Micro mosaic gold brooch with filigrain by Castellani, Victorian, ca. 1880

Micro mosaic gold brooch with filigrain by Castellani, Victorian, ca. 1880

As with this 18K yellow gold Victorian brooch, the Italian jewellery brand "Castellani" is a master in towing anyone along to an ancient place where time stood still. The blue with white centre is of exquisite detailed micro mosaic, composed in small square pieces of enamel threads - also called "smalti falti" in Italian. Various gold filigree patterns beam from around the archaic middle. In any means, the letters EY stand for "Good Health"

Note
The founder of Castellani, Fortunato Pio Castellani, first opened his shop in Rome in 1814. In 1826, he met his lifelong friend and collaborator Michaelangelo Caetani and their company became the most original and prolific producer of jewellery in the 'archaeological' style, so called because most of their work was based on actual Etruscan, Greek or Roman jewellery. This followed the excavation of Etruscan tombs in the area around Rome in the 1830s.

Provenance
Private collection G. et S. vd G., Germany, acquired in 1999

Literature
S. Weber Soros and S. Walker, Castellani and Italian Archaeological Jewelry, New York, 2004.
Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon 17, 1997, 173f. Munn (Mosaiken S. 117, 150; Vergleichsstücke, z.T. mit Schrift Taf. 56 und 58; Meistermarken S. 156 und Taf. 193f.: Einfaches Spiegel-Monogramm wie hier, noch Enkel Alfredo 1925 verwendet, siehe Taf. 17, daneben Speigelmonogramm auf rhombenförmiger Kartusche).