Micromosaic Suite
Lot Closed
June 3, 02:14 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
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Read more.Lot Details
Description
Comprising: a brooch set with an onyx plaque inlaid with polychrome tesserae depicting a bouquet consisting of roses, lilies, hibiscus and forget-me-nots within a tiered frame with ropetwist decoration; a bracelet of similar design; and a pair of brooches of similar design.
- Large brooch measuring approximately 57 x 49mm
- Bracelet length approximately 155mm
- Smaller brooches measuring approximately 25 x 22mm
- Circa 1870
- Total gross weight approximately 90.0 grams
- Accompanied by a fitted case
David Bennett, Daniela Mascetti, Understanding Jewellery, 1989, pg.132 for pieces of similar design
Shirley Bury, Jewellery 1789 - 1910 Volume 1, United Kingdom 1991, pg.251 for a piece of similar design
The suite above features the flowers with the below meanings:
Lily - Purity and Sweetness
Forget-me-not - True Love
White rose - Purity and Loveliness
Hibiscus - Delicate Beauty
Floriography, the coded language of flowers, traces its origins to the fourteenth-century Turkish tradition of sélam, a system of symbolic communication often described as a form of “Turkish love letters.” Within this practice, small objects such as flowers, locks of hair, or pearls were wrapped in a handkerchief and sent to a recipient as carriers of concealed poetic meaning. The message was not derived directly from the object itself, but rather through a linguistic mechanism: the recipient deciphered the communication by identifying words that rhymed with the name of the object, thereby revealing an associated sentiment or phrase.
In the Victorian period, there was a growing interest in botany, and dictionaries were published to aid in deciphering messages, an example being The Language of Flowers: An Alphabet of Floral Emblems, London; New York: T. Nelson and Sons, 1857.