Jennifer Tonkin
Co-Head of Department UK
Lot 4
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIVAL GOLD, SARDONYX AND ENAMEL FRINGE NECKLACE, CIRCA 1860
22 September 2021, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £12,750 inc. premium
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Kate Flitcroft
Co-Head of Department UK
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIVAL GOLD, SARDONYX AND ENAMEL FRINGE NECKLACE, CIRCA 1860
The banded sardonyx amphorae suspended from a strand of banded sardonyx beads, via black and white enamel surmounts, mounted in gold, length 39.0cm
Footnotes
The cult of mourning in Victorian culture has led to a widespread assumption that anything black represented bereavement. On the contrary, black was also considered a fashionable colour for married women of a certain age in Victorian society. Dressmakers and jewellers alike, known to specialise in mourning, also produced goods that could be sold as fashionable items, bridging the gap between mourning and everyday wear. In around 1860, Jay's General Mourning Warehouse on Regent Street produced a 'Manual of Fashion' in which they advised their goods were, "suitable either for Ladies who adopt Mourning, or for those who wear Black in accordance with the taste of the day".
Photographic portraiture of the era shows black jewellery being worn as a smart accessory. This necklace is a prime example of its type, displaying well matched thin white stripes throughout the hand carved amphorae, satisfying the fashion for Archaeological Revival jewels, while demonstrating the skill and expertise of the gem cutter. For a similar fringe necklace terminating with banded sardonyx beads by Marret et Baugrand of Paris, circa 1860, see C. Gere and J. Rudoe, 'Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria', London, 2010, pp.122-125, ill.p.122, fig. 77.
