Getty Museum

Cameo Gem

Date

1st century A.D.

Medium

Sardonyx(?), discolored brown on white-pink

Culture

Roman

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

A shrimp and a fish decorate this cameo. Fish and crustaceans of various forms were not unusual on Roman gems, and even this combination has surviving parallels. Animals on carved gems were often symbolic, but the meaning of these sea creatures is unclear. The fish and the shrimp may simply represent food, a motif depicted on gems. Cameos, gems with motifs carved in relief, were introduced in the Hellenistic period but only became popular in the Roman era. Carved from layered colored stones, most cameos display the decoration in a lighter layer against a dark background. Some cameos, however, have the reverse color scheme, like this example in which the brown figures contrast with the pinkish-white background. Small cameos were often set into rings.

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