A HISTORIC PAIR OF 18TH CENTURY AMETHYST AND DIAMOND EAR PENDANTS

RARE RUSSIAN JEWELS FROM A PERSONAL COLLECTION (CONTINUED)

Details

A HISTORIC PAIR OF 18TH CENTURY AMETHYST AND DIAMOND EAR PENDANTS
Of girandole design, each set with three pear-shaped amethyst drops to the diamond foliate motif and octagonal amethyst and diamond cluster surmount, mounted in silver and gold, circa 1760, 5.4 cm long, in a fitted red leather case

Provenance

The Imperial Russian Jewels 1760-1917
The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics 1917-1925
A Consortium of Dealers 1925-1927
Purchased by S.J. Phillips in 1927 for GBP 295

Literature

Professor A. E. Fersman (ed.), Russia's Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones, Moscow, 1925, cat. no. 110 with plate LIX, referring to the inventory of 1898, no. 279/270 and the inventory of 1922, no. 464

Christie's London, An Important Assemblage of Magnificent Jewellery: Mostly dating from the 18th Century which formed part of The Russian State Jewels, Wednesday, March 16, 1927, lot 23

Lord Twining, A History of the Crown Jewels of Europe, London, 1960, p. 555, no. S23

Exhibited

Fabergé and the Russian Jewellers, A Loan Exhibition, Wartski, London, 10 to 20 May 2006, cat. no. 4

Lot Essay

The State inventory of 1925 described these eight amethysts as 'evidently the first procured in the Ural, about 1750-1760'.
It had been Peter the Great who had patriotically instigated the search for precious stones in Russia, with the deep, rich purple of Siberian amethysts becoming amongst the most highly prized.

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