Large Pendant/Brooch With Opal & Diamonds, c. 1910

The years around 1900 brought a formal language into the world of jewellery with the so-called "garland style", which countered Art Nouveau with a more classical, finer stylistic conception. Borrowings from Louis XVI forms and fine motifs from classical antiquity animated a neoclassicism that valued small, delicate laurel tendrils as much as minute festoons and ornaments with tiny milgrains. The piece of jewellery here is a fine example of this style. The large oval work is broken up into a fine web of delicate bars, on which are flowers and tendrils of diamonds. A wreath of larger old European cut diamonds completes the design on the outside. While a large, wonderful opal shimmers in the center of the composition. The opal displays a multitude of shimmering light reflections that cover the entire spectrum of the rainbow. In addition to greens, blues and yellows, we also see the rarer reddish hues shining in the rather large stone weighing more than four carats. It is an Australian opal with beautiful milky body. The gem can be worn as a brooch as well as a pendant. The pin can be unscrewed for this purpose and the pendant eyelet can be folded. Hallmarks on the side of the piece reveal that it was imported to Portugal in the years around 1990. However, the work was created already in the first years of the 20th century, certainly in Europe, probably in Great Britain. An independent certificate is enclosed.

Estimate:£3,049.45

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