c. 1810 Georgian Emerald & Diamond Cross

A lovely c. 1810 English Georgian cross, set with approx. 1.36 ctw of emeralds and 1.6 ctw of old mine cut diamonds in closed-back, cut-down collet settings, the cross shape of a conventional latin form. Cross pendants of this type were popular in Britain during the opening decades of the 19th century, c. 1800-10s, sharing several design and workmanship features: a pavé-set openwork design, often with larger central stones flanked by a halo outline of smaller stones; a fitted bail of neatly lined, pavé-set diamonds (which meant the pendant could be worn with a chain in addition to a ribbon, in contrast to the more restrictive slide backing on earlier pendants); cut-down collets with densely spaced “tips”, which are more closely packed and defined than 18th century examples, lending the edge profile a serrated appearance. Characteristic of meticulous English workmanship, the setting is silver-topped gold for diamonds, and a triple layered gold-topped-silver-topped-gold for emeralds. The present pendant’s emeralds are of a fine quality, showing an intense saturation difficult to capture via photo or video. For a c.1810 emerald and diamond cross of the same type, see p. 213, “A History of Jewels” by J. Andersen Black. Two diamond crosses from this period are also illustrated on p. 70 of “Understanding Jewellery” by David Bennett & Daniela Mascetti. Continuing the trend of previous centuries, cross pendants remained popular during the English regency. Jane Austen’s brother had gifted the author with a topaz cross in the latin form, and a cross pendant serves as a plot detail in Austen’s “Mansfield Park” (1816). Popular fashion journals like “La Belle Assemblée” made frequent note of society ladies wearing cross pendants to balls and other public functions.
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