congratulations on your cameo - a refreshing change to the more common lady head in profile subject =( The photo of the cameo in the link is also much clearer. Daniel Deronda is a novel by George Eliot, ( English female novelist who used the male pen name George Elliot, so she would be taken more seriously) first published in 1876. It was the last novel she completed and the only one set in the contemporary Victorian society of her day. In one scene is a fox hunt, (and a number of scenes that include horses) and most memorable because it is a victorian lady riding side-saddle participating! The episode will give you the sense of the times, victorian society, and in particular and in relation to the subject of victorian lady riding a horse on your antique cameo. Here is the link to the Daniel Deroda youtube movie episode, adaptation of the novel :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4LcTFUuWYs
Warm Regards Yvonne
Rating
thank you by: Monica
Thank you for your kind words about my collection, I have others that I will be posting when I have better photos available. I haven't been collecting long but I love the artistry and talents of the carvers mixed with my passion for horses and history.
You can actually still see the photos much better using this link. This is my latest purchase so it is still online. Thank you for the interesting information about the clothing of the period.
Monica, great to know we have an antique jewelry collector from Kuwait who visits our website! You have quite a collection of antique cameo Monica. Have you been collecting long?
1840s - to late 1800s. You can work out the date by examining the subject's style of dress; what style dress the Victorian lady is wearing as she rides sidesaddle, the only appropriate manner in which a Victorian lady would ride. I cannot see the detail in the photographs.
Horses were the main form of transportation during the Victorian era. And while they served as vehicles of utility, they were also prized as status symbols, similar in the Middle-east and most often only the rich could afford horses. Families were judged on both the number of horses they owned and the quality and lineage of their thoroughbreds. Men were seen as lacking gentlemanly qualities if they could not handle a spirited horse.
The following information on Victorian dress during the 1800s will help you date the subject on your cameo.
Women's dresses were long, and somewhat free-flowing in the early part of Victoria's reign. By the mid- to late-Victorian era, however, the skirts were heavily bustled, or under-sewn with layers of crinoline in the upper rear area and far less practical than the earlier period. The thick rigid material of a Victorian gown was tapered at the waist. The bodice was closely fitted. Bonnets were worn, rather than the elaborate hats of earlier periods.
