Jewelry

SPANISH DEVOTION MEETS FRENCH FASHION

Double-sided gold cross pendant, the front set with nine table-cut rubies in pyramidal box settings along the cross arms and a larger table-cut ruby at the center. The reverse is decorated with translucent green enamel. The ornamental border consists of open foliate forms alternating with opaque white and turquoise enamel highlighted with black lines. The pendant loop is enameled white, with a gold ring suspended from an oval loop. The cross has been previously restored, with areas of enamel supplemented and a pendant set with a modern freshwater cultured pearl added. It remains in excellent wearable condition.

Published:

J. Kugel, Joyaux Renaissance, une splendeur retrouvée, Paris 2000, cat. no. 75. The catalogue figure shows the cross before its restoration.

Literature:

In seventeenth-century Catholic countries such as Spain, elaborate cross pendants like the present example were worn both as expressions of religious devotion and as fashionable jewels, as numerous contemporary portraits attest. While Medieval and Renaissance crosses often incorporated depictions of the Crucifixion or the Instruments of the Passion, later examples became increasingly ornamental, enriched with gemstones and colorful enamel. Rubies had long been associated with Christ's blood and sacrifice, his act of love for humanity, and the triumph of life over death. On the present cross, however, their use was likely a personal choice, reflecting the wearer's taste as much as her Catholic faith.

The cross's enameling reflects the close artistic exchange between France and Spain in the later seventeenth century. Its stylized foliate border, decorated in opaque white and pale blue enamel with black outlines, recalls the fashionable jewelry produced in Paris, then the leading center of European jewelry design, c. 1650–1680. Although characteristically French in style, the foliage is rendered in a less naturalistic manner than on contemporary French pieces. In addition, the translucent emerald-green enamel on the reverse is more commonly associated with Spanish jewelry. These features together suggest that the cross was made and worn in Spain, under the influence of French fashions then in vogue.

For related crosses and enameling, see C. Naya Franco, Joyas y Alhajas del Alto Aragón, Huesca, 2017, pp. 62–64; and D. Elvira, Love & Devotion. Jewels from the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries, Oropesa del Mar, Castellón, 2017, nos. 9 and 32.

J-35121