A jewelled and enamelled gold cross pendant and chain, Georgian, late 17th century

the pendant of treflée cross form, centred with a table-cut emerald within rubies and a sapphire, all collet-set within a turquoise-coloured enamel divided line border, the corners with projecting pearls, the reverse painted with raised pink flowers on white grounds within translucent green enamel over engraved surfaces, below a double-headed part-enamelled eagle, the chain formed of quatrefoils set with rubies within pale green enamel lobes with traces of red or pink foliage, linked with gold rods with pearl terminals, modern clasp and four later extension links

Princess Sophia (Sopio) Nakashidze, née Dadiani (b. circa 1861)

Given to her daughter-in-law on the occasion of her son's marriage in 1924

Thence by descent

For a nearly identical cross and chain, please see T. Sanikidzé and G. Abramishvili, Orfèvrerie géorgienne du VIIe au XIXe siècle, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, 1979, pl. 68.

This object is in a very good state of preservation, given its age, and appears to have no restoration to any of the enamel. As noted in the catalogue description, four extension links and the modern clasp have been added to the chain. One of the links is set with a dark pearl, having lost its original ruby. One of the rubies does not glow under ultraviolet light. The sapphire of the cross may be a replacement. Some of the collet mounts with crimping, indicating the stones were either somewhat crudely set or have been re-set. One pearl-ended bar-link in the chain is lacking, having been replaced by red thread. There are scattered enamel losses overall, as expected, particularly to the vulnerable green translucent enamel at the back of the cross; one of the flowers on the reverse of the cross with a loss of 7mm in width; these losses are visible in the catalogue and online photographs. Some scratches and very small chips to the stones. The gold surfaces with signs of age, including light scratches and minor dents, as expected. Good weight, well made, and impressive.
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Artists in Georgia were among the first in the ancient world to process metals.  Among the archaeological finds of the Trialeti and Bedeni mounds of southern Georgia are fine gold pins, elaborately chased, dating from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC; enamel was used in the production of Georgian jewellery by the 5th century BC (see A. Jakakhishvili and G. Abramishvili, Jewellery and Metalwork in the Museums of Georgia, Aurora, Leningrad, 1986, pl. 21).  The country’s geographical position between Turkey, Persia and the Silk Road to the south and the important commercial centre of Moscow to the north resulted in foreign influences, including Indian motifs and techniques, appearing frequently in Georgian jewellery throughout the centuries; objects produced before Georgia’s incorporation into the Russian Empire in 1801 bear more markedly Eastern characteristics which, combined the country’s rich tradition of metalwork, make Georgian jewellery distinctive.  The construction of the present cross and chain, for example, particularly the setting of the stones, resembles Indian work, while the pink flowers enamelled on the reverse of the cross are rather more Persian than European or Russian.  The double-headed eagle, although suggestive to the modern eye as Russian, was a common emblem and was used most prominently in the early 18th century by Vakhtang VI, who ruled the Eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli.

A necklace and cross (fig. 1) nearly identical to the present lot is in the collection of the Georgian National Museum (inv. no. 9530) and is dated to the 17th century; the two are almost certainly by the same maker.  Another, also with the double-headed eagle but with rectangular links, is in the same collection (inv. nos. 10 002-10 004) and is part of a parure which includes a diadem and an additional pendant; these pieces are believed to have come from a Tbilisi workshop (see T. Sanikidzé and G. Abramishvili, Orfèvrerie géorgienne du VIIe au XIXe siècle, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, 1979, pls. 69-71).  A variant example (fig. 2), with thicker links and cross, with the addition of diamonds, and with a dove in place of the double-headed eagle, is in the British Museum (museum no. 1983, 0102.1) and is somewhat later than the present lot, although the setting of the stones, the palette of enamels employed, and the decoration of the reverse of the cross (fig. 3) are markedly similar.

The Princely House of Dadiani

For over eight hundred years, the House of Dadiani was an influential Georgian family ruling over the western coastal province of Samegrelo.  Awarded the hereditary title of eristavi (Duke) by the 1280s, in 1557 Levan I established the dynasty as independent princely rulers of the region, which became known as Mingrelia.  While the region accepted Russian sovereignty in 1803, the noble families of Georgian continued to exercise great influence and it was not until 1868 that Prince Nikolaoz Dadiani renounced his rights to the throne.  As an orthodox Christian and aristocratic society, Georgia shared in a similar ideology to Russia but sought to retain a particular identity.  The family’s principal residence in the region’s capital, Zugdidi, was opened as a museum in 1921 with holdings of over 40,000 items pertaining to the family’s rich history.

The eldest of Prince Nikolaoz Elizbari Dadiani’s (1827/9–1879) three daughters with his wife Thamar, a Princess of Abkhazia, Sophia (or Sopio) Dadiani was born in the early 1860s. She went on to marry a member of the Nakashidze family, who had previously ruled over the province of Guria just south of Samegrelo on the western coast.  Marriages between these two dynasties had significant precedent with ‘Didi Niko’ Dadiani, an important diplomatic figure at the turn of the 19th century, marrying Maria, Duchess of Guria.