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Necklace
Castellani - Enlarge image
Necklace
- Place of origin:
Rome, Italy (made)
- Date:
1860-1869 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Castellani (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Gold chains and links strung with pearls
- Credit Line:
Given by Emily, Dowager Countess of Crawford
- Museum number:
M.62-1921
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 122g, case 11
Object Type
This necklace, formed of gold beads and pearls, derives its design from a Roman necklace of similar beads and garnets of the 2nd or 3rd century AD, which is in the British Museum.
People
The firm of Castellani was founded in Rome by Fortunato Pio Castellani (1794-1865). In the mid-1820s Castellani won the patronage of the distinguished archaeologist Michelangelo Caetani, later Duke of Sermoneta. In 1851 Caetani inspired Castellani and his sons Alessandro (1823-1883) and Augusto (1829-1914) to concentrate on jewellery based on classical models.
Design & Designing
Emily, Dowager Countess of Crawford, wrote in 1921, when she presented this necklace to the V&A, together with a wreath and a pair of earrings (also on display), that they had been made 'from the design of Michelangelo, Duke of Sermoneta, in conjunction with Castellani', and she gave W. W. Watts, Keeper of Metalwork, to understand that they had been a wedding gift. As Emily Bootle-Wilbraham, in 1869 she had married James, Lord Lindsay, later 26th Earl of Crawford.
However, the jewellery historian Geoffrey Munn has pointed out that Michelangelo Caetani was blind from 1865. If it is true that the jewellery was a wedding gift and that Caetani had some influence on the design, the simplest explanation may be that the jewellery given to Emily in 1869 was a further development of a design conceived earlier by Caetani and Castellani.
