Late 18th c Portuguese Heart Brooch

A pretty c. 1775-1800 Portuguese brooch with ‘minas novas’ gems, featuring a three-tiered cluster framed by an openwork bow-tie and laurel garlands, together forming a composite shape of a heart. Thirty-nine of the gems test as near-colorless topaz, while the other nineteen are quartz crystal; various clear gem varieties from the quartz, beryl, and topaz species were mined in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil, and were referred collectively as ‘minas novas’ by the Portuguese. While most mid-18th century Portuguese jewels featuring Brazillian gems favor juxtapositions of color, jewels set with near-colorless ‘minas novas’ came in fashion during the last quarter of the 18th century, in part influenced by lighter neoclassical trends that demanded elegance and reserve. In workmanship details, the present brooch resembles various late 18th c ‘minas novas’ jewels illustrated in “Five Centuries of Jewellery: National Museum of Ancient Arts, Lisbon” by Leonor d’Orey (cat. 129, 130); in particular, the black dot treatment to the stone foiling, the straight cut-down bezeling to the circular stones, and the cleaved curling tips of foliate motifs. For other heart shaped Portuguese jewels, see cat. 124, 102, 108, 99 from the same publication.
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Description

Date: c. 1775-1800, last quarter of 18th century

Materials: almandine garnet, Brazilian ‘minas novas’: 39 clear topaz, 19 quartz, 3 paste, silver

Weight: 13.2 grams

Height: 33 mm

Width: 35 mm

Depth: 8.8 mm

Diameter of garnet: 6.4 mm

Dimension of ‘minas novas’ gems: 5.2 mm (largest) – 2 mm (smallest)

Condition: three of the gems in the innermost 2 mm halo test as pastes; they’re likely later replacements. Four stones in this same innermost halo are chipped at the corner (due to the small size of these stones, this problem isn’t noticeable with the naked eye, but visible under 40x magnification). Aside from this innermost halo, the rest of the stones are in excellent condition; all are sharp, well-preserved, and securely set. The brooch fitting to the back may not be original. There’s age-related surface wear and tarnish to the silver.