Precious Statements, this year’s summer exhibition at Goldsmiths’ Hall (Friday May 19 to Saturday July 1, 2006) features the original creations of two of Britain’s leading master-craftsmen (admission free). Visit their site here.

The works of both artists, the jeweller John Donald and the silversmith Malcolm Appleby, reveal extraordinary talents not only in terms of quality and the precious materials used, but in their exceptional creativity, individuality and attention to detail.

The exhibition presents a breathtaking display of jewellery by John Donald, who is credited with being one of the key figures who revolutionised British jewellery from the 1960s and whose work has had a major influence on the subsequent direction of artist-jewellery in this country ever since.

Malcolm Appleby is one of Britain’s most talented silversmiths and the exhibition, with its stunning array of his silver masterpieces, provides visual evidence of his artistic development and technical brilliance. Malcolm is also feted internationally for his outstanding ability as an artist engraver and many of the works on display are embellished with his distinctly original decoration. Some of his work can be found at thistleandbroom.com

The summer exhibition (admission free) is complemented throughout the year with several smaller exhibitions held on the ground floor of Goldsmiths’ Hall.

I am really looking forward to viewing this exhibition. Malcolm Appleby is one of my inspirations as he is one of the most talented and inventive hand engravers in the UK. John Donald has been a leading jewellery designer for over 40 years.

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25.05.06 - 27.08.06 Exhibition. Main Galleries, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

This is an exhibition of Roman sculptures of the boy Antinous. This exhibition has been compiled from collections around europe. It shows only around 20 pieces, including a fragment of a gemstone intaglio carving, coin and marble busts.

The Emperor Hadrian’s young lover was Antinous, a beautiful youth who drowned mysteriously in the Nile before his 20th birthday. The Emperor, in his grief, commissioned busts and statues of his beloved, and as the cult of Antinous spread throughout the Roman Empire, many more were erected by his subjects.

Today Antinous has more sculptures to his name than almost any other figure from classical antiquity. The earliest of these finds were identified by comparison to tiny coin-portraits, each with an identifying legend, so that by the sixteenth century his aquiline nose and full lips were well known. Yet such was his appeal that as more and more heads, busts and statues were unearthed, there was a temptation to call those of any young pretty boy ‘Antinous’. Into the modern age, archaeologists and scholars have worked studiously to define the corpus of Antinous portraiture, basing their identification primarily on his hairstyle.

Drawing together loans from all over Europe, this is the first exhibition dedicated to Antique sculpture to be held at the Institute and the first in Britain to explore the mythical image of Antinous. As a subject, Antinous works not only to provide a very human way into looking at Antique sculpture, but also as an introduction to some of the thorniest issues surrounding work of this period. Issues of recognition, restoration and re-naming are all present, and to a degree we can deal with these by simply asking: does it look like him?

The Mondragone head is borrowed from the Lourve. It is very large at almost 2m high. This exhibition has been selected by Dr Caroline Vout, of the University of Nottingham, and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, with essay and entries by Dr Vout, along with extracts from more historical texts.

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This exhibition is on at the Met this summer. Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh. March 28, 2006–July 9, 2006 at the Special Exhibition Galleries, The Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor.

Hatshepsut, the great female pharaoh of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, ruled for two decades—first as regent for, then as co-ruler with, her nephew Thutmose III (ca. 1479–1458 B.C.). During her reign, at the beginning of the New Kingdom, trade relations were being re-established with western Asia to the east and were extended to the land of Punt far to the south as well as to the Aegean Islands in the north. The prosperity of this time was reflected in the art, which is marked by innovations in sculpture, decorative arts, and such architectural marvels as Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri.

In this exhibition, the Metropolitan’s own extensive holdings of objects excavated by the Museum’s Egyptian Expedition in the 1920s and 1930s are supplemented by loans from other American and European museums, as well as by select loans from Cairo.

Relief Depicting Running Soldiers, early Dynasty 18; joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III (1479–1458 B.C.)
Painted limestone; H. 12 1/4 in. (31 cm), W. 16 3/8 in. (41.5 cm)

Four Seal Amulets, One in a Ring (bases), early Dynasty 18; reign of Thutmose III (1479–1425 B.C.)
Glazed steatite, gold. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Pair of Beaded Penannular Earrings, early Dynasty 18 (1550–1425 B.C.)
Gold, lapis lazuli; Diam. 3/4–7/8 in. (1.9–2 cm), Th. 1/4 in. (0.7 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926

Middle pair: Pair of Earrings for a Queen, early Dynasty 18; reign of Thutmose III (1479–1425 B.C.)
Gold; Diam. 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm), Th. 3/4–7/8 in. (1.9–2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Fletcher Fund, 1926.

Pair of Ribbed Penannular Earrings, early Dynasty 18 (1550–1425 B.C.)
Gold; Diam. 3/4 in. (1.8 cm), Th. 3/8 in. (0.8 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926

The link to the Hatshepsut exhibition page of the Metroplitan Museum of Modern Art is here.
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This exhibition at the Met in New York finished in late January, 2006. I visited this exhibit in April, 2005. Over a hundred historical cameos were featured. The exhibition traced the history of Cameo carving from Greco-Roman times through to the late 19th Century.

The carving by the Italian Pistrucci is stunning. It is in Jasper which is a relatively soft material. The carving is large at around 4 cm in diameter and is set in a well designed gold and diamond pendant. The finish is a high polish in all areas. The detailing of the face and hair is particularly fine.

The cameo on the right is in Lapis Lazuli and is 4cm by 3 cm in size. The detailing and finish is very fine. It was carved in 1568 in Italy. This stone is part of the Milton Weil Collection at the Met.

I found it very interesting to see the natural colors of the layered sardonyx. This is well shown in the carving on the left. This is of Isabella, wife of Charles V of Portugal and was carved in 1550. The Layered agate that I use for my Cameo Portraits is dyed to create strong contrasting solid color bands. This helps to create very striking portraits in modern pieces. However there is a wonderful subtle quality to these antique cameos.

This carving is in a layered agate and dates from 1876. It was carved in France by Adolphe David. The classical subject is Phaeton driving Apollo’s chariot.

My one critique of this show is that no modern works were displayed. A few examples of recent work would have shown how the art of portrait cameo carving has developed.

I have more photographs from this exhibition on my portraits in stone website. The link to the Cameo Appearances exhibition page of the Metroplitan Museum of Modern Art is here.
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