Vintage antique 18K gold Maria pendant with plique-ajour-enamel and seed pearls

Antique jewelry object group
pendant

Condition
very good condition
more info on our condition scale

Country of origin
unknown

Style
something between the Late-Victorian and Belle Epoque style - 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.
And the Belle Époque style (Belle Époque is French for "Beautiful Era") was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the time of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, the "Belle Époque" was named in retrospect, when it began to be considered a "golden age" the major powers of Europe, new technologies improved lives and the commercial arts adapted Renaissance and eighteenth-century styles to modern forms. In the newly rich United States, emerging from the Panic of 1873, the comparable epoch was dubbed the Gilded Age. In the United Kingdom, this epoch overlaps the end of what is called the Victorian Era there and the period named the Edwardian Era.
See also: late-Victorian
more info on styles

Style specifics
The Late or Aesthetic 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 Late or Aesthetic Victorian Period.

Jewelry of this period is changing back from heavy to more smaller, romantic pieces with often whimsical motifs. Jewelers using diamonds and bright gemstones in elaborated and fine feminine pieces.

Period
ca. 1910
Events & facts of this era, poetry of this era, fashion of this era.

Source of inspiration
Christianity

Theme
Mother Mary

Material
18K yellow gold (touchstone tested)
more info on precious metals

Technique
Plique a jour which is a French term for a technique of decoration in enamelling by which the design is outlined in metal and filled in with one or variously colored transparent enamels but with no backing behind the enamel, so that the effect is similar to that of a stained-glass window. This effect is clearly visible at one of the pictures we took with lighting from the back.

Precious stones
46 seed pearls

Birthstones
Pearl is the birthstone (or month stone) for June.
more info on birthstones

Hallmarks
Illegible remains.
more info on hallmarks

Dimensions
2,49 cm (0,98 inch) x 1,43 cm (0,56 inch)
see picture with a ruler in millimeters and inches

Weight
1,50 gram (0,96 dwt)

Adin Reference Nº
23191-0421

Copyright photography
Adin, fine antique jewellery

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