Baroque circa 1750, Ruby and Diamond Demi Parure Set of Earrings, Pendant & Ring

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Baroque circa 1750, Ruby and Diamond Demi Parure Set of Earrings, Pendant & Ring

About the Item

„Après nous le déluge”: After us, the flood! With these words, Madame de Pompadour is said to have commented on the news that the French army had been beaten by Frederick the Great of Prussia, just a few days ago on the 5th of November, 1757 at Roßbach in Saxony. How much worse than these news was the fact that they threatened to cut short one of her splendid feasts – who should care for the future on a night such as this? The splendour of the court at Versailles is legendary. Under the rule of Louis XV., France was the leading instance in questions of taste. Art, architecture, fashion, each innovation seemed to spread across Europe from the court of the Sun King. The parure at hand, a set consisting of a sevigné pendant, a ring and a pair of earrings, dates to these years of the late Baroque period. The set is delivered with its original gold-embossed leather box. Even though it was common for noble and wealthy women to own sets of matching jewellery pieces, so-called parures or in this case a demi-parure, it is extremely rare for such a set to have survived the times. Often, single pieces would be handed down to different members of the family, others would be lost or broken, and across time and locations, the parure would be scattered. The pendant, a so-called sevigné, would originally have been worn in the middle of the chest area, just beneath the neckline of the dress. On the back of the pendant, two loops allow to wear the piece on a chain or a velvet ribbon. Unconstrained by etiquette and historical accuracy, one might nowadays wear it on a choker-length ribbon as well. The pendant is characterised by a bow motif and lavishly set with cherry-red rubies in gold settings and diamonds in silver settings. The lever-back earrings mirror the design of the pendant without copying it. As with the pendant, the earrings’ elements are articulated, so that they catch the light with each of the wearer’s movements. The ring matches both: in its centre we see a large ruby in a closed-back gold setting, flanked by diamonds left and right. The shank shows foliate scrolls on each side, rendering the design light and playful despite the wealth of materials used. The settings of the rubies show delicate C-curved ornaments on the sides, helping us to date the pieces. Similar jewellery was worn since the first decades of the 18th century; however the inclusion of the characteristic C-curve allows us to date the demi-parure to the years around 1750. Comparable pieces can be found in Ginny Redington Dawes: Georgian Jewellery 1714–1830, Woodbridge 2007, pp. 80 and 85, as well as in Hanns-Ulrich Haedeke: Schmuck aus drei Jahrtausenden, Köln 2000, No. 376 et seqq. MATERIALS 26 rubies, max. 3,5 x 4,5 mm / 0,14 x 0,18 in 16 diamonds in historical cuts (table and rose cuts), diameter max. 2,5 mm / 0,098 in Yellow Gold Silver (The carat weight of the gemstones cannot be accurately stated seeing as the historic cuts cannot be estimated in their settings, due to their irregularity; likewise the fineness of precious metals was not yet standardised.) DIMENSIONS The pendant 4,1 x 5,9 cm / 1,61 x 2,32 in The earrings 3,6 x 2,5 cm each / 1,42 x 0,98 in Maximum width of ring face 0,8 cm / 0,31 in RING SIZE German 52 UK L 1/2 US 6 CERTIFICATE Delivery with certificate.

Metal:
Yellow Gold,Silver
Stone:
Diamond,Ruby
Weight:
33.7 g
Style:
Baroque
Period:
Mid-18th Century
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1750
Condition:
The lower part of the ring band indicating a previous size alteration, the box with settings for three more rings.
Seller Location:
Berlin, DE
Reference Number:
Seller: 16-11611stDibs: LU156426563261