Necklace
1800-1867 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Italian women have always loved lavish display. Even for the poorest, a rich show of jewellery was all important. Italian goldsmiths were expert at making a little material go a very long way. The garnets in this necklace have been backed with red metallic foil to improve their colour. Red and gold are the dominant colours in Italian traditional jewellery.
The design of this necklace is typical of traditional jewellery from central Italy. Although complete necklaces are rare, many women would have worn earrings of this pattern, and matching pendant crosses hung from a decorative ribbon.
This necklace was bought for £18 as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867.
The design of this necklace is typical of traditional jewellery from central Italy. Although complete necklaces are rare, many women would have worn earrings of this pattern, and matching pendant crosses hung from a decorative ribbon.
This necklace was bought for £18 as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gold set with garnets and pearls |
| Brief description | Gold necklace with pearls and garnets, central Italy, 1800-1867. |
| Physical description | Necklace of 19 oval openwork plaques, with a loop and a hook respectively on the two ends. Each plaque is set with a ring of six flat-cut garnets in closed mounts, with a pearl fastened across the central space between them. At the front of the necklace there is a twentieth plaque attached as a pendant. This plaque has a hook on its back, which supports a two-part cross, in similar style, with three more plaques hanging as pendants from its arms. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production | Worn in central Italy |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Italian women have always loved lavish display. Even for the poorest, a rich show of jewellery was all important. Italian goldsmiths were expert at making a little material go a very long way. The garnets in this necklace have been backed with red metallic foil to improve their colour. Red and gold are the dominant colours in Italian traditional jewellery. The design of this necklace is typical of traditional jewellery from central Italy. Although complete necklaces are rare, many women would have worn earrings of this pattern, and matching pendant crosses hung from a decorative ribbon. This necklace was bought for £18 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 2 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 331-1868 |
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| Record created | April 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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