Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Jewellery, Rooms 91 to 93 mezzanine, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery

Cross

ca. 1800 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Religious pendants were common in all the Catholic cantons of Switzerland. This cross, made of filigree and hanging from a crown on decorative chains, is typical of those worn in Solothurn. It has a crucifix on one side, and an image of the Virgin and Child on the other, and is decorated with red pastes (probably imitating garnets) on one side, and aquamarine pastes on the other. It would have been worn by a woman, on a black velvet ribbon.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver-gilt sheet, silver chain, and silver filigree set with garnet and aquamarine glass pastes
Brief description
Silver-gilt and filigree crucifix with coloured pastes, Solothurn (Switzerland), about 1800.
Physical description
Pendant reliquary cross, suspended from a flat gilt crown by three heavy lengths of tight loop-in-loop chain. The cross has a cast figure of Christ on the front, with INRI above, and the Virgin and Child on the back, the figures on both sides resting on filigree tracery. The cross is set in an elaborate filigree frame, decorated with lozenges and coloured pastes (garnet on the front, aquamarine on the back). At the bottom is a small filigree drop.
Dimensions
  • Length: 18.7cm
  • Width: 8.9cm
  • Depth: 1.3cm
Subjects depicted
Summary
Religious pendants were common in all the Catholic cantons of Switzerland. This cross, made of filigree and hanging from a crown on decorative chains, is typical of those worn in Solothurn. It has a crucifix on one side, and an image of the Virgin and Child on the other, and is decorated with red pastes (probably imitating garnets) on one side, and aquamarine pastes on the other. It would have been worn by a woman, on a black velvet ribbon.
Collection
Accession number
M.12-1912

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Record createdJanuary 11, 2008
Record URL
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