Antique jewelry glossary

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Figural brooch

A type of brooch in the form of a ring brooch with the rim shaped like a floral stem with nodes, sometimes decorated with gemstones, and in the central space a variety of figures of persons or animals made of chased and enamelled gold.

Such brooches were worn in the late 14th and early 15th century in England, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. A group of such brooches is in the Cathedral of Essen, Germany.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson