Pillars of Hercules

Pendant with gold-set micromosaic of the Temple of Hercules in Cori, around 1840

€ 690.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Pendant with gold-set micromosaic of the Temple of Hercules in Cori, around 1840

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

Not only the city of Rome itself holds amazing ruins to this day. Many other cities surrounding the Eternal City were also visited and admired as early as the 18th and 19th centuries for their often quite unique witnesses to ancient grandeur and history. The pendant here shows us a temple in the small Latin town of Cori. We see a temple, towering over a high podium. In the background on the right, the temple merges into a tower; there also appears to be other architecture attached to the right edge. All in all, the perfect preservation of the millennia-old building is astonishing What we see here is the Temple of Hercules in Cori, a small town in the outskirts of Rome. Piranesi dedicated a separate sheet of his Vedute di Roma to this temple, which was built in the 1st century BC. We reproduce it here. The viewer's point of view is the same as for our earrings. The gable of the ancient temple stands out dramatically against the sky. On the right we see an attached bell tower. Apparently, the temple has been repurposed as a church in later times. It is obvious that the mosaic artists here had a copy of the sheet available in their workshop in order to translate it artistically into the small format. The mosaic is held in place by a setting of high-carat gold. Its fine engravings combine rococo forms in the outer frame with a moulding of Biedermeier ornamentation - typical of Historicist jewellery from around 1840.

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The origin of the art of micromosaic lies in Rome. Here, more precisely in the Vatican, a workshop for mosaics made of glass blocks existed since the 16th century. Initially to protect the altarpieces in St. Peter's Basilica in a permanent form against candle soot, moisture and dirt, which the many pilgrims brought into the church. Later, after this task was completed, further copies of paintings were made as well as landscape representations in painting size. The idea of using this ultimately antique technique also for jewellery and for the decoration of craft objects arose at the end of the 18th century. Countless travellers from northern Europe arrived in the city as part of the Grand Tour, creating a huge demand for souvenirs. Not least to serve this market, a whole new art form emerged: micromosaics are small and portable, and were therefore particularly suited to being taken back home to the north. Since they also usually show the beauties of Rome or motifs from antiquity, their success as travel souvenirs is hardly surprising. The "invention" of the micromosaic is associated above all with Giacomo Raffaelli and Cesare Aguatti, who perfected this technique around 1775. They founded a tradition from which, until the end of the 19th century, mosaics were created with such a richness of detail and artistry that had never been achieved before or since. For even today, corresponding mosaics are produced in Rome, albeit in significantly lower quality.

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Size & Details

Pillars of Hercules

€ 690.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

We want you to be 100% satisfied! For that reason, we examine, describe and photograph all of our jewellery with the utmost care.

You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.

Should you for some reason not be satisfied, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that we can find a solution together. In any case, you can return any article within one month and we will refund the full purchase price.

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Pillars of Hercules

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