An Important Spanish Colonial 17th Century Emerald, Amethyst and Gold Pectoral Cross

细节

An Important Spanish Colonial 17th Century Emerald, Amethyst and Gold Pectoral Cross
The openwork upper and lower sections embellished with a circular or tear-shaped cabochon emerald in raised setting, the gold ground entirely set with square, rectangular and triangular-cut amethysts, the settings terminating in openwork scrolls and foliate detail around the outer edges, the plain gold reverse showing slight doming of the collet settings, with suspension loop, circa 1650, three amethysts replaced, 11.5 cm overall height

拍品专文

The above cross shows many characteristics of jewels recently salvaged from Spanish treasure ships and known to originate in the New World. The colour of the gold, the distinctive scrollwork around the edges and the exaggerated spade-shaped base to the central upright are variously found in an aigrette-shaped emerald jewel (sold Christie's 3 October 1990, lot 373) and an emerald cross in the Carmona Treasury (cf. La Virgen de Gracia de Carmona, Carmona 1990, fig.2). The colour scheme of this example is highly unusual, although Christie's sale of Spanish Art, 28 May 1992 included a ring set with amethyst and topaz (lot 152) and a spectacular emerald cross (lot 153) was comparable in size (10cm) to the present jewel