Cameo ring: a DiVino jewel from Torre del Greco

The DiVino Cameo is a goblet whose belly is formed by a fish, underlining the indissoluble link between wine and food, framed in a laurel wreath culminating in a touch. I designed this cameo ring for sommeliers who feel it in their hearts to acquire, exchange and share their knowledge of wine and food. I asked the Master Domenico Accusato to create these small works of wearable art, unique and precious symbols of belonging to that extraordinary Grand Tour that characterises our lives. Yes, because we Sommeliers are driven by a thirst for knowledge that requires us to read, study, taste, experience grape harvests and cellars, and meet key figures.

Have you ever heard someone say 'I'm going on a Grand Tour'? There was a time when aristocrats set off on a journey that was considered more of a mission than just tourism. The aim of the Grand Tour was to know. To learn about history, art and politics by studying the language, buying works of art, visiting ruins and enjoying the local 'dolce vita'. Favourite destinations? Obviously Italy and France. The most important stops were Venice, Rome, Naples and Taormina. We got 'lost' from Palladian villas to Roman ruins, from Neoclassical Neapolitan to Sicilian Baroque.

One of the highlights of the Grand Tour was having a portrait taken by an important painter and engraver of the time as Canaletto. Of course having your portrait done on something as small as a cameo was much more comfortable than to travel with a larger canvas. Similarly - when buying works of art was not possible - a cameo depicting them was the perfect souvenir!

A cameo is a piece of jewellery made by engraving a stone, shell or other layered material to isolate the figure in relief. Cameo workmanship reached its peak in the Renaissance thanks to the Medici family. In film language, a cameo is the special appearance of a famous or important person in the role of a supporting actor. And isn't this precisely the role of the Sommelier? As Eric Asimov wrote in the New York Times in November 2012: "Think of him as a smiling wine ambassador, bringing a list of wines from which one can derive potential pleasure. We Sommeliers are the cameo of the most important moments of the people we serve and this makes us truly happy.

The Master, the Artist, the Man

Domenico Accusato discovered his talent for cameo engraving at an early age, earning his art diploma at the glorious Torre del Greco School in 1992. He attended the three-year course at the Faculty of Architecture, but his irrepressible passion for bas-relief sculpture soon led him to relentlessly grasp the burin at the stick with which, amidst shell dust and classical studies, he established himself as the rising signature of cameo engraving.

"I am still learning" is the quote that best suits his personal engraving, always in search of new insights and research. Japan has been receiving him for years and years as the cultural ambassador of the Torre del Greco cameo, for his constant presence in exhibitions and dynamic demonstrations of cameo engraving. Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, in the East the usual stops on the master's journeys that year after year consolidate his cultural mission of bringing the Torre del Greco cameo to the world.

Cameo DiVino: the ancient burin technique

Master Domenico Accusato still crafts the cameo work. The first phase consists of choosing the shell suitable for engraving, (I chose carnelian for its colour tending towards orange-red to create the white-wine-red contrast). He then performs the bursting, i.e. cutting the most convex part of the shell, the 'cup'. Then he marks and shapes the cut piece: inside the cup, the contours of the cameos to be obtained are traced and the superfluous parts are removed by cutting them. Finally he performs the shaping, which consists of giving the piece the desired shape (usually oval or round) using a special grinding wheel. At this point, the master fixes the pieces obtained on a wooden spindle with hot mastic composed of Greek pitch, wax and scagliola. Then he performs the scaling, i.e. the abrasion of the outermost part of the shell so as to leave on the surface the light layer to be engraved and draws the subject to be reproduced on the surface.

Cameo of Torre del Greco: a unique jewel

Torre del Greco is the world capital of cameo on shell. The art of cameo work developed in Naples in the Torre del Greco area along with that of coral, thanks to trade from Africa and Central America. Torre del Greco reached the peak of its success thanks to its craftsmen, so much so that, in 1876, the School of Coral Engraving and Artistic Industrial Design was established, transforming the town of Torre del Greco into one of the world's most important centres for coral and shell working. Still today the Torrese school, now Liceo Artistico F. Degni  holds the record for the most advanced  cameo and coral work and for the preciousness of the artefacts.