Enamelled gold pendant in the form of a dragon, set with emeralds and rubies, with pearl drops, Western Europe, probably 1820-80.

Enamelled gold pendant in the form of a dragon, set with emeralds and rubies, with pearl drops

Salting Bequest

George Salting was born in Australia on 15 August 1835, the elder son of Severin Kanute Salting (1805-1865), a wealthy businessman and landowner, and Louisa Augusta, née Fiellerup. Following an education at Eton College, 1848-53, and the University of Sydney, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1857, Salting settled in London. In 1858-59 he toured the continent, visiting galleries, churches and architectural monuments. After the death of his father on 14 September 1865, he inherited a fortune estimated at £30,000 per annum and devoted himself thereafter to the study and collecting of works of art including lacquer and Oriental porcelain. Such was the extent of the accumulations that filled his rooms above the Thatched House Club at 86 St James's Street, London, that in 1874 Salting started to deposit items on loan in the South Kensington Museum. The Frederic Spitzer sale of Medieval and Renaissance objects d’art in 1893 resulted in a diversification of Salting’s collecting interests: Italian majolica, bronzes and reliefs, Persian, Damascas and Turkish ware, Limoges enamels, illuminated manuscripts, carved woodwork and tapestries, and Japanese lacquer and European steel and iron.

He died on 12 December 1909 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London. Salting bequeathed works to the National Gallery, British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum. The Trustees of the National Gallery received those works which were already on loan and were also allowed to select those from Salting's Collection which they would like to receive. In total this amounted to 192 works. The pictures were hung in the Gallery in 1911. There were no special conditions attached to the bequest. Salting bequeathed his prints and drawings to the British Museum and a substantial number of objects to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The bequest to the V&A was conditional that the objects would not be distributed over various sections but all kept together. Including three works presented during his lifetime, there are currently 164 works in the National Gallery Collection which have been donated by Salting. In addition, thirty-one of the works bequeathed by Salting are now held by the Tate Gallery.

This pendant was inspired by the superb sculptural jewels of animals and birds made by Renaissance goldsmiths in the sixteenth century. Both the front and back are decorated with equal care. It is a fine jewel, but the enamelling and the modelling give rise to doubts about its age. There was such a heavy demand for Renaissance jewels in the nineteenth century that many were made to meet it. Of these, some were openly made in the Neo-Renaissance style and were sold as new work, while others, like this jewel, are unmarked. We now believe it was probably made in the nineteenth century. Whatever the original intention of the jeweller who made it, by 1910, when the jewel was bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum, it was described as Spanish and sixteenth century.

M.536-1910