Impressive Art Nouveau Belle Epoque diamond brooch

This platinum and 18K yellow gold brooch appears like an azure-cut cloud encrusted with 60 old European cut and 25 rose cut diamonds coming straight from the Belle Époque period to float you into seventh heaven. Five cumulating platinum lobes, each centring a diamond, swirl downwards and cross at a diamond from which another one, embellished with two leaves, swings back and forth. With the extra gold details on the back and the gold detachable pin and hook, you couldn't be more safe on your journey to pure bliss.

Antique jewelry object group: brooch (with a detachable pin system - see pictures)

Condition: excellent condition
  -  (more info on our condition scale)

Country of origin: Although it does not carry any legible control marks we believe this to be of Belgian origin.

Style: Belle Époque - The Belle Époque (French for "Beautiful Era") was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the time of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, the "Belle Époque" was named in retrospect, when it began to be considered a "golden age" the major powers of Europe, new technologies improved lives and the commercial arts adapted Renaissance and eighteenth-century styles to modern forms. In the newly rich United States, emerging from the Panic of 1873, the comparable epoch was dubbed the Gilded Age. In the United Kingdom, this epoch overlaps the end of what is called the Victorian Era there and the period named the Edwardian Era. or more info on styles

Style specifics: The Belle Époque (French for "Beautiful Era") was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and lasted until World War I (1914-18).

Occurring during the time of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, the "Belle Époque" was named in retrospect, when it began to be considered a "golden age" the major powers of Europe, new technologies improved lives and the commercial arts adapted Renaissance and eighteenth-century styles to modern forms.

In the newly rich United States, emerging from the Panic of 1873, the comparable epoch was dubbed the Gilded Age. In the United Kingdom, this epoch overlaps the end of what is called the Victorian Era there and the period named the Edwardian Era.

In the Belle Époque cheap coal and cheap labour contributed to the cult of the orchid and made possible the perfection of fruits grown under glass, as the apparatus of state dinners extended to the upper classes; champagne was perfected during the Belle Époque. Exotic feathers and furs were more prominently featured in fashion than ever before, as haute couture was invented in Paris, the centre of the Belle Époque, where fashion began to move in a yearly cycle; in Paris restaurants such as Maxim's achieved a new splendour and cachet as places for the rich to parade, and the Opéra Garnier devoted enormous spaces to staircases as similar show places.

After mid-century, railways linked all the major cities of Europe to spa towns like Biarritz and Deauville; their carriages were rigorously divided into first-class and second-class, but the super-rich now began to commission private railway coaches, as exclusivity was a hallmark of opulent luxury. Bohemian lifestyles gained a different glamour, pursued in the cabarets of Montmartre.

Art Nouveau - Although Art Nouveau took on distinctly localised tendencies as its geographic spread increase some general characteristics are indicative of the form. A description published in Pan magazine of Hermann Obrist's wall-hanging Cyclamen (1894) described it as "sudden violent curves generated by the crack of a whip", which became well known during the early spread of Art Nouveau.

Subsequently, not only did the work itself become better known as The Whiplash, but the term "whiplash" is frequently applied to the characteristic curves employed by Art Nouveau artists. Such decorative "whiplash" motifs, formed by dynamic, undulating, and flowing lines in a syncopated rhythm, are found throughout the architecture, painting, sculpture, and other forms of Art Nouveau design.(from: Wikipedia)

Period: ca. 1900
  -  (events and facts in 1900)

Material: platinum and 18K yellow gold
  -  (more info on precious metals)

Diamonds: One old European cut diamond with a weight of 1.64 crt. (color and clarity, J, si1 - see pictures for certificate), one old European cut diamond with an estimated weight of approx. 0.85 crt. (approximate color and clarity, G, vs/si), seven old European cut diamonds with a total estimated weight of approx. 1.71 crt., 51 old European cut diamonds with a total estimated weight of approx. 2.00 crt. and 25 rose cut diamonds . We do not have the weight of the diamonds which is normal in our trade when it comes to rose cuts.
Note: All diamond weights, color grades and clarity are approximate since the stones were not removed from their mounts to preserve the integrity of the setting.

Total diamond weight: approx. 6.20 crt. (without the rose cut diamonds)

Birthstones: Diamond is the birthstone (or month stone) for April.
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Hallmarks: No trace.
  -  (more info on hallmarks)

Dimensions: width 4,25 cm (1,67 inch), height 4,74 cm (1,87 inch)

Weight: 13,40 gram (8,62 dwt)

Reference Nº: 12299-0015

Copyright photography: Adin, fine antique jewelry

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