A Neo-Renaissance enamelled gold and gem-set parure attributed to Castellani,

The large pendant is centred with a sardonyx cameo, also likely dating to the mid-16^th century, depicting the goddess Venus draped in fabric reclining next to a wall and beneath a stylised tree, serenaded by two Cupids, one playing the panpipes and the other a psaltery. The cameo is similarly mounted within an openwork scalloped border decorated with opaque black enamel surmounted by a ruby set within a rectangular collet topped with a gold suspension loop. It is also flanked by scrolls in translucent red and green enamel, foliate decoration and lobes of opaque white enamel with pellets, suspending a pear-shaped emerald drop flanked by two pearls hanging from a ruby and two emeralds mounted in enamelled rectangular collets. The reverse likewise decorated in engraved gold with scrolls and stylised foliate motifs.

The pair of small pendants are mounted with sardonyx cameos depicting a classicised man and woman. They were undoubtedly carved by the same hand and likely conceived as a pair, possibly dating to the 19^th century.  The male subject is shown in profile facing left with a beard and draped in a robe, his shoulder uncovered revealing highly embellished armour decorated with the head of a beast. The subject is redolent of Cellini’s bust of Cosimo I de Medici, which likewise depicts the sitter wearing armour ornamented with the heads of beasts on his shoulders. If the subject is Cosimo I de Medici, it is likely the other gem was intended to depict his wife Camilla Martelli de Medici. She is depicted in profile facing right and is draped in fabric in the Classical taste.

Both cameos are mounted within an openwork scalloped border decorated with opaque black enamel and twisted wirework, topped with rubies mounted in rectangular collets decorated with black enamel beneath a gold suspension loop. Hanging from the bases are pear-shaped emerald drops flanked by pearls, suspended from rubies and emeralds mounted in rectangular collets with black enamel decoration. The reverse decorated in engraved gold with stylised foliate motifs and scrolling.

The highly distinctive style of these jewels, with the scalloped openwork settings decorated with opaque black enamel, the striking opaque white enamelled lobes with pellets and the stones mounted in enamelled black collets, is very unusual when compared to the work of other nineteenth century jewellers working in the Renaissance taste in Austria, France, Italy and Great Britain.

These idiosyncratic features appear on a series of signed works by the Roman firm Castellani, an example of which is an enamelled gold pendant mounted with an engraved sapphire which was bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It shows the identical scalloped black setting topped with white enamel lobes mounted with a ruby in a rectangular collet (M.222-1917). Likewise, another signed pendant brooch in the museum’s collection also has these same distinguishing features (M.150-2007). A third unsigned example, catalogued by the museum as a Castellani jewel, is decorated on the reverse with closely comparable scrolls and foliate decoration (M.64-1975). The absence of a signature on this jewel and the pieces in the parure may indicate the desire of Castellani for a greater sense of historical authenticity, leaving the design untainted by a modern mark.

A further and highly relevant example of Castellani’s unique Renaissance style can be found on page 178 of ‘Castellani and Giuliano: Revivalist Jewellers of the Nineteenth Century’ (Munn, 1984). It depicts a parure comprising of a necklace, brooch and pair of earrings all mounted with sardonyx cameos in the firm’s distinctive fashion. Here too many of the gems appear to date to the 16^th century and may indicate that the firm acquired a collection of antique material that they used to create these two parures (incorporating some nineteenth century gems where earlier cameos were not available).

Nineteenth century jewellers such as Castellani were avid students of portraiture, taking inspiration from the jewellery which adorned the sitters of Renaissance paintings. It is not uncommon for their designs to reflect the ways in which jewellery was worn during the Renaissance. The presence of three pendants in this parure is indicative of this and likely reflects the Renaissance fashion for using pendants in much more diverse ways than simply suspending them from chains, such as pinning them to bodices, suspending them within lace ruffs or hanging them in the hair.