c. 1800 Miniature-work Pearl Amatory Pendant

A c. 1800 miniature-work amatory pendant, the glass-covered central scene worked with seed pearls and microbeads to depict two swallows atop an altar enfolded by festoons and floral sprays, all against a ground of guilloche-foiled blue bristol glass. Birds like turtle doves and swallows are recurrent motifs in Georgian era sentimental jewelry, their love and devotion symbolism rooted in these creatures’ tendency to form monogamous bonded pairs in nature. Romantic depictions almost always present a pair of birds, surrounded by further amatory symbols such as a love knot or a marital altar. The present composition can be interpreted as a variation of the ‘altar of love’ theme, with the two bonded swallows a stand-in for the hearts. For examples of miniature-work pearl and microbead compositions featuring bonded birds, consult British Museum 1978,1002.34, 1978,1002.342, and 1978,1002.942.b.

Jewelry with pearl and microbead miniature-work were made briefly between 1780-1800 and is often considered an English phenomenon. However, the present pendant is mostly like German in origin, due to its strong resemblance in form and workmanship characteristics to a c. 1800 German pendant in the Museum of Applied Art Cologne (no. L 7903/5 Vs). Both feature solid silver frames with black-dot paste, bowed upper elements, and rather notched beveling at the edges. Sentimental jewelry with miniature-work compositions were extremely popular in German-speaking territories during the late 18th – early 19th c transition, fueled by the rise of a Protestant and educated Bourgeoisie well-steeped in a new ‘transnational’ culture of sentiment, fraternity, and free-expression.
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