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Dress ornament
Pfisterer, Leopold - Enlarge image
Dress ornament
- Place of origin:
Russia (made)
- Date:
1764 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Pfisterer, Leopold (possibly, maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Brilliant-cut diamonds set in silver
- Credit Line:
Cory Bequest
- Museum number:
M.95:45-1951
- Gallery location:
Jewellery, room 91, case 54, shelf A, box 2
In 1764, the Empress Catherine the Great commissioned the goldsmith Leopold Pfisterer to make a large suite of diamond and Bohemian garnet jewellery. It was composed of a necklace, bracelets and other jewels. On the reverse of the diamond ornaments are tiny holes through which passed threads strung with garnet beads.
Two of the jewels are inscribed with their inventory numbers and gemstone weights in carats. One also has the year of the commission and the monogram of Leopold Pfisterer.
It is rare for such magnificent diamond jewellery to survive intact, because succeeding generations tended to melt it down and re-make it in the latest fashion. The set was formerly part of the Russian Imperial Collection. It was sold by the Bolshevik government after the Russian Revolution of 1917.
