Pendant with Europa and the Bull, 1870/1890

Not on View

Medium

baroque pearl; gold enameled in white, black, dark green, pale blue, translucent red, green, yellow, and blue; 22 colorless stones (sapphires, diamonds), 1 blue sapphire, 19 red stones (rubies, glass), 6 pearls

Dimensions

overall (with chain): 13.6 x 6.8 x 2.7 cm (5 3/8 x 2 11/16 x 1 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.304

Artists / Makers

Alfred André (jeweler) French, 1839 - 1919

Image Use

This image is unavailable for download.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .
Contact us about image usage .

Provenance

Baron Maurice de Rothschild [d. 1957], Paris. (Duveen Brothers, New York); purchased 11 November 1912 by Peter A. B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, probably as Italian sixteenth century; inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, 1942.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Rothschild, Maurice de, Baron
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Technical Summary

Table-cut stones are in variously worked rectangular box settings. The enamel is damaged in numerous places, especially on the figure of Europa.

Bibliography

1935: Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 45.

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 11, as Italian 16th Century (Style of Benvenuto Cellini).

1958: Stone, Peter. "Baroque Pearls I." Apollo (December 1958): 194-199, fig. 14.

1972: Neumann, Robert von. The Design and Creation of Jewelry. Rev. ed., New York and Philadelphia, 1972: 13, fig. 3.

1974: Heiniger, Ernst A. and Jean Heiniger. The Great Book of Jewels. Boston, 1974: 170, color repro.

1979: Hackenbroch, Yvonne. Renaissance Jewellery. London and Munich: 1979: 251-252, color pl. 31, no. 688.

1981: Newman, Harold. An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewellery. London, 1981: 118, 119, repro.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 165-166, color repro.

1993: Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 288-291, color repro. 289.

2019: Vignon, Charlotte. Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940. New York, 2019: 103, 259 n. 269.