Religious Cameos | Sacred Art | Aucella Torre del Greco

Cameos and coral in sacred art

07-11-2024
Religious cameos

The craftsmanship of coral and cameo has always been closely intertwined with sacred art, both for the versatility of the types of processing and for the possibility of using different techniques even within the same work.

Religious and nativity scenes

The first examples of religious craftsmanship can be found inside the Neapolitan Nativity scene, where there are often gold and coral elements, such as earrings and necklaces of female characters, typical of the ancient workmanship of Torre del Greco, which were also accompanied by engravings of other precious and once used materials, such as tortoiseshell and ivory.

Also in the crown of the Immaculate Conception of Torre del Greco there are all our symbols, precious stones, among which coral and several cameos engraved on shells stand out.

Religious iconography and cameos

Currently in our craft workshops we work on numerous religious productions, in particular sacred art creations on shell cameos. In fact, commissions for sacred images such as saints, Madonnas and iconographies of the Christian religion, but not only, are increasing.

Among the most common sacred art works there are crosses for high prelates in gold with depictions of sacred cameos, elements in sacred vestments, such as the silk chasuble, where cameos are set or even just some cameo or coral elements to be inserted inside metal pyxes.

Catholicism and other religions

Thanks to their manufacture, the bas-reliefs that make up the cameos on shell are able to adapt to any type of processing and application and figure among the most used and requested elements, not only in large objects, but also in smaller creations, to be applied inside the sacred rosaries. For example, Pope Francis has a wooden crosier on which cameos are set with some key symbols such as the coat of arms of the Vatican.

In short, there is no limit to the possibilities of using corals and cameos for sacred art, to the point that many requests also come from nations such as Malta, very rooted in Catholicism, where cameos with reproductions of the Madonna or saints are in great demand especially for making crosses.