GOLD AND SILVER MICROMOSAIC BROOCH, CASTELLANI, CIRCA 1860

Depicting the monogram 'Chi-Rho' the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, decorated throughout with eu de nil coloured tesserae and rope gold work borders, signed with interlaced C's, French import marks.

Cf: Exhibition Catalogue: Susan Weber Soros and Stefanie Walker, Castellani and Italian Archaeological Jewelry, The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2004, pages 160-164, 245, 334 for examples of micromosaic jewels by Castellani depicting Christian symbols.

Cf: Geoffrey C. Munn, Castellani and Giuliano, Rivivalist Jewellers of the Nineteenth Century, London, 1984, for several examples of micromosaic jewels by Carlo Giuliano and Castellani.

Cf: A.Kenneth Snowman, The Master Jewelers, Thames & Hudson, 1990, page 12 for an example of a ring by Castellani incorporating the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ.

 

 

Very smooth surface with minor losses to one small section of tesserae. Some light scratches to reverse consistent with age and wear. In very good condition.
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Christian inscriptions and symbols often featured in mosaic jewels by both Castellani and Giuliano; 'Chi-Rho' for Christ as in this example was often accompanied by Alpha and Omega, signifying the beginning and the end.  Other jewels might feature a fish representing Ichtus a Greech achronym for Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Saviour, or the anchor symbolic of Christian hope.   The Lamb of God and even the peacock with its thousand eyes representing the 'all seeing Church' are all familiar examples of subject matter used in 19th Century revivalist jewels.