Flora and Fauna
The theme for Smile on Saturday for the 6th of June is “earrings”, so I chose this pair of Regency ebony backed ivory cameo earrings.
These came into my possession from my maternal Grandmother. They were her mother’s before her, her mother’s before that and her mother’s before her at least. I estimate that these earrings are from around the Regency period between 1811 and 1820. They are carved ivory profiles on an ebony black background. The yellowing of the ivory is a sign of its advanced age, and their finer detail has been worn by many hands touching them over the centuries: not least of all mine. As a child, I used to use them as miniature pictures on the mantles of the fireplaces of my miniature tableaux I used to set up and play with. I named them Flora and Fauna when my Grandmother told me that they were classical profiles of Roman Goddesses. Flora is on the right and is my favourite. Fauna, with a lightly sterner look is on the left.
Today they sit in one of my curio cabinets, and now that I have had a reason to photograph them, perhaps they will one day turn up in one of my miniature tableaux photographs that I take as an adult, sitting on a fireplace mantle.
Flora and Fauna
The theme for Smile on Saturday for the 6th of June is “earrings”, so I chose this pair of Regency ebony backed ivory cameo earrings.
These came into my possession from my maternal Grandmother. They were her mother’s before her, her mother’s before that and her mother’s before her at least. I estimate that these earrings are from around the Regency period between 1811 and 1820. They are carved ivory profiles on an ebony black background. The yellowing of the ivory is a sign of its advanced age, and their finer detail has been worn by many hands touching them over the centuries: not least of all mine. As a child, I used to use them as miniature pictures on the mantles of the fireplaces of my miniature tableaux I used to set up and play with. I named them Flora and Fauna when my Grandmother told me that they were classical profiles of Roman Goddesses. Flora is on the right and is my favourite. Fauna, with a lightly sterner look is on the left.
Today they sit in one of my curio cabinets, and now that I have had a reason to photograph them, perhaps they will one day turn up in one of my miniature tableaux photographs that I take as an adult, sitting on a fireplace mantle.