c.1700 Baroque Spanish Devotional Jewel

A c. 1700-25 late Baroque Spanish devotional jewel from the collection of Helene Kurtz (1898-1964), with a glass-covered bas relief enamel depicting St. Anthony of Padua with Christ Child, in a 22k yellow gold setting with table, triangular, and rose cut diamonds (18 total, approx. 1.22 ctw), fitted with a c. 1900 later matched gold chain. St. Anthony of Padua was a medieval Franciscan friar celebrated for his devotion to the poor and sick. He is venerated as the patron saint of lost things, as well as a marriage saint, believed to reconcile couples. 17th c depictions almost always feature St. Anthony in friar’s robes and tonsure, whilst carrying Christ Child. The present jewel is representative of late Baroque Spanish design, with a return to solid forms after decades of preference for openwork and filigree. Jewels of the late 17th – early 18th c transition generally feature chiseled rocaille shapes with serrated and oblique-cut edges, with the backs finely engraved. A similar pendant is in the Victoria & Albert Museum (no. 321-1870), while another example is illustrated on p. 51 of “Investing in Antique Jewelry” by Richard Falkiner (1968). A related jewel with similar bas relief enamel is in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid (inv. 52.384).

Jewelry bearing religious emblems and devotional motifs, known as venera, is intimately tied to Spain’s sociopolitical and cultural identity as a catholic nation. For much of Spanish history, personal adornment was largely informed by public professions of devotion. For citizens of all social classes, the devotional jewel was an ornament of daily use— spiritually, for symbolic and prophylactic power; pragmatically, as a demonstration of religious piety. Standard designs for veneras feature a central composition, usually an image of devotional theme, which during the 16th and early 17th c were commonly executed with oil on metal, tempera on vellum, verre églomisé on glass, or woodblock on paper. After about 1650, there was renewed interest in the painterly potential of enamels, facilitated by novel enameling techniques developed in neighboring France. The resulting compositions in enamel, favored for their vitreous vibrancy and durability, in part replaced fragile miniatures in oil, tempera, or paper.

The present pendant comes from the collection of Helene Kurtz (1898-1964), and is recorded and drawn in the collector’s sketchbook as jewel no. 18, folio 47. According to a birth register in the archives of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, Helene was born on 26 November 1898 to Josef and Zerline Kurtz. She belonged to a well-to-do family of Viennese Jewish businessmen and intellectuals: her father owned the firm Kurtz & co., and her first cousin was the celebrated Austrian-Jewish writer M.Y. Ben-Gavriel (1891-1965). The majority of Helene’s collection appears to have been formed in Vienna. The present pendant is boxed by A. E. Köchert, a prominent gallery known as “jewellers to emperors and kings”. During WWII, the family experienced painful diaspora. Her cousin Ben-Gavriel joined the British army as a volunteer. An uncle, Heinrich Kurtz (1870-1942), was deported to Treblinka and murdered in the holocaust. Another first cousin, Wilhelm Kurtz (1897-1942), was deported to Buchenwald and then transferred to Auschwitz, where he was murdered. It’s not clear what happened to Helene during the war, but she survived and resettled in France, where she later worked as an educator and translator, before passing away in 1964. The present jewel remained in her personal collection and comes from her estate.
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