Mastery of Design: The Anne Hull Grundy Camellia, c. 1860

All Images From the British Museum.

I'm in love with this brooch.  So much so that I can almost forgive the fact that it's made out of elephant.  Made around 1860 in England, the chased green gold ornament takes the form of a camellia with the blooms crafted of finely-carved and tinted ivory.

From the Hull-Grundy gift to The British Museum, the intricately worked ivory is, as The British Museum puts it, "of unusually high quality, demonstating a concern for naturalistic accuracy rather than any interest in intrinsic value."

The brooch was wholly restored by The British Museum in 2009.  It has been purchased by Anne Hull Grundy from N. Bloom & Son, 40 Albemarle Street, London W1 for, according  a 1973 invoice, £440.  The jeweler mistakenly described the ornament as a "Gold and ivory rose spray brooch, c. 1820," when it is in fact, a camellia from c. 1860.