Description
This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!
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Renaissance jewellery with rich enameling is a particularly valuable area of collecting. Only a few of these valuable pieces have come down to us over the course of time without damage or flaws - so it is all the more fortunate to find one of these rare examples.
Especially in the 19th century, designs in this technique were often realized. In France, enthusiasm for the era of François I and Henri II developed from the 1850s onwards, which was seen as an age of patriotic greatness. François-Désiré and Émile Froment-Meurice created pieces of jewellery on themes such as the "Toilet of Venus", which at the same time referred to antiquity in an erudite manner and yet did not ignore the interests of this worldly life in a cheerful way. Other goldsmiths such as Boucheron, Falize and Wièse followed suit - and by 1871, Paris was already considered the capital of enamel by the Art Journal.
In Great Britain, the development took a similar course. Here, too, the Renaissance was regarded as the national style, as it referred to the glorious era of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. John Brogden and Carlo Giuliano produced designs in London in the 1860s that were based on the pieces of jewellery in Hans Holbein's paintings - which is why the style was also called "Holbeinesque". Queen Victoria was seen as the new Queen Elizabeth, and jewellery that linked this past with the present became an expression of patriotic pride.
Finally, in Germany, jewellery in Renaissance forms became fashionable under the term "Old German style". Here, the Dürer period was invoked from the 1870s onwards. Jewellers such as Hugo Schaper in Berlin and August Kleeberg in Vienna produced high-quality jewellery in the Renaissance style - as did their colleagues in Paris and London, richly decorated with colored enamel.
The differences between the respective national styles, which were in any case claimed rather than actual, became increasingly blurred towards the end of the century. However, jewellery with artistic enamel remained in fashion for a long time - Art Nouveau artists, such as René Lalique, also liked to use this technique, albeit now in a completely unique, modern design language.
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You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.
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