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PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR

568

A Georgian Carnelian, Jadeite, Ruby, and Gold 'Momento Mori Maltese Cross' Pendant

Estimate
$1,500 - 2,500
$1,386
Lot Details
Triangular carnelian plaques
Oval-shaped cabochon jadeite
Cushion-shaped rubies, 0.10 ct.
18K yellow gold, length approximately 2 inches

For similar examples please see:

Literature:
David Bennet & Daniela Mascetti, Understanding Jewelry, Suffolk, England (1989), page 89, plate 94 and

Please note the reverse contains human hair under glass and is bezel set as was common practice with Memento Mori jewelry
Catalogue Essay
Rock crystal is a colorless quartz and named from Greek for ice, ‘krystallos’. Over the centuries it has been used for a multitude of uses, such as glazing for memento mori and jewels enclosing hair, time pieces, orbs or ‘pools of light’, and even as diamond simulants. Georgian jewelers commonly created rivière of silver backed cushion-shaped rock crystal in collet settings. They would often paint a black dot on the culet to simulate the scintillation or flashes of light and dark in natural diamonds. These are often referred to Stuart crystals and black-dot rock crystal. Few survive today as many were sacrificed to different war efforts throughout history. We are delighted to be able to offer such a well-preserved example.