Lady Profile on shell Cameo

By Nocereto

Lady Profile carved on Sardonix Shell, with 18kt gold setting.

code: 4048

VINCENZO NOCERETO

Vincenzo Nocereto was born in Torre del Greco on 14 June 1943. When he was young, he graduated from the Art Institute and subsequently he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples. The premature death of his father, from whom he learned useful cameo engraving techniques, forced him to find a job quickly. As an art teacher, he worked in various schools until 2001, even outside the Campania region, in particular in San Donato di Ninea, a small town in Cosenza, Calabria, in the province of Potenza, in Salerno and finally in Torre del Greco.

Professor Vincenzo Nocereto, having worked with his father in a consistent and youthful manner in the art of cameo engraving, not only developed a deep passion for this art early on, but also assimilated working techniques that he meticulously developed and perfected over the years. His participations in educational and artistic activities during exhibitions in Milan, Campania and, of course, in his home town are innumerable.

He has conducted some seminars in various clubs for the historical development. During these meetings, after a detailed explanation of different species of shells and corals found in nature and in mother-of-pearl and lava stone, he has always encouraged participants to witness the different steps in the art of engraving with the use of a burin with individual ‘live’ demonstrations.

SARDONIX SHELL

The Sardonix shell origins were mistakenly attributed to the coasts of Madagascar, but actually its natural habitat is the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Its outer surface has white-to-cream shades, while its internal dark brown layer makes the shell very suitable for the realization of cameos. The strong chromatic contrast between the outer and the inner layers of the shell puts in evidence the representation carved, by arising the design from the bottom surface, as a bas-relief. This contrast creates a great light and shadow effect and emphasizes the depth and the forms of the whole representation. Each step of the shell processing, from the size selection to the shaping and engraving, is still carried out with the local traditional methods.

18 Kt GOLD

Pure gold, as present in nature, is a malleable material. So, in order to be used in jewellery, it must be alloyed with other metals.  As a consequence, gold can have different colorations: yellow gold requires additional alloys like brass, zinc and silver; in white gold, on the other hand, are used alloys of brass (in reduced amount compared to yellow gold) and palladium.