Portrait of Emma Hart, Later Lady Hamilton (1765–1803) 1786 - 1787

Nathaniel Marchant likely made this cameo of Emma Hart in the late 18th century from a piece of banded agate. Agate is a layered stone, making it perfect for carving cameos, where the design is raised from a background of a contrasting color. Marchant would have used a variety of small tools and abrasives to slowly grind away the stone, revealing Emma's profile in exquisite detail. You can see the smooth polish he achieved. Creating a cameo like this required significant skill and time, reflecting the value placed on handmade objects in an era before mass production. Cameos like this were luxury items, worn as jewelry or collected as miniature portraits by the wealthy. Consider the labor involved in extracting and preparing the agate, as well as the artistry required to carve it. Appreciating these material and making processes allows us to see this cameo not just as a portrait, but also as a product of its time, embedded in social and economic networks.