A cameo (also kameo or camée) is an engraving made of gemstones, rocks, or shells. A “raised” relief image is engraved on the stone. This art of stone cutting has been known for thousands of years and is still practiced today. Andreas Roth, an engraver from Germany’s City of Gemstones, Idar-Oberstein, is dedicated to large cameos made from agate and is considered one of the world’s most important living masters of this art.

An Art with a Family Tradition   

Andreas Roth was born in 1973 in Idar-Oberstein. After completing compulsory school, he apprenticed to his father, the well-known gemstone engraver Hans Dieter Roth. His special talent was evident early on, as he was state and national winner in the practical performance competition of German youth craftsmen with his journeyman’s piece in 1993. After completing his apprenticeship, and military service in 1994, he worked in his parents’ company as a skilled worker. He also attended evening courses in the goldsmith’s trade and completed the master’s examination in gemstone and engraver’s trade in 1999.

The stone processing tradition in the Roth family can be traced back to the 18^th century, when his great-great-grandfather was already working as an agate cutter. The following generations: Jakob Roth, August Roth, and Walter Roth, successfully continued the family tradition. His father was a student and later an employee of the world-famous master gemstone engraver Richard Hahn, and had a great enthusiasm for large cameos. Andreas and his father developed other unique engravings, including portraits and commissioned gemstone objects forming the creative focus of the Roth company, including a great affinity for motifs from the Bible, and German and international history of literature.

Worldwide Recognition

The Roth’s first series of large agate cameos “The Bible in Stone” required very large, crack-free agate slabs from Brazil. These 48 large cameos were artistically crafted between 1986 and 1998. This was followed by another series on the works of William Shakespeare (2003-2008). Then a series of 14 large cameos based on German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s tragedy Faust (2007-2013) now in the Lizzadro Museum collection. More recently a cycle of 13 large cameos depicts scenes from the New Testament, featuring agates 10 to 20 inches in diameter. Hans Dieter passed away suddenly in 2019. Andreas continues to meticulously produce cameos and smaller intaglios often using antique templates. In contrast to cameos, intaglios are engraved into the stone, the background is higher than the picture.

Andreas Roth’s stone works of art have been exhibited and admired by the public in important institutions around the world, including Kofu, Japan (2004), in Ramat Gan, Israel (2010), Liechtenstein (2020) and in several German museums. “Amor in Agate” featuring 22 engravings are currently being shown at the Mineral Museum in Idar-Oberstein through January 2024. He will be at the Mineral Days in Munich in late October 2023, and demonstrating cameo carving at the Lizzadro Museum in Oak Brook, Illinois on Saturday, October 21, 2023, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Finest Detail Work

His workshop is integrated into the neat family home with a magnificent garden, the workshop is meticulously clean, rather unusual for a stone processing room. Specially designed air exhaust systems filter the fine stone dust produced during work. All the special machines and tools are arranged within reach. The large cameo is carefully checked for its proportions and selected precisely for a corresponding template. Watching the master at work, you are immediately amazed at the utmost attention to detail artistically engraved into the stone. This is how extraordinary works of art are created in various work steps from sawing and engraving to polishing and assembly in specially made metal bases in days and weeks of work.

Andreas Roth successfully continues the tradition of the old masters and takes them to a new artistic level in the 21^st century. His manner is open, interested, and friendly. As for the continuation of the centuries-long Roth family tradition, the first course seems to have already been set, because the daughter of the Roth couple recently discovered her love for cutting gemstones (facets) and may soon make this special craft her future profession.

Join us for an open house and see Andreas Roth demonstrate his skill at carving on Saturday October 21st from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Reserve your spot here.

Johann G. Zenz is one of the foremost authors on agate. Visit www.agates.click for more information. This article was edited and translated from German and used with permission from the author.