Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A late 19th century opal cameo ring, possibly attributable to Wilhelm Schmidt, the shaped opal and matrix carved as the profile of a man in a phrygian cap, claw set to an 18ct gold ring mount, shank stamped ‘18ct’, cameo dimensions 17.5mm x 12mm, ring size H½. £500-800

The 19th century engraver, Wilhelm Schmidt (1845-1938) was born in Idar, South West Germany, one of the main lapidary centres of Europe. Apprenticed in his cousin Louis Purper’s workshop in Paris under the cameo carver Arsene, he trained in the Neo-classical tradition.

By the 1860-70s the French fashion for cameos was waning and Wilhelm, now a fully fledged gem engraver, found his way to England where the vogue for ‘Archaeological Revival’ jewellery ensured cameos were still very much in demand. ‘Wm Schmidt, cameo engraver’ had premises in Hatton Garden from 1872 - 1915, which he shared with his brother Louis, an importer of minerals, pearls and precious stones. He produced work for important jewellers such as John Brogen, Guilliano and Child & Child. Unfortunately Schmidt never signed his work and these jewellery firms rarely credited the craftsmen who created their jewels.

The technique used, carving both the opal and matrix to display the different features of the subject, appears to have been invented by Schmidt himself. The renowned academic Gertude Seidmann, notes: “Opal cameos, if rare, were not unknown; but Schmidt had invented a novel technique: instead of carving the whole cameo from precious opal, he used blanks with a thin layer of precious opal overlaying the matrix in the same way in which the contrasted layers of agate were traditionally used to set off the image against the background.”

Indeed it was his work with opals of which Schmidt was most proud; in a letter to the gem collector A. Booth, Schmidt notes:
“In reply to your wish to be informed when opal cameos were first cut in Europe, I may mention the date of 1874, when I first invented the new process of cutting opal cameos in such a manner as to utilise the matrix of the rough opal for the ground… Mr John Brogden exhibited the first one, which I cut, amongst his other exhibits at the Paris exhibition, 1878…”

This example depicts a phrygian cap, a soft cap with it’s peak bent forwards. The phrygian cap was used throughout classical art to indicate Eastern or non-Greek speaking people. The Trojan prince Paris is often depicted wearing a phrygian cap, as is the hero Aeneas.

See: “Wilhelm Schmidt, The last Neo-Classical Gem-Engraver, by Gertrude Seidmann”, Apollo Magazine, July 1988 and “An Illustrated catalogue of Gems, Cameos and Amber, Collected by A. Booth,” Gloucester, 1886. Further examples of Schmidt’s work can be seen in the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum.