c. 1790s English Georgian Amatory Pendant

A stunning c. 1790s English Georgian sentimental brooch-pendant, featuring an intricate amatory miniature of a flaming heart pierced by cupid’s arrow, raised on a column-plinth beneath a festooned canopy and atop a taupe ground framed by reeds. The three-dimensional miniature has been painstakingly fashioned from a pearl carved in the shape of a heart, seed pearls, tiny glass microbeads, mother-of-pearl, gold beads and wire, and crushed gum-bound hair. The royal blue ground is foiled bristol glass. The navette-shaped rose gold body is framed by a halo of seed pearls and set with a domed crystal quartz compartment (tested); the back is fitted with a brooch pin, round pendant bail, and a safety pin attachment. The design and rendering of the flaming heart closely mirrors much older ‘Sacratissimum Cor Iesu’ (latin, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus) in devotional heart, originally a symbol of Christ’s passionate love for mankind. By the mid-18th century rococo era, a period when jewelry design transitioned from being largely dominated by religious subjects to more secular themes, the flaming heart also came to represent extreme romantic passion. In this particular pendant, the lance that would have pierced a religious Sacred Heart has been replaced by an arrow, the symbol of Cupid. The column supporting the flaming heart symbolizes strength and the marriage altar. Navette-shaped amatory jewels featuring pearl miniatures against blue enamel or bristol glass grounds were extremely popular during the 1790s; page 145 of Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830 by Ginny Redington Dawes with Oliva Collings illustrates an extensive selection of this type. Several are also in the British Museum collection (accession numbers 1978,1002.342, 1978.1002.942a, and 1978,1002.810).
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