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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Young Hercules 16th century shell cameo, mounted on glass British Museum bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane |
During the Renaissance the fabrication of cameos from certain varieties of natural shell became common – an inexpensive medium that offered colored layers and was easier to carve in fine detail than stone. The general feeling among connoisseurs seems to be that cameos made from shell are somewhat less worthy of regard than onyx or agate, garnet or carnelian, emerald or amethyst. Collections at the British Museum are abundant in shell cameos from the 16th century and from the 19th century, but with curiously little in between.
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Henri IV as Winged Centaur 16th century shell cameo British Museum bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane |
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Cupid and Psyche ca, 1870 shell cameo British Museum setting by John Brogden, London |
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Pegasus 16th century shell cameo British Museum bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane |
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar 16th century shell cameo British Museum |
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Paris with Apple 16th century shell cameo British Museum |
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Venus and Cupid 16th century shell cameo British Museum |
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Profile portrait of a woman ca. 1852 shell cameo British Museum |
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| Anonymous Gem-cutter Alexandra, Princess of Wales 1870 shell cameo British Museum |
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| Tommaso Saulini Edward, Prince of Wales 1870 shell cameo British Museum |
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| Tommaso Saulini Grand-Duchess Maria Nikolayevna 1830s shell cameo Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Saulini Workshop, Rome Dawn (Aurora) driving her biga ca. 1860 shell cameo British Museum |
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| Saulini Workshop, Rome Goddess Roma (Minerva) ca. 1860 shell cameo British Museum |
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| Tommaso Saulini Phaeton driving the chariot of the Sun ca. 1850 shell cameo British Museum |
"The rest I resign to Fortune;
I pray her to help and take care of you better than you take care
of yourself. As I speak, the dewy night has reached its appointed
goal on the shores of the west. The time for delaying is over,
The summons has come, for the darkness has fled and Aurora is glowing.
Now grasp the reins in your hands – or if your ambitious purpose
can yet be altered, take my advice and not my chariot.
Allow me to give my light to the earth, and watch me in safety
While still you can, while still you are standing on solid earth,
Before you have blindly mounted the car you so foolishly asked for."
– from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 2, Sun's address to Phaeton, translated by David Raeburn