Santamaria,1 of Hatton Garden, were the largest and almost the only dealers in shells for Cameo work in the Metropolis, and they cut them up to the exact size required for engraving. I have seen in their cellars many thousands of Conch-shells brought from foreign seas for the purpose of being cut up for export to Italy or Paris. Mr. Santamaria, upon one occasion, showed me a magnificent Black Helmet shell, which he said was the only one that had been discovered out of about ten thousand. A shell of ordinary size only produces, on being cut up, three or four large workable pieces, and these are worth from 3s. to 5s. each; but the Bull Mouth, of small size, may be purchased for a shilling. A face or figure engraved upon a shell looks well, particularly when the taste of the artist enables him to cover every knob with figures, and form an appropriate border of leaves round the whole; even the circles round the apex of the shell lend themselves to ornamentation, and shells carved all over are much sought after. An experienced workman will often employ his leisure in covering a large shell with work in this way. In the centre he places the principal design, always a classic figure or group of figures, and around, such ornamentation as his taste approves. One of these, cut in Hatton Garden, was sold recently for a hundred guineas; and another, almost entirely cut by Mr. W. King, a young Englishman then in the employment of Messrs. Francati & Santamaria, sold for £80.

The most celebrated Cameo engraver of modern times was Benedetto Pistrucci, who designed the “George and Dragon” of our coinage, which is acknowledged to be the finest work that has ever appeared in modern currency. Of himself he says that he was in a manner born to the work he took up from choice, and he mentions in proof of this that he had square thumbs, and the palm of his right hand was covered with horny skin. This had been a characteristic with certain of the males in the family for several generations. He was the son of a judge, and was born at Rome in May 1784. His eldest brother was a painter, and every member of the family was endowed with artistic tastes. Italy, in his youth, was overrun by the French, which caused his parents to make frequent changes of residence. At fourteen years of age, being then proficient in drawing, he was first put to a master, one Signor Mango, who, perceiving his genius, employed him to make designs for his Cameos. This provoked much jealousy among the other workmen, one of whom stabbed Benedetto with a dagger. During his illness he amused himself by modelling the figures he drew, and so perfected himself in the stages necessary for becoming a thorough artist; less than this in training will only make a workman. Upon his recovery he was sent to two masters in succession, the second of whom, noticing the superiority of his designs, exclaimed, “With one who has genius there is very little for a master to teach.” At sixteen years of age he began work on his own account; and, after a brief courtship, at eighteen years of age, married a girl of sixteen, of gentle family. There were born to them two daughters, Victoria and Eliza, and one son, Vincenzio. Eliza and her brother were endowed with the paternal characteristic, a horny palm, and became celebrated as workers in Cameo. At twenty-four years of age Benedetto had succeeded in establishing a reputation as an engraver of precious stones, having taught himself the process, and constructed with his own hands the wheel with which he worked. For several years he had sold Cameos worked in stones to one Angelo Bonelli, a travelling dealer in gems; and discovering one day that a specimen of his work had been stained to represent an antique, and sold for a high price, he resolved for the future to place a secret mark upon those he sold. On one of these, the head of Flora, he cut two Greek letters in the hair. The condition of Italy at that time induced him to consider the advantage of proceeding to England; but before emigrating he executed several orders for one of Napoleon’s sisters, one portrait being cut in stone, much smaller than a fly. Pistrucci brought to London a letter of introduction to Mr. Konig, mineralogist of the British Museum, and by Lord Fife he was introduced to Sir Joseph Banks. The latter afterwards introduced him to Mr. Payne Knight, who produced at their interview what he called the finest Greek Cameo in existence, a most choice gem, a fragment of the head of Flora, for which he had paid Bonelli 500 guineas. Pistrucci did not even take the stone from the extended palm of Mr. Knight; a glance disclosed the fact that it was that head of Flora in whose hair he had cut two Greek letters, and for which Bonelli had paid him £5. An unpleasant scene resulted. The letters were plainly visible; but Bonelli, realising that his trade was at an end, boldly denounced Pistrucci. He pointed to the wreath of flowers about the head in proof of his conceit that it was an antique, asserting that no such flowers were then in existence; but Sir Joseph Banks, examining them with a microscope, exclaimed, “The flowers are roses, as I am a botanist!” Pistrucci offered to carve another Flora exactly similar without looking again at the “antique.” This challenge was not accepted. Then it was agreed that he should cut a head of Flora in a different position, and this was accepted as a test of the truth of his representations. The story soon spread through London society; noblemen, scientific men, ladies of rank, watched the growth of the new Flora under the hands of Pistrucci, and when it was completed the dispute raged with increased bitterness, so that Payne Knight’s antique Flora became the question of the day. The controversy at length ended with universal expressions of sympathy for Mr. Payne Knight.2

This stone may be seen in the Gold Ornament Room at the British Museum. It is placed in the case of “Modern Engraved Gems,” upon which stands the Alabaster vase engraved with the name of Xerxes, and is in the bottom row of the case. The face is exquisitely beautiful, and the roses which are cut in the upper coloured layer of the stone are perfect. An attendant will point out this Flora to any one who asks for it.

Pistrucci upon one occasion, while still residing in Rome, had an antique pale-brown sard given him to recut by Domenico Desalief. The subject was a warrior crowned by a female, but so clumsily executed as to be of little value. There was, however, plenty of material to cut away. After taking an impression in wax, he altered the whole; then he cut away the knees of the figures, and recut them higher up, and so remodelled the design that not a trace was left of the original forms. The dealer was delighted, and sold the gem readily for the Imperial Russian Cabinet of St. Petersburg, where it still remains, and is regarded as of the highest value.

The dispute about the Flora indirectly brought about Pistrucci’s appointment to the Mint as chief engraver, and he designed and executed the “George and Dragon” among other works. Afterwards a considerable amount of jealousy was created by his employment amongst the officers of the Mint, and the members of the Royal Academy were divided about his appointment, one portion insisting that native talent should be encouraged, the other division holding that he was the best living engraver. To restore peace, his appointment was subsequently styled that of “chief medallist.” He cut two portraits of Her Majesty in onyx, one as Princess, and the other as Queen wearing a diadem. On retiring from the Mint he took a cottage at Old Windsor, where he died in his seventy-first year, in 1855, only thirty-five years ago, and recently enough for him to be well remembered by a few living men. His connection with our own day, and the distinction to which one of his pupils has risen, justify the introduction of his name into this book. His daughters, before their father’s death, returned to Rome, where they practised Cameo-cutting with great success.