Shell cameos became extremely popular in the 1800s. This particular cameo is believed to come from Italy and was mounted in Sweden. The motif, “The Cherub Seller”, a woman pulling cherubs from a cage and showing them to potential buyers, is from a fresco in Villa di Arianna outside Pompeii, which was excavated in the mid-1700s. This design soon became popular and was mass-produced as copperplates, which, in turn were used for micromosaics, cameos, oil paintings, and so on.