Gifts of Grandeur: The Convolvulus Trembler Ornament, 1840-1850

Brooch
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This shimmering composition of foiled rock crystals, pearls and garnets set in enameled gold started out its life as a head ornament in the mid Nineteenth Century. In the Twentieth Century, it was converted into a brooch, and, in doing so, was considerably cut down with the excess being incorporated into other pieces of jewelry. This is what remains, and though it’s not complete, we can see what it once was and how much it relies on the trend toward Naturalism which prevailed at the time of its creation.

This piece is a trembler—featuring jewels on springs and coils which allowed the stones to move and capture the light as the wearer walked. Such Naturalistic gems almost always boasted compositions of fruit and flowers such as this ornament’s depiction of convolvulus and lilies of the valley. The flowers are created from foil-backed (to offer additional shine) clear and purple quartz with green garnets (tsavorite) and pearls.

Such jewels had a romantic significance and were given as gifts in order to convey symbolic messages. In The Language of Flowers, first published by one Mrs. Burke in 1856, the lily of the valley signified a return of happiness, and the convolvulus could represent the bonds among other things.