Cross
1800-1867 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Italian women, like Catholic women elsewhere in southern Europe, often wore elaborate crosses as jewellery. This cross may have been worn, but it is more likely to have been hung in the home as an object of devotion, and to protect the members of the family from spiritual harm. When it was acquired it was described as usually suspended at a bed-head.
It comes from Romagna, and the swirling pattern of the filigree is typical of that used in the north-east of Italy, in the region around Venice. It was bought for £1 as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867.
It comes from Romagna, and the swirling pattern of the filigree is typical of that used in the north-east of Italy, in the region around Venice. It was bought for £1 as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Rock crystal cross in a silver filigree frame |
| Brief description | Crystal cross set in a silver filigree frame, Romagna (Italy), 1800-1867. |
| Physical description | Latin cross of clear crystal, with bevelled edges on the front and a hole pierced through a semi-circular projection at the top. The letters ‘INRI’ are engraved back-to-front diagonally across the top on the front. The cross is set in a frame of florid open filigree, curling forwards at the ends. There is a loop for suspension at the top, made of twisted wires, one end of which extends down the back to the top of the crystal cross. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'INRI' (Engraved, in reverse, on the top of the cross.)
|
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Italian women, like Catholic women elsewhere in southern Europe, often wore elaborate crosses as jewellery. This cross may have been worn, but it is more likely to have been hung in the home as an object of devotion, and to protect the members of the family from spiritual harm. When it was acquired it was described as usually suspended at a bed-head. It comes from Romagna, and the swirling pattern of the filigree is typical of that used in the north-east of Italy, in the region around Venice. It was bought for £1 as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867. |
| Bibliographic reference | 'Italian Jewellery as worn by the Peasants of Italy', Arundel Society, London, 1868, Plate 7
'The Paris Universal Exhibition, 1867', published by The Art Journal, London, 1868, p.325. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 359-1868 |
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| Record created | April 3, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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