Egyptian-revival gold, steatite and faience scarab and micromosaic necklace and brooch, Castellani, circa 1860

The necklace composed of fifteen antique steatite and faience scarabs, swivel-mounted within gold frames decorated with multi-colored tesserae in geometric designs, alternating with discs and pendant drops similarly decorated, strung on a gold loop-in-loop chain, length 16 inches, signed with interlaced C's;  the brooch centering an ancient Egyptian scarab carved with the baboon god, mounted within gold  wings decorated with feathers in multi-colored tesserae, signed with interlaced C's in a cartouche.  Together with original double-glazed cabinet-stand.

The Castellani Family:
Alfredo Castellani, sold with part of his large collection of jewelry
organized by  P. and  P. Santamaria in Rome, December 15-18, 1930, lots 48 and 50.

Christie's Geneva, May 14, 1987, lots 388-389

 

Castellani and Italian Archaeological Jewelry, The Bard Graduate Center, New York, November 2004-February 2005, p. 169, fig. 6-31. Also exhibited at Somerset House, London, May-September 2005 and Villa Giulia, Rome, November 2005-February 2006.

Geoffrey C. Munn, Castellani and Giuliano, Revivalist Jewellers of the 19th Century, pl. 125. This illustration is taken from the Santamaria catalogue mentioned in the provenance for this lot. 

Geoffrey C. Munn, 'A Watchful Wait', The Antique Dealer and Collectors Guide, December 1987, front cover and p. 42.

This necklace and brooch are rare examples of jewels in Egyptian taste done by Castellani. Although Alessandro Castellani was an admirer of Egyptian jewels, the style was not nearly as popular in Italy as it was in England. By contrast, Giuliano produced a number of  jewels in Egyptian style from the mid 1860s until his death in 1895.

The Egyptology trend in England was partly due to the tireless efforts of Miss Amelia Edwards, founder of the Egyptian Exploration Society, who was responsible for bringing a number of antiquities to London, including scarabs and faience, which were collected and mounted by Giuliano. See Munn, p. 120-129.

A brooch very similar to the one offered here, from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, is illustrated in the catalogue Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930, Louvre Museum, 1994, p. 360, no. 220. 

Amulets in the shape of scarabs were produced in great abundance over a period of 2000 years, from the First Intermediate Period to Greaco-Roman time and not only in Egypt, as their forms were copied by local craftsmen in Syria and Palestine. The material they were made of varied from gold to hardstone, glazed composition and glass. The popularity of the scarab as an amulet is related to the behaviour of the Egyptian scarab (Scarabeus sacer), commonly known as dung beetle, to roll a large ball of animal dung with its back legs to an underground hiding place where it serves as nutriment. Such strenuous effort was noticed by ancient Egyptian who associated the rolling of the ball to the daily passage of the sun disc across the sky, from east to west. In addition, scarab eggs are laid in a ball of dung which feeds the larvae it contains and is stored underground. Ancient Egyptian believed beetles hatched from the same ball of dung and in their culture scarabs became symbols of spontaneous regeneration, life and resurrection. As a hieroglyph, the scarab has the phonetic value kheper, which means ‘to come into being’. According to the legend of creation centred on the city of Heliopolis, in which the sun god had three manifestations depending on the different time of the day, the raising sun was called Khepri and took the form of a scarab faced man. In funerary scenes Khepri was depicted as a large black beetle and represented the passage of the sun god from night and darkness to day and new life. In Egyptian iconography, the scarab is sometimes represented with a set of wings, certainly an acknowledgement of the fact that the dung beetle can fly, but also a reinforcement of the concept of the scarab rising towards heaven in resurrection.