Antique Victorian lava stone cameo earrings set in gold mounting

Antique jewelry object group: earrings short hanging

Condition: very good condition
  -  (more info on our condition scale)

Country of origin: unknown

Style: Victorian - Victorian decorative arts refers to the style of decorative arts during the Victorian era. The Victorian era is known for its eclectic revival and interpretation of historic styles and the introduction of cross-cultural influences from the middle east and Asia in furniture, fittings, and Interior decoration. Victorian design is widely viewed as having indulged in a regrettable excess of ornament. The Arts and Crafts movement, the aesthetic movement, Anglo-Japanese style, and Art Nouveau style have their beginnings in the late Victorian era.
  -  See also: Victorian or more info on styles

Style specifics: The Grand Victorian Period - Experts divide the reign of Queen Victoria, also called The Victorian era (1837 - 1901) into three periods of about twenty years each; The Romantic Victorian Period (1837 - 1860), The Grand Victorian Period (1860 - 1880), and the Late or Aesthetic Victorian Period (1880 - 1901).

We consider this to be of the Grand Victorian Period.

This second Victorian period is famous for its ostentatious pieces set with pearls and diamonds (from South Africa). From ca. 1850 wealthy English had reported about jewelry from India and Japan, which heavily inspired the jewelers of this period. This period also corresponds with the death of Queen Victoria's husband King Albert making mourning jewelry (set with heavy dark stones) the type of jewelry specific for this period.

Period: ca. 1870
  -  (events & facts of this era, poetry of this era, fashion of this era)

Source of inspiration: Pompeii

Theme: A young woman in antique clothing with a wreath of grape leaves (perhaps Bacchus?)

Material: 8 or 9 K yellow gold
  -  (more info on precious metals)

Technique: Cameo is a method of carving, or an item of jewellery or vessel made in this manner. It features a raised (positive) relief image. There are three main materials for Cameo carving; Shells or Agate (called a Hardstone cameo), and glass. Cameos can be produced by setting a carved relief, such as a portrait, onto a background of a contrasting colour. This is called an assembled cameo. Alternately, a cameo can be carved directly out of a material with integral layers or banding, such as (banded) agate or layered glass, where different layers have different colours. Sometimes dyes are used to enhance these colours. Cameos are often worn as jewellery. Stone cameos of great artistry were made in Greece dating back as far as the 6th century BC. They were very popular in Ancient Rome, and one of the most famous stone cameos from this period is the Gemma Claudia made for the Emperor Claudius. The technique has since enjoyed periodic revivals, notably in the early Renaissance, and again in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Extra information: Bacchus - The person depicted could be Bacchus, as he is described as being womanly or "man-womanish".

Bacchus to the Greek and Dionysus or Dionysos to the Romans, the god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficial influences. He is the patron deity of agriculture and the theatre. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine. His divine mission was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry. There is also an aspect of Dionysus on his relationship to the "cult of the souls", and the scholar Xavier Riu writes that Dionysus presided over communication between the living and the dead.

Bacchus was the son of Jupiter (Zeus) and Semele. Juno (Hera), to gratify her resentment against Semele, contrived a plan for her destruction. Jove took the infant Bacchus and gave him in charge to the Nysacan nymphs and for their care were rewarded by Jupiter. When Bacchus grew up he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice. Juno struck him with madness but he was cured by the goddess Rhea who taught him how to show the people the cultivation of the vine.

The name Bacchus came into use in ancient Greece during the 5th century BC. It refers to the cries with which he was worshipped at the Bacchanalia, frenetic celebrations in his honor. He is viewed as the promoter of civilization, a lawgiver, and lover of peace - as well as the patron deity of agriculture and the theater.
From Wikipedia

Lavastone jewelry - Lavastone jewelry, usually a mounted cameo or intaglio, made of the lava from Mt Vesuvius and carved in Italy. The pieces are of a variety of colours, usually pale shades or greys and browns, and the surface is matt. It was a popular form of inexpensive jewelry of the 19th century.

Hallmarks: No trace.
  -  (more info on hallmarks)

Dimensions: height of earrings 2,58 cm (1,02 inch), height of mounted stone 2,03 cm (0,80 inch)

Weight: 4,90 gram (3,15 dwt)

Reference Nº: 17171-0336

Copyright photography: Adin, fine antique jewelry

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