18th c Spanish Emerald Cross Pendant

A gorgeous 18th century Spanish laca bow tie and cross pendant, set with approx. 4.6 ctw of table-cut natural emeralds of lovely medium – deep green coloring. The top bow element, a ‘laca’ as it’s known in Spain, is of a mature rococo style well documented in books and museum collections. Dated 1750-80, this type is generally attributed to the jewelers of Córdoba, Spain, and can be characterized by a profusion of floral and openwork ornamentation. For a similarly made laca bow, see inventory n. 9913 from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Interestingly, the middle and bottom cross elements date almost half a century earlier, to the beginning of the 18th century. The design of these lower elements are almost identical to a surviving drawing of an early 18th century cross from the “Códice del Joyel de Guadalupe”. Late baroque influence can be seen in the vigorous contours, use of linear momentum, and absence of floral motifs (a favorite of later rococo decoration). In particular, the rayed halo design to the cross appears to be unique to this period. A collection of late 17th – early 18th century cross pendants made in neighboring Portugal bears the same feature (see cat. 62 p. 47, Five Centuries of Jewellery, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon by Leonor d’Orey). While Spanish emerald pendants from c. 1750 survive in relatively abundant numbers, those made during the late 17th – early 18th c are very scarce. Aside from the Joyel de Guadalupe drawing, surviving examples are largely absent in museums. A small pendant with a near identical cross was however once in the collection of Peter Szuhay, London. The present pendant bears three identical horsehead hallmarks (French regional guarantees for solid gold, 1838-1919), struck to both the bow and the rest of the body, along with a bigorne anti-counterfeit mark. This suggests the present in its current form was imported into and assembled in France during the 19th century.
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