Designs for two bracelets and two brooches with scrolls, pearls, flowers, and leaves
Not on view
Four drawings in graphite of designs for bracelets and brooches, in the style of the French School of the 19th century, designed for the French jewelry company Mellerio-Borgnis. Each drawing was created on a separate sheet of semi-transparent paper, all adhered to the same page of the album. The first design consists of a bracelet made up of interlacing thin tubes of gold that form a knot in the center, decorated with scrolling stylized leaves with strips of round pearls across the center, and branches with round pearls, and with two scrolling motifs, one to each side of the central knot. The second design, for a brooch, consists of an oval frame with a garland of small stylized flowers, leaves and pearls above, and with a scrolling ribbon in the bottom. The third design, for a bracelet, is made up of an oval frame with scrolling motifs, with a small grotesque above, and flanked to the sides by two semi-abstract fleur-de-lis motifs, where the body of the bracelet starts. The final design is made up of a rectangular frame with scrolling motifs, and flanked by grotesques above and to the sides. The physical jewels from these designs would have likely been manufactured using gold or silver, and probably using brilliants, diamonds, or other (semi-) precious stones to add color and shine to the designs.
