The Property of
A LADY
ANTIQUE CABOCHON SAPPHIRE, EMERALD AND DIAMOND PEACOCK FEATHER BROOCH
Details
ANTIQUE CABOCHON SAPPHIRE, EMERALD AND DIAMOND PEACOCK FEATHER BROOCH
The rose and old mine-cut diamond undulating articulated plume centering upon a calibré-cut emerald and old mine-cut diamond ocellus, set with a cabochon sapphire measuring approximately 11.00 x 8.00 x 7.80 mm, mounted in gold and silver (one small clasp missing), circa 1880
For a similar pair of feather brooches by Boucheron see:
"Magnificent Jewels", Christie's New York, April 13, 1995, Lot 572
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the peacock image appeared in all media of the fine and decoraitve arts, represented pictorally as a conception of exotic beauty and symbolically as a personification of pride and immorality. The peacock was depicted either as the entire bird with resplendant tail feathers, a conception Whistler immortalized in the "Peacock Room", now part of the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, or as a single naturalistically rendered feather, a representation readily transposed into jewelry design. The illustrated feather captures the essence of the bird with exquisite attention paid to detail. Diamond studded stem and rachises give an overall luxuriant appearance, each rachis curling out in a different angle as they do in nature. The central sapphire-set 'ocellus' with encircling emeralds and diamonds reflect the rich colorations of the actual bird.
The rose and old mine-cut diamond undulating articulated plume centering upon a calibré-cut emerald and old mine-cut diamond ocellus, set with a cabochon sapphire measuring approximately 11.00 x 8.00 x 7.80 mm, mounted in gold and silver (one small clasp missing), circa 1880
For a similar pair of feather brooches by Boucheron see:
"Magnificent Jewels", Christie's New York, April 13, 1995, Lot 572
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the peacock image appeared in all media of the fine and decoraitve arts, represented pictorally as a conception of exotic beauty and symbolically as a personification of pride and immorality. The peacock was depicted either as the entire bird with resplendant tail feathers, a conception Whistler immortalized in the "Peacock Room", now part of the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, or as a single naturalistically rendered feather, a representation readily transposed into jewelry design. The illustrated feather captures the essence of the bird with exquisite attention paid to detail. Diamond studded stem and rachises give an overall luxuriant appearance, each rachis curling out in a different angle as they do in nature. The central sapphire-set 'ocellus' with encircling emeralds and diamonds reflect the rich colorations of the actual bird.