Designs for two bracelets and two brooches with stylized leaves, diamonds, pearls, and interlacing motifs
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 an undulating garland with stylized leaves with strips of square-cut brilliants across the center, scrolling branches, and pearls of different sizes, framed within two thin tubes of gold. The second design, possibly for a brooch, is made up of an interlacing knot with a diagonal strip of three square-cut brilliants in the center. The third design is for a bracelet made up of four vertical oval rings, held together by interlacing, stylized leaves and decorated with small, round pearls, and with semi-abstract fleur-de-lis motifs with a large, round pearl in the center, which scroll around the outer rings from the bangle that forms the body of the bracelet. The fourth design, possibly for a brooch, is made up of a bundle with two large scrolling motifs, stylized leaves, scattered round pearls, and a large, emerald-cut stone, and two small, stylized scrolling leaves underneath the scrolls, that hold a pear-shaped pendant that hangs under the brooch. 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 two bracelets and two brooches with stylized leaves, diamonds, pearls, and interlacing motifs
- Artist: F. Mellerio Borgnis
- Date: ca. 1830–70
- Medium: Graphite heightened with gray wash
- 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(9)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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