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An Etruscan Revival gold brooch with filigree and granulation, set with pearls and sapphires.

£ 3200

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An Etruscan Revival gold brooch with filigree and granulation, set with pearls and sapphires.

£ 3200

18ct (750‰) yellow gold, twisted-wire filigree and granulation; one pearl at the centre, twelve half-pearls, four cushion-cut sapphires.
Diam. 3.3 cm
Gross weight 8.80 g. Pin and C-catch at the back.
Italy or England, c. 1865–1880

A quatrefoil brooch in three tiers — four lobes, a square set on the diagonal, a central disc — each bordered with a rope of twisted wire and covered with filigree rosettes and granulation. A pearl sits at the centre, four cushion-cut sapphires mark the diagonals, and each lobe carries three half-pearls, with gold beads at the points. Pin and hook at the back.

Historical context – The Etruscan Revival
The opening of the Etruscan tombs around Rome in the 1830s and 1840s, and the arrival of their gold in the museums, set a fashion that ran across Europe for half a century: jewellers in Rome, Naples, London and Paris relearned filigree and granulation and built brooches, earrings and bracelets in the antique manner. This brooch, with its rope borders, wire rosettes and beaded collets, belongs to the mature phase of that taste, in the 1860s and 1870s; the catalogue that sold it called it "neo-Renaissance", which it is not.

Iconography and symbolism
The quatrefoil on a circle is a figure of order: four directions held around a centre, the oldest scheme of the world in the ancient and medieval imagination. The Etruscan goldsmiths whose work this imitates buried their finest granulated jewels with the dead, and the 19th century wore their forms as a way of touching that lost world.

Each piece of jewellery is delivered with an authentification certificate signed by Bianca Massard and Gabriele Vangelli de Cresci experts, including additional documentation if existing and exhaustive description of the piece.
Pictures are part of the description and show state of conservation of the item. For additional pictures please contact us. (see contact section)

Shipping and pick-up at the store options can be chosen during check out.

Our exclusive delivery partner is ThePackengers.
ThePackengers, specialized in the packaging and transport of works of art and collectibles, already collaborates with the largest auction houses as Drouot, but also with galleries, fairs, antique dealers, decorators and e-marketplaces.
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Each piece of jewellery is delivered with an authentification certificate signed by Bianca Massard and Gabriele Vangelli de Cresci experts, including additional documentation if existing and exhaustive description of the piece.
Pictures are part of the description and show state of conservation of the item. For additional pictures please contact us. (see contact section)

Shipping and pick-up at the store options can be chosen during check out.

Our exclusive delivery partner is ThePackengers.
ThePackengers, specialized in the packaging and transport of works of art and collectibles, already collaborates with the largest auction houses as Drouot, but also with galleries, fairs, antique dealers, decorators and e-marketplaces.
See our Country List
Shipping Terms and Conditions.
Privacy Policy ThePackengers.

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