Magnificent Pendant with Diamonds in Platinum, c. 1910

"Le Style Guirlande" - the "garland style" brought a formal language to the world of jewellery that contrasted Art Nouveau with a more classic, refined style. Borrowings from Louis XVI forms and fine motifs from classical antiquity enlivened a neoclassicism that valued small, delicate laurels as much as meticulous festoons and embellishments with tiny millegrains. This elegant and prestigious style was particularly suited to evening jewellery: sparkling diamonds and white platinum shone in the electrically lit ballrooms and sparkled in the subdued light of the opera boxes. The pendant presented here will also have once accompanied such evenings – judging by its high quality, it would have been worn with a fine gown by Worth, or perhaps Callot Soeurs... A total of around 6.90 ct of fine quality diamonds have been set here in fine platinum. The suspensions of the vertically tripartite design, typical of the period, as well as the large old-cut diamond set in the center, are each movably set to ideally hug the décolleté. The finest millegrains surround each setting and enhance the brilliance of the diamonds with subtle light and shadow effects. This high-quality piece can rightly be described as a jewel. It is almost certainly by an illustrious hand – if we leaf through antique periodicals, we can see a similarity in quality and design to the jewellery created around 1910 by the court jewelers Friedländer or Werner. However, as jewellery from this period is not usually signed, a reliable attribution can only be made by discovering old design drawings. The pendant is supplied on a matching but later white gold chain and with an independent gem lab certificate.

Estimate:£25,421.33

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