Cameo and Pseudo-Cameo
Presenting photographic images in an oval shape was popular from the beginning of photography. In our dated image collection, about 40% of all cased images have oval mats. Since more elaborate shapes became available as time went on, one would think the simple oval would lose popularity — but in fact it was just the opposite, they represented a larger percentage of cased images as time went on.
But the subject of this article is not that kind of oval, but one found over a restricted time period on cart-de-visite’s. We have seen this style on cabinet cards, but only very rarely. Darrah described the cameo style, and we call similar appearing cards that are not embossed pseudo-cameos. This is not the same as the soft-edged vignettes that were popular from the 1860s on. Those are so widespread as to have no value as a clue to dating.
Nor should the cameo or pseudo-cameo be confused with oval-cut images. In oval-cut images, the paper print is cut into an oval shape, then mounted on a cardboard backing. The cameo or pseudo-cameo has a rectangular paper print mounted on the typical CDV card, but the background behind the subject is oval in shape, with a sharp boarder, while the rest of the print has another shade, occasionally darker but most often lighter than that surrounding the subject. The subject is almost always a single portrait, head and shoulders style. Some are true cameo prints, that is the oval area has been embossed so that it is slightly convex — but the style was more frequently seen on flat cards.