Details
EXQUISITE ANTIQUE DEMANTOID GARNET, COLORED DIAMOND AND ENAMEL
BROOCH
Centering upon an oval-cut demantoid garnet weighing approximately 9.28 cts., set within an openwork shield-shaped foliate scroll gold mount, applied with pale green enamel, enhanced by old mine-cut brown, yellow, orange, blue and pink diamonds and smaller demantoid garnets and near colorless diamonds, circa 1895
Signed by Tiffany & Co.
The understated elegance of this brooch belies that fact that it is set with an unusually large demantoid garnet and is one of the largest recently at auction. Demantoid garnets were discovered in the Ural Mountains in Russia in the last century. Demant, the Dutch word for diamond, was the name given to the stone because of its brilliance. For that reason, Benjamin Zucker in "Gems and Jewels" states " ... it is considered a most precious gem." Demantoid garnets were popular during the last two decads of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, mostly used as accents on imaginative animal and insect jewelry. Usually found in sizes of less than a carat, larger stones are exceedingly rare.
This brooch is designed along the lines of a stomacher, a trinagular-shaped bodice ornament, that was popular in the 18th century and sustained a revival during the Edwardian period. Tiffany & Co. featured several variations on this theme at their display in the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. This piece is also reminiscent of the stomacher from the Devonshire parure, worn by the Countess Granville at the coronation of Alexander II, Tsar of Russia in 1856.
BROOCH
Centering upon an oval-cut demantoid garnet weighing approximately 9.28 cts., set within an openwork shield-shaped foliate scroll gold mount, applied with pale green enamel, enhanced by old mine-cut brown, yellow, orange, blue and pink diamonds and smaller demantoid garnets and near colorless diamonds, circa 1895
Signed by Tiffany & Co.
The understated elegance of this brooch belies that fact that it is set with an unusually large demantoid garnet and is one of the largest recently at auction. Demantoid garnets were discovered in the Ural Mountains in Russia in the last century. Demant, the Dutch word for diamond, was the name given to the stone because of its brilliance. For that reason, Benjamin Zucker in "Gems and Jewels" states " ... it is considered a most precious gem." Demantoid garnets were popular during the last two decads of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, mostly used as accents on imaginative animal and insect jewelry. Usually found in sizes of less than a carat, larger stones are exceedingly rare.
This brooch is designed along the lines of a stomacher, a trinagular-shaped bodice ornament, that was popular in the 18th century and sustained a revival during the Edwardian period. Tiffany & Co. featured several variations on this theme at their display in the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. This piece is also reminiscent of the stomacher from the Devonshire parure, worn by the Countess Granville at the coronation of Alexander II, Tsar of Russia in 1856.