Mastery of Design: The Grundy Butterfly Pin, c. 1800

Click on image to enlarge.
Hair Pin
England, 1800
The British Museum

I really like this pin which dates to around 1800. It was likely made in England, but we’ll examine that more closely in a second. Originally, the piece was made as a hairpin. It’s crafted of silver with a closed-back and set with diamonds with ruby eyes and antennae of gold wire.

Two hinged arms with loops at the end were added to the back at a later date. This addition allowed the jewel to be worn as a pendant hung from a ribbon or chain. Butterfly hairpins such as this one were fashionable between1800-30. The pins were usually worn with fresh flower wreaths.

The piece was once part of the collection of Hull Grundy. The curators of the British Museum believe that this pin might be one which was described in the records of the Royal Goldsmiths at Rundells. The piece therein described was supplied to Princess Amelia. The records state: 

“’An elegant Butterfly for the hair' for £142.15s for Princess Amelia.”

Mastery of Design: The Cecil Crofton Floral Chrysoberyl Brooch

Pin of Chrysoberyls
Portugal, 1770-80
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This jewel of chrysoberyls set in silver openwork features a floral spray in the center.  The piece was made as a brooch, but it has been used as a hair pin. 

Made in Portugal between 1770 and 1780, the gem is the work of an unknown artist.  It has long been a part of the Cecil Crofton Collection at the V&A.  

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Hull-Grundy Hair Ornament

Hair Ornament
c. 1760
This and all relayed images from The British Musuem

Another jewel from The British Museum's Hull-Grundy Gift, this hair ornament is made in the form of a floral spray with leaves of chased silver and gold settings for the foiled rose-cut diamonds.  Four pear-shaped pendant drop diamonds and two baroque pearls join the four diamond drops.

The ornament was made in Russia, circa 1760 and shows the Eighteenth Century taste for asymmetrical aigrettes in the Rococo fashion.  The style was especially popular in Russia and Italy, adapted from a Spanish style which relied heavily on shimmering pendant drops.  

A brooch set with emeralds from the same time period and place of creation is frequently associated with this hair ornament.  

Mastery of Design: A Bohemian Garnet Hair Ornament, c. 1830

Garnet Hair Ornament
The British Museum

Imagine an elegant ballroom, flickering in the light of candles held in chandeliers and girandoles dripping in crystals.  A lady nods a greeting to you.  Nestled in the cascades of curls which form her upswept coiffure is this ornament, a fiery shower of crimson sparks from a foliate spray.


This gold hair ornament is set with briolette-cut garnet drops and pearls hung from eight gold volutes set behind a rose gold ribbon which is also mounted with garnets.  It was made in Bohemia (or possibly Austria) circa 1830 and was collected by Professor John and Anne Hull Grundy who donated their important collection of jewels to the British Museum in 1978.




So...do you like garnets?  Do you like mysteries?  Drama?  Reading?  Me?  Do you like me?

Have you read my first novel, The Garnet Red?  I wrote it many years ago.  It even ties into the Mr. Punch stories.

Christmas is coming up.  Do you know what makes a great gift?  Books.  Books make great gifts.  Or, if you're one of those e-reader types, you can do that.  You can download it at the iTunes store by going here.  If you've got a Nook, you can buy an e-Book here through Barnes and Noble.  Or you can buy an actual book book on Amazon.

As you know, I don't hawk a lot of things here.  I keep the self-promotion to the bare minimum.  But...go on...buy a book, so I can keep doing this, and keep feeding the dog and the puppets and the cats...  

Mastery of Design: The Hull-Grundy Hair Ornament

Hair Ornament
c. 1760
This and all relayed images from The British Musuem

Another jewel from The British Museum's Hull-Grundy Gift, this hair ornament is made in the form of a floral spray with leaves of chased silver and gold settings for the foiled rose-cut diamonds.  Four pear-shaped pendant drop diamonds and two baroque pearls join the four diamond drops.

The ornament was made in Russia, circa 1760 and shows the Eighteenth Century taste for asymmetrical aigrettes in the Rococo fashion.  The style was especially popular in Russia and Italy, adapted from a Spanish style which relied heavily on shimmering pendant drops.  

A brooch set with emeralds from the same time period and place of creation is frequently associated with this hair ornament.  

Mastery of Design: The Philippe Wolfers Hair Ornament, 1905-1907

Hair Ornament
Philippe Wolfers
Belgium 1905-1907
Gold, Diamonds, Enamel
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The four petals of this orchid of gold, plique-a-jour enamel, diamonds and rubies radiate from the large central diamond, catching the light both from the front and from behind and offering a mesmerizing, exotic shine and sparkle.

The work of Beglian jeweler Philippe Wolfers, this hair ornament was created between 1905 and 1907 in the extremely technically difficult art of plique-à-jour (French, "letting in daylight"). This is a a technique of vitreous enameling in which the enamel is applied in cells. In this respect, it is similar to cloisonné. However, the similarity ends there. Where the cells of enamel in cloisonné enamel are backed in metal, in plique-à-jour, the backing is removed once the work is finished. In a similar concept to stained glass, this allows light to pass through the transparent or translucent enamel. This technique is difficult to master and is only successfully seen in a few surviving pieces.

Philippe Wolfers was one of the few to truly conquer the technique. He was the most prestigious of the Art Nouveau jewelers working in Brussels. He shared stylistic tendencies with his French counterpart René Lalique. Both men were heavily influenced by the nature and both often incorporated orchids into their designs. You see, orchids symbolized the Art Nouveau movement and served as a visual means of communicating the movement’s fascination with nature and sensuality. 

Mastery of Design: A Diamond Hairpin, 1830-1840

Butterfly Hairpin
Diamonds, Silver, Gold
1830-1840
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Set in silver on a gold frame, rose-cut and brilliant diamonds sparkle in the form of a butterfly. This magnificent diamond hairpin was part of the early Nineteenth Century’s Romantic movement and its reliance on natural forms and designs.

Very often, until the rise of platinum and white gold, diamonds were set in silver prongs so that yellow or rose gold setting would not distract from the diamond or alter its color.

Unusual Artifacts: A Dalmatian Hairpin, 1850-1900

Hairpin of Silver
Dalmatia, 1850-1900
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The hairpin has been a part of a woman’s daily life since antiquity.  Though these clever little items have fallen out of favor today, in large part, they enjoyed a long and happy existence, rising above their utilitarian roots to become decorative and even coveted objects of great monetary and personal value.

Here, we see a small hairpin which dates between 1850 and 1900.  Made of cast silver, it heralds from Dalmatia, Croatia and takes the form of a bird standing on a flat vertical triangle.  The bird depicted here is thought to be a cockerel—a traditional symbol of fertility.  Such a pin would have been used to secure a headpiece to a rather complicated coiffure.

When we think of Dalmatia, we tend to have images of spotted dogs.  In the Nineteenth century Dalmatia was a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—stretching from from Trieste (now in Italy) to the borders of modern Albania. 

Mastery of Design: The Cory Floral Bodice Ornament, 1840-1850

Click Image to EnlargeHair Ornament/Brooch
Enameled Gold, Garnets, Foiled Rock Crystals, Pearls
1840-1850
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This gem, from the monumental collection of Lady Cory, began its life as a hair ornament around 1840 to 1850 when naturalism in jewelry was at its most fashionable. Pieces like this were usually made in pieces so that they could be worn as a large, dramatic jewel for formal occasions or broken apart to be worn on a daily basis as smaller gems.



This ornament of foiled rock crystals, pearls and garnets set in enameled gold has been altered over time. The individual sections of this jewel were merged, removing some segments to use the gemstones for other pieces of jewelry. What remained was made into the brooch that we see today. 

Mastery of Design: The Grundy Butterfly Pin, c. 1800

Click on image to enlarge.
Hair Pin
England, 1800
The British Museum

I really like this pin which dates to around 1800. It was likely made in England, but we’ll examine that more closely in a second. Originally, the piece was made as a hairpin. It’s crafted of silver with a closed-back and set with diamonds with ruby eyes and antennae of gold wire.

Two hinged arms with loops at the end were added to the back at a later date. This addition allowed the jewel to be worn as a pendant hung from a ribbon or chain. Butterfly hairpins such as this one were fashionable between1800-30. The pins were usually worn with fresh flower wreaths.

The piece was once part of the collection of Hull Grundy. The curators of the British Museum believe that this pin might be one which was described in the records of the Royal Goldsmiths at Rundells. The piece therein described was supplied to Princess Amelia. The records state: 

“’An elegant Butterfly for the hair' for £142.15s for Princess Amelia.”

Mastery of Design: The Cory Floral Bodice Ornament, 1840-1850

Click Image to EnlargeHair Ornament/Brooch
Enameled Gold, Garnets, Foiled Rock Crystals, Pearls
1840-1850
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This gem, from the monumental collection of Lady Cory, began its life as a hair ornament around 1840 to 1850 when naturalism in jewelry was at its most fashionable. Pieces like this were usually made in pieces so that they could be worn as a large, dramatic jewel for formal occasions or broken apart to be worn on a daily basis as smaller gems. 

This ornament of foiled rock crystals, pearls and garnets set in enameled gold has been altered over time. The individual sections of this jewel were merged, removing some segments to use the gemstones for other pieces of jewelry. What remained was made into the brooch that we see today. 

Mastery of Design: The Cecil Crofton Floral Chrysoberyl Brooch

Pin of Chrysoberyls
Portugal, 1770-80
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This jewel of chrysoberyls set in silver openwork features a floral spray in the center.  The piece was made as a brooch, but it has been used as a hair pin. 

Made in Portugal between 1770 and 1780, the gem is the work of an unknown artist.  It has long been a part of the Cecil Crofton Collection at the V&A. 

Mastery of Design: The Fuchsias and Ferns Hair Ornament, 1820

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The upswept, ornate hairstyles of the 1820s lent themselves to being adorned with shimmering hair ornaments such as this gold-backed floral spray of European-cut diamonds set in silver.

At the time, the trend in jewelry was to replicate the beauty of nature. Bodice ornaments, brooches, hair ornaments, earrings, necklaces, rings, and bracelets all took the form of shining floral arrangements, baskets of fruit and other natural themes.

This ornament comes from Western Europe, about 1820, and depicts fuchsias and ferns in the universal language of nature. Naturalistic jewelry such as this arose during the Romantic movement along with a new interest in a revived Rococo style. From the early 1820s until about 1830, these designs were stylized and delicate like the one we see here. Later, jewelers strove to be ever-more precise with their copies of flowers, leaves, fruit and insects and the pieces became heavier and more colorful, often employing enamel and complicated gold mounts.

Gifts of Grandeur: The Philippe Wolfers Hair Ornament, 1905-1907

Hair Ornament
Philippe Wolfers
Belgium 1905-1907
Gold, Diamonds, Enamel
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The four petals of this orchid of gold, plique-a-jour enamel, diamonds and rubies radiate from the large central diamond, catching the light both from the front and from behind and offering a mesmerizing, exotic shine and sparkle.

The work of Beglian jeweler Philippe Wolfers, this hair ornament was created between 1905 and 1907 in the extremely technically difficult art of plique-à-jour (French, "letting in daylight"). This is a a technique of vitreous enameling in which the enamel is applied in cells. In this respect, it is similar to cloisonné. However, the similarity ends there. Where the cells of enamel in cloisonné enamel are backed in metal, in plique-à-jour, the backing is removed once the work is finished. In a similar concept to stained glass, this allows light to pass through the transparent or translucent enamel. This technique is difficult to master and is only successfully seen in a few surviving pieces.

Philippe Wolfers was one of the few to truly conquer the technique. He was the most prestigious of the Art Nouveau jewelers working in Brussels. He shared stylistic tendencies with his French counterpart René Lalique. Both men were heavily influenced by the nature and both often incorporated orchids into their designs. You see, orchids symbolized the Art Nouveau movement and served as a visual means of communicating the movement’s fascination with nature and sensuality.