Shell cameo brooch and earrings by John Brogden. A yellow gold suite of jewellery, the brooch composed of a horizontal shell cameo of the Greek goddess Selene riding a serpentine dragon in a rubover collet setting, encircled by a conforming frame of gold beading and twisted gold wire punctuated with four gold palmette form plaques engraved and decorated with dark blue enamel, the reverse mounted with a hinged pin and scroll clasp, the earrings each composed of a vertical shell cameo engraved with a bust length portrait of Selene with crescent-set headdress, encircled by a conforming frame matching that of the brooch with the addition of a pendant decoration composed of a horizontal bar of gold beading and twisted gold wires suspending gold link chains graduated from centre and ending in conical gold elements, the reverses mounted with French wire fittings. Tested yellow gold, accompanied by a fitted red leather case, the interior marked ‘FIRST CLASS PARIS MEDAL/ 1855.1867.1851/ PARIS FIRST CLASS & LONDON PRIZE MEDALS/ JOHN BROGDON/ Goldsmith/ MANUFACTORY/ 16, Henrietta St. Covent Garden/ London’.

The mounts in this parure are in the Greek revival style, indicated by the use of palmette plaques, an ancient Greek design element. The use of twisted wire, gold beading and fringe elements were typical of a more generalised Archeological revival style popular during the third quarter of the nineteenth century. The subject of the cameos themselves is also classical, depicting Selene, the Greco-Roman goddess of the moon.

The cameos themselves are unsigned, as was common with shell cameos. However, Brogden very often set cameos by the famed carver Tommaso Saulini, and then after his death in 1864, his son Luigi, who were known to have worked in both shell and in hardstone. Thus it is quite possible that the cameos in the present set were made by Luigi Saulini (son rather than father, based on the fact that the marks on the case date the piece to after the 1867 Exhibition). There is a very fine hardstone Saulini cameo set in a Greek revival mount by Brogden in the British Museum.

In Victorian England cameo jewellery was particularly prized, due in part to the fact that the Queen owned and wore a number of cameo jewels. One example which can often be seen in official portraits is the Badge of the Order of Victoria and Albert, carved by Tommaso Saulini of Rome, who also produced cameos for the maker of the present suite, John Brogden. To meet demand some carvers set themselves up in London, including William Schmidt, a German carver from Idar Oberstein, who produced cameos for top London jewellers, including Brogden, Carlo Giuliano and Child & Child. In fact, Schmidt purports to have been the first to carve cameos out of opal, which Brogden reportedly displayed in the Paris Exhibition of 1878. An extant example, now in the collection of the British Museum, was set by the Giuliano firm.

As mentioned, the present cameo parure was made by one of the top purveyors of Victorian cameos of the nineteenth century, John Brogden. He first apprenticed for a London watch and clockmaker with a workshop at Bridgewater Square, where he became a partner with James William Garland in 1831. He was then a partner at the firm of Watherston and Brogden, a goldsmithing firm located at 16 Henrietta Street in Convent Garden, fully taking control of the business in 1864—the premise he held when this suite was made. Brogden created jewels in various revivalist styles, most notably the Renaissance and Archaeological revival modes, the latter much inspired by the work of the famed Italian jeweller Castellani. Brodgen exhibited in the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, the 1855 Paris Exposition, and won a gold medal for his jewellery at the 1867 Paris Exposition.

John Brogden was one of the premier dealers in cameo jewellery in London, setting both hardstone and shell cameos made by the best carvers in Italy. He was also a collector of antique cameos, at times lending pieces from his important collection to the South Kensington Museum (today the Victoria & Albert Museum). Furthermore, his wife was an Italian scholar on the subject, one of her accomplishments being that she translated Augusto Castellani’s Gems: Notes and Extracts. A number of cameo-set jewels made by Brogden are part of important museum collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Museum and the Birmingham Museum.

References:

Charlotte Gere and Judy Rudoe, Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria: A Mirror to the World, London: British Museum Press, 2010.

Hugh Tait, 7000 Years of Jewellery, London: British Museum Press, 1986.

Michelle Rowan, Nineteenth Century Cameos, Woodbridge: The Antiques Collectors’ Club, 2004.

This parure is in excellent condition.

This piece was from the private collection of a London family.