Click image to view full screen
Necklace
✓ Authenticity guarantee · ✓ Specialist condition report · ✓ Insured worldwide shipping · ✓ Private-room viewing
Throughout the 1700s, the growing trade for personal luxury objects transformed the material culture surrounding marriage and courtship. Gifts such as perfume, sheet music, books, textiles, portrait miniatures, and jewelry often demonstrated the status of the gift giver and their investment in the relationship. While intended to be seen and admired, this glittering and ostentatious necklace disguised a system based on the labor and suffering of enslaved or indentured people, whether in gold and stone mines or the shop where it was made.
| Artist / Maker | England or France |
|---|---|
| Date | c. 1775–95 |
| Culture / Origin | England or France |
| Medium | gold, silver, and brilliants |
| Dimensions | Part 1: 29.6 cm (11 5/8 in.); Part 2: 12.1 cm (4 3/4 in.) |
| Department | Decorative Art and Design |
| Type | Jewelry |
About the Artist
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
A detailed condition report and high-resolution photography are available from our specialists in advance of the sale.
Shipping & Collection
Fine-art shipping with climate control and full insurance to over 120 countries; collection by appointment.
Buying at Matchless Pieces
Register, verify your identity, and bid online or in a private room. Buyer’s premium and taxes are shown before you confirm.
