c. 1900 Enameled Four Leaf Clover Pendant & Earrings

A c. 1900 four leaf clover pendant & earrings demi-parure, worked in solid 14k yellow gold, the leaves enameled in iridescent shades of green, the pendant center set with a small old mine cut diamond and the earrings with pearls, converted from what was originally a matched set of brooches (half-loop bail to pendant back and earring posts are new additions). This piece exhibits the fluidity and naturalism of c.1900 jewelry design and its Art Nouveau influences: the petals echo natural forms with its asymmetric clefts, waves, and curls— a marked contrast against earlier clovers with dimensionally flat petals. Each clover is also painstakingly painted with visible ‘veins’ and color striations, evoking a wonderful sense of verisimilitude. A four leaf clover with a diamond center and similarly enameled petals is found in the c.1890-1910 jewelry design books of Jaques and Marcus (Volume 2, Dartmouth College Library, Rauner Manuscript MS-674). Two other four-leaf clover jewels, including one with enameled petals and a pearl center, is illustrated in the 1901 catalogue from Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company, London. The present example is most likely American in workmanship origin, probably from one of the many excellent firms based in Newark, NJ at the turn of the century. The four-leaf clover has had a long association with good luck, and by the Victorian era was a well known lucky symbol. The more common three-leaf clover, also known as a Shamrock, has been a symbol of St. Patrick and Ireland. Four-leaf counterparts have roots in Celtic folklore as well: the druids were believed to have carried clovers to see spirits, and like the Scottish luckenbooth, four-leaf clovers were presumed to offer magical protection and ward off bad luck. In 1620, Sir John Meton famously wrote, “If a man walking in the fields finds any four-leaved grass, he shall in a small while after find some good thing”. In jewelry design, the popularity of the four leaf clover as a motif coincided with late 19th c romantic revivalism, during an era when historical folklore, popular magic and superstition entered into the mainstream. For example, a 1877 magazine featured a letter with the line, “Did the fairies ever whisper in your ear, that a four-leaf clover brought good luck to the finder?” (St. Nicholas; an Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks, Volume 4, pp. 634-5).
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