18th Century Jewelry

Museum-quality rare and important antique 18th century chrysolite chrysoberyl girandole earrings and necklace demi-parure mounted in closed-back s...

Extremely Rare Museum Quality Antique 18th Century Chrysolite Chrysoberyl Pendeloque Pendant Earrings, Portugal, c. 1770, fitted in antique red leather case with golden decorative accents. Each earring is designed with a circular cluster surmount, leading to an openwork French bow a ribbon spacer link, suspending a pear-shaped pave cluster drop, the jewel set throughout with circular, oval, pear, cushion and calibré cut yellowish-green to greenish-yellow chrysoberyl gemstones closed-set in silver. Genuine and original 18th century chrysolite earrings of this style and design are exceedingly rare and highly collectible. Dimensions: 6.1 x 2.7 cm. Gross weight: 39.7g. Tested silver, not marked; partially restored lever-back fittings. For an identical pair of 18th century Portuguese chrysoberyl earrings, see “Oceanos - Ourivesaria Luso-Brasileira do Ciclo do Ouro e dos Diamantes N.43", Lisbon, Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses, 2000, page 47. For a similar pair of Portuguese Georgian chrysoberyl earrings...

Antique 18th Century Chrysolite Chrysoberyl Cocktail Ring in Silver Gilt and Rose Gold, Portugal, c. 1780. This rare Portuguese jewel is designed as a moval (mix of marquise/navette and oval) shape cluster ring pave-set throughout with old-cut yellowish-green chrysoberyl gemstones in close-back silver gilt, further embellished with a rose gold beaded border, to a rose gold closed undercarriage which leads to a tapering rose gold shank. This ring is a genuine and original Georgian piece and should not be confused for a later conversion. Finger size: 56 (EU), but can be sized up or down. Dimensions: 4.0 x 3.2 cm. Gross weight: 11.1g. These rings are the epitome of the late 18th century fashion amongst the Portuguese high society. Everything is phenomenal, from their elegance and design variety, excellence of execution and assembling, and even the cutting and setting of these Brazilian gemstones which seem to be elegantly assembled independently from the golden bead frame surrounding them. For similar Portuguese/Iberian Georgian chrysoberyl rings, see d'Orey, Leonor, "Five Centuries of Jewellery", permanent exhibition of the National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon, Zwemmer Publishers Limited, 1995, pages 78 and 89. For similar Portuguese/Iberian Georgian chrysoberyl rings, see Scarisbrick, Diana, “The S. J. Phillips Collection of Jewels of Portugal”, London, Sotheby’s, S.J.Phillips, 2017, pages 44 and 54. In the Iberian (Portuguese and Spanish) antiques world, “crisólita” is a very popular gemstone. This late-18th century misnomer in Portugal and Brasil, also referred to as “oriental chrysolite”, corresponds to greenish-yellow chrysoberyl, a mineral that was named after its transparency and colour, from the Greek “chrysos” (meaning “gold”) and "berullos" (meaning “transparency”). This gemstone became very popular in Portuguese and Brazilian jewellery on the last third of the 1700s gaining even more importance in the early 1800s, following the discovery of significant quantities of fine gem quality material in Minas Gerais, Brazil, particularly in the Minas Novas...

Museum Quality Antique 18th Century Chrysolite Chrysoberyl Pendeloque Pendant Earrings, Portugal, c. 1780. Each earring of an openwork design with a navette shape cluster top suspending a ribbon tied bow and hung with a flowerhead in tear-drop shaped frame, set throughout with circular, marquise, cushion and calibre cut chrysoberyl stones close-set in silver. For a similar pair of Portuguese Georgian chrysoberyl earrings...

This antique Portuguese cluster ring has a large central, intensely green, chrysoberyl with a surround of eight slightly smaller chrysoberyls. The stones are mounted in silver-topped...

Lovely Georgian Paste Articulated Heart Pendant from the late 18th Century. Beautifully cut, brilliant black dot pastes are used in this articulated 3 part pendant which has been strung on a wonderfully simple Japanese...