Description
A c. 1830s Georgian 18k gold chain, sautoir length at 48.8 inches and weighing 40.3 grams, the links a fanciful design with interlocking components and pierced openwork design. The clasp is particularly lovely with pierced cagework enclosing a grain textured barrel closure. The smallest links are further textured in a pattern of stars. Late Georgian chains often feature finely patterned links, which were produced via ornamental turning with a geometric lathe, the same technique responsible for the backing of guilloché enamels. The early Romantic movement of the 1830s brought back a fervor for Renaissance styles in women’s fashion, and with it, the Renaissance taste for substantial and long gold chains. Portraits from the 1830s show women with long chains draped over the shoulders down to the stomach area (for example, the 1834 portrait of Irene, Marquise Pallavicini by Joseph Stieler). This period also saw the zenith of workmanship technique in the production of women’s chains; examples from the 1830s to early 1840s display a level of ornate intricacy never to be later surpassed. For instance, the present chain features a wide array of link designs and decorative techniques, from pierced openwork to repoussé to lathed texturing. The alternating pairing of rectangular bar-shaped links with smaller clusters of belcher or rolo links was a popular design for c. 1830 British chains; for two variant examples, see p. 36 of Georgian Jewellery by Ginny Redington Dawes with Olivia Collins. The spherical clusters of repoussé-work seen in the present chain was also popular elsewhere in Europe, though Continental examples tended to feature more purely orb-like repoussé clusters (for example, kat. nr. 64, Schmuck by Brigitte Marquardt).
