Magnificent Antique Pendant with Diamonds in Silver & Gold, c. 1880

Wanderlust for the Orient

Magnificent Antique Pendant with Diamonds in Silver & Gold, c. 1880

€ 2,980.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

"One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art", in other words: you should either be a work of art yourself or wear one. This was once said by the writer Oscar Wilde, whose preference for beauty was particularly reflected in his novel Dorian Gray. Far Eastern porcelain, oriental fabrics, exquisite paintings from all eras: The art-loving happy few of the late 19th century collected and loved everything beautiful, no matter from which corner of the world it found its way to them. A look at the Portrait of Fanny Waugh Hunt, the wife of painter William Holman Hunt, painted between 1866 and 1868, now in the Toledo Museum of Art in the USA, see here. Fanny is surrounded by Chinese porcelain, Persian pottery and Venetian glass and wears a paisley scarf with Indian motifs alongside a Roman cameo at the neckline of her dress. The motif of the shawl originates from India and Persia, but in the 19th century, shawls like Fanny Hunt's were mainly produced in the Scottish town of Paisley, which gave the motif its name. It is therefore no coincidence that it can also be found in stylized form in the ornaments of this pendant: the fascination for the Orient inspired the time in ever new waves, including Richard Francis Burton's translation of 1001 Nights in 1885, which is still considered the most complete translation of the work today. The rich diamond setting, which frames the ornamental forms, is shown here in historical rose and old cuts. The front of the pendant is made of silver, while the back is made of gold. This was a common method in earlier times to ensure that the diamonds were not tinted in color by the gold, while at the same time preventing the back from staining clothing. Loosely based on Oscar Wilde, the result was a wearable work of art which - as the back tells us - was probably once part of a magnificent necklace or even a tiara, the individual elements of which could be unscrewed and worn as a pendant. A comparative piece for the pendant can be found in Brigitte Marquardt: Schmuck - Realismus und Historismus 1850-1895, Munich 1998, p. 235, cat. No. 215.

Size & Details

Wanderlust for the Orient

€ 2,980.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

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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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Wanderlust for the Orient

Pendants

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