Victorian Lily-of-the-Valley Essex Crystal

A c. 1880 Victorian Essex crystal pendant, rendered with lily-of-the-valley, in an 18k yellow gold Etruscan revival gold setting. According to an English Victorian floriography published around the same time (1884, “Language of Flowers” By Edmund Evans), lily-of-the-valley symbolizes a “return to happiness”. Many earlier examples of Essex crystals were set in an Etruscan revival style popular during the 1860-70 decades, exemplified by the wirework and granulation beading. A 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.