Sunday, July 8, 2012

Mastery of Design: The Parisian Basket of Flowers Brooch, 1890

Floral Brooch
French, c. 1890
The Victoria & Albert Museum


This Parisian brooch of platinum, gold, enamel, rose-cut diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires was made in 1890 and is a nod to the Eighteenth Century fashion for “giardinetti” or jewels in the shape of flowers, meaning literally, little gardens. 

During this part of the Nineteenth Century, the style for jewels was largely naturalistic, drawing inspiration from arrangements of flowers, sometimes peppered with insects. Usually, these creations were thick with densely-set diamonds, but this one is more colorful, reminding us of the sparkling gems of the Rococo period. 




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