c.1860-80 Essex Crystal Pendant

A c. 1860-70 Essex crystal pendant, with a crystal reverse-intaglio of a perched sparrowhawk, in an 18k yellow gold Etruscan-revival setting, the back with a glazed sentimental compartment with neatly plaited hair. This piece was originally set as a brooch; my jeweler removed the back pin. The engraved bail is from the same period (c. 1850-70 mid-Victorian), but a marriage. The finer Essex crystals made during the ‘first wave’ of creation, c. 1860-70, can be distinguished from those made c.1900 and later by their naturalism and attention-to-detail. For instance, individual feathers and patches of moss and lichen can be spotted within the present crystal. Many of these earlier examples were set in Etruscan revival settings popular during the 1860-70 decades, evidenced by the alternating combos of twisted wirework and granulation beading. A very similar pendant, also featuring a perched bird in an Etruscan-revival setting with a sentimental compartment to reverse, is in the British Museum (1978,1002.1193). Two others of this type are illustrated on p. 145 of Antique and Twentieth Century Jewellery by Vivienne Becker, and p. 99 of Starting to Collect Antique Jewellery by John Benjamin. A broader group of Essex crystals from the Hull-Grundy collection is now in the British Museum (1978,1002.1193, 1978,1002.818.b, 1978,1002.451, 1978,1002.148, 1978,1002.1054, 1978,1002.201).

The popular term “Essex crystal” is a misnomer, resulting from the misassumption that William Essex (c.1784 – 1869, a well-renowned enamel miniaturist) was the creator. What is popularly known as an “Essex” crystal today was in fact the work of Emile Marius Pradier, who developed the technique c. 1860 in Belgium. The Pradier crystal can be understood as a modified form of the ancient intaglio, which since classical antiquity has been traditionally carved on the front-facing surface of stones, and generally left as-is without further adornment. Pradier’s innovation consisted of combining two previously separate trades: glyptography and miniature painting. The intaglio was worked deep to the back of a quartz cabochon, and then colored via miniature painting; the resulting crystal appears as if to “contain” a three-dimensional subject, much like an insect time-frozen in amber. Between c. 1860-80, the Pradier method was popularized in England by Thomas Cook for the firm Lambeth & Co.
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