Mastery of Design: The Abruzzi Coral Stands, 1820

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This impressive necklace is ablaze with crimson and coral. Coral, since prehistoric times, was a favorite medium for Italian jewelers, especially in the south of the country. One favorite souvenir for wealthy tourists (especially the British) was coral jewelry, and for this reason, many examples of this unique medium survive in collections around the world.

This bold necklace from Abruzzi looks as if it came off of the runway of today. It consists of sixteen rows of barrel-shaped coral beads which have been gathered into two silver ends with loops for ribbons. Such ribbons were fashionable in the Nineteenth Century with Italian women who preferred the feel of silk on the backs of their necks to the cold touch of metal.

Unfortunately, these ribbons rarely survive. This, from 1820, is one of the few surviving examples of original Italian neck ribbons. The reason for their survival is that this piece was purchased by the V&A from the Castellani Collection of Italian Jewelry in 1867 at International Exhibition in Paris.