Designs for five brooches, two pairs of earrings, and a bracelet with stylized leaves and pearls
Six drawings in graphite of designs for five brooches, two pairs of earrings, and a bracelet, 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 drawing consists of a design for a brooch, made up of an interlacing stylized branch that forms a knot, holding scrolling branches with stylized leaves and small, stylized flowers, and a larger stylized flower with an oval pearl as pistils hanging from it, and a pair of earrings made up of oval frames, made up of branches similar to the one forming the knot in the brooch, containing a stylized leaf and a flower, also similar to those in the brooch. The second drawing consists of a brooch made up of a bundle with two large, stylized leaves and thin branches with round pearls. The third drawing consists of a brooch made up of an interlacing branch forming three loops, each containing a small flower with a round pearl as pistils, and a small, trefoil leaf hanging from it, and with two large, scrolling stylized leaves, and matching raeeings, formed by an 8-shaped motif that holds a stylized flower with a round pearl as pistils and two stylized leaves of the same kind as those in the brooch. The fourth and sixth designs consist of brooches made up of a bundle of thin branches with round pearls and leaves, tied with a ribbon bow, and with three hanging strips of round pearls ending on small foils; the middle strip also contains two small stylized leaves. The fifth design consists of a bracelet with a looping motif in the enter, filled by scrolling, stylized leaves and round and oval pearls, and flanked to the sides by two stylized branches that form the body of the bracelet. 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.
Artwork Details
- Title: Designs for five brooches, two pairs of earrings, and a bracelet with stylized leaves and pearls
- Artist: F. Mellerio Borgnis
- Date: ca. 1830–70
- Medium: Graphite
- Dimensions: Sheet: 11 3/4 × 8 3/8 in. (29.9 × 21.2 cm)
Album: 8 11/16 in. × 12 in. × 1 3/8 in. (22 × 30.5 × 3.5 cm) - Classifications: Albums, Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: Gift of Raphael Esmerian, 1957
- Object Number: 57.662.4(24)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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