AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIVAL ANCIENT ASSYRIAN SEAL NECKLACE, BY

JOHN BROGDEN, CIRCA 1870

Footnotes

Accompanied by a handwritten note from L. W. King to Mrs Bodenham, stamped by the Department of Egyptian & Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, dated 10th February 1899 (No 1722):

"Dear Madam,
The rubbing you enclose in your letter is taken from a cylinder-seal, which was carried as a seal rather than as an amulet. The seated figure to the left of the impression is that of a god; the figure to the right, with hands raised in an attitude of adoration, represents the owner of the seal entering the presence of the god; the figure in the centre is an attendant deity, or possibly a priest. Behind the owner are two lines of inscription of which only traces appear in the rubbing.
I am yours faithfully
L. W. King"

In response to significant archaeological discoveries made by the assyriologist, George Smith (1840-1876), a wave of Assyrian-inspired jewellery was produced in Britain during the early 1870s. Large crowds flocked to the Assyrian galleries at the British Museum as public interest intensified resulting from the press coverage of these excavations. Much of the revivalist jewellery inspired by these discoveries drew on motifs and forms seen in Assyrian sculptures and reliefs. Unlike contemporary interpretations, the present lot is exceptional in that it features an Assyrian cylinder-seal, connecting the wearer with the ancient world. John Brogden (1820-1884), was one of Britain's leading jewellers working in the revivalist style and he exhibited his work internationally, winning several awards including the Légion d'Honneur for "Goldsmiths' work and jewellery in exquisite taste".

Similar in date to this necklace, is the acclaimed demi-parure by Phillips of Cockspur Street containing hardstone Assyrian and Babylonian cylinder-seals brought back from excavations by the archaeologist, Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894). Extensively documented and widely admired, Phillips' cylinder-seal suite comprised a necklace, bangle and pair of pendent earrings that Layard presented to his wife, Edith, on the occasion of their wedding in 1869. The jewellery features in her well-known marriage portrait, painted in Madrid by Vicente Palmaroli y Gonzalez the following year (see Gere, C. and Rudoe, J., "Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria", London, 2010, pp.394-395, ill.figs.368 and 370).

Assyrian-inspired jewellery was almost exclusively British in taste but there are some instances of the trend appearing later in America and France. Notable among them is a series of striking designs for mounting Assyrian cylinder-seals in the Tiffany archives in New York dating to the 1870s or 1880s (see Gere, C. and Rudoe, J., "Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria", London, 2010, p.396, ill.figs.371-372).