Objets d'Art and Vertu

A fine silver oval, easel back picture frame. By Buccellati. In sterling silver. With heavy gauge Rococo style rocaille decoration to the top and base. Marked Buccellati / Italy / Sterling to the side of the frame. Simply a great Buccellati frame...

Eighteen karat Buccellati style vintage brooch, handmade in Italy Brooch designed in Florentine textured Floriform theme brooch in the style of marked "ITALI / 18K." Brooch measuri...

Fine antique European Renaissance style ruby, sapphire, emerald and amethyst encrusted reticulated silver box, 19th Century. The intricate top features approximately 8 carats of emer...

A fine antique Dresden nut scoop or petit four server. Comprised of an ornate 800 silver scoop and mounted with a hand-painted Dresden porcelain handle. ...

A beautiful antique French 19th century gilt miniature scent bottle. The bottle is a squared urn shape graduating from the top down with an all...

Reliquary Pendant with Crucifixion Germany, 1450–1500 Gilded silver Weight 88.3 grams; dimensions 102 × 39 × 11 mm (with chain), 46 × 39 × 11 mm (w...

Reliquary Pendant in Book Form Southern Germany, probably Augsburg, c. 1550 Gilded silver, verre églomisé Weight 14.1 grams; dimensions 35 × 29 × 13 mm Gilded silver pendant in book form with hinged lid, corded wire surround, and engraved spine. The front cover of the book is set with a glass plaque depicting the Nativity in verre églomisé; the back cover shows the Annunciation. When opened, inside is Christ as Ecce Homo under a trefoiled arch, and opposite is a relic (missing) surrounded by a golden aureole against a red background. Trefoil-shaped pendant loop on top and bottom, and book clasp. Nothing could be more satisfying, intellectually and devotionally, than combining the functions of the personal reliquary and the book. One opens and looks into either with the expectation of encountering knowledge and truth. In the case of this tiny book, there are no words, only pictures, but ample satisfaction nonetheless derives from the revelation of the holy images and perhaps even the material presence of a relic secreted within the tiny, precious covers. The fashion for miniature book jewels seems to have emerged in the sixteenth century. Romina Ebenhoech has identified eight very similar surviving examples with verre églomisé images. The three examples in this collection represent a significant proportion of the surviving corpus. An early publication on the book pendants suggested that the metal frames and the inset reverse-painted glass were manufactured separately, which could well be the case. If so, the individual books may represent a personalized devotional object with four images selected by the patron, each a separate jewel painted in red and white and glowing with gold. In his Autobiography, Benvenuto Cellini recommended gold-glass reverse painting as an appropriate medium for the production of reliquaries. It responds especially well to the flickering nature of candlelight (as on altars). In this example, the front of the book represents the Nativity and the back the Annunciation, inverting the narrative order, but perhaps satisfying devotional needs. The patron might have wished to have the Nativity as the primary image—especially appealing here in the Bridgettine vision of Mary praying before the newborn Christ, who glows brighter than any light, even the candle held by St. Joseph. Opening the book, however, triggers a different mode of more affective devotion. Confronting the viewer at the core of the little book is the body of Christ. This is the Ecce Homo, the moment in the Gospel story when Christ was presented before Pontius Pilate. The image gained currency after 1500, following the format of the Man of...

Exquisite 18th Century two color gold mounted diamond and ruby encrusted figured agate snuff box, France, circa 1740. Complex, flaring shape in the form of a garden basket of flowers...

Renaissance 36 carat Amethyst Compact Vanity Box or Necklace Rare find 3.5 x 2.75 inch metal box with Hand Painting picture of 17th Century is signed by artist. Excellent colors a...

Curling scrollwork and acanthus leaves adorn this little box that closes with a firm snap as you click it shut against the small cabochon sapphire clasp. It's smoothly polished on t...

Shaped like a gorgeous feather with a flat-cut emerald as focus-point, this Emerald, Diamond Gold Brooch with Yellow Sapphire is so exquisite that it can be compared with one of the sculptural masterpieces of the Roman baroque style, the ‘Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.’ The sculpture was inspired by a vision of Saint Teresa, which she described in a very visual, even sexual way. An angel plunged a golden spear into her heart, leaving her breathless and consumed with a spiritual pain so intense that she did not want it to end. This brooch is the contemporary transformation of the sculpture found in the Cornaro Chapel, in Santa Maria della Vittoria, in Rome. The artist was Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Why do we say this? Bernini began by designing the chapel as the 'theatre' for his sculpture. Similarly, the Vintage-inspired Emerald, Diamond Gold Brooch also needs a setting, a background. That, of course, is you! The ‘Ecstasy’ is floodlit by beams of natural light from a hidden window. The natural light mingles with the shine from a cluster of vertical bronze shafts behind the sculpture, shaped to bear a resemblance to the rays of the sun. Imagine this precious gold brooch in your outstretched hand. Rays of rainbow aurora will bounce and shimmer, just like it does on the ‘Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.’ Features of the Vintage-inspired Emerald, Diamond Gold Brooch with Yellow Sapphire: It is all precious stones in this royal brooch...

The Wild West writing instrument is crafted from a combination of leather & sterling silver 925. The barrel features an illustration in scrimshaw depicting a cowboy riding a horse. I...