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| Luigi and Raffaele Angelo Marchi of Bologna Pendant - imitating painted pendant in Raphael's altarpiece of St Cecilia ca. 1898-1902 enameled gold, chalcedony, pearl British Museum |
The jewel above was created in Bologna at the end of the 19th century in response to a painting (below) still on display today in Bologna, exactly 500 years after it was created. St Cecilia in the center of the panel wears the pendant against the dark border of her bodice.
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| Raphael Ecstasy of St Cecilia 1516-17 oil on panel, transferred to canvas Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna |
The Marchi brothers fabricated their imitation openly, with no wish to conceal its origins as a product of their own time and place. This was not true of the 19th-century European jewelers who fabricated the intricate Renaissance-style pendants below. As late as the 1980s, most of these were accepted and displayed as genuine 16th-century pieces. They had been purchased at premium prices by members of the Rothschild family, who ultimately donated them with great pomp of generosity to the British Museum. Recent, more cautious analysis – along with art-historical evidence – revealed both small and large anomalies of materials and construction and caused their current demotion to the status of more-or-less skillful forgeries.
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| Anonymous Spanish Jeweler Pendant - Hippocamp 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, emerald, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous European Jeweler Pendant - Monstrous Fish 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, emerald, ruby, garnet, amethyst, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous French Jeweler Pendant - Vase-shape 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, sapphire, garnet, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous French Jeweler Pendant - Sea Dragon 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous German Jeweler Pendant - Venus on shell 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, ruby, sapphire, diamond, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous French Jeweler Pendant - Venus and Cupid 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, ruby, diamond, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous Hungarian Jeweler Pendant - Hawk 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, ruby, diamond, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous French Jeweler Pendant - Charity with children 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, ruby, emerald, diamond, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous French Jeweler Pendant - Couchant Hind 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, ruby, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous European Jeweler Pendant - Mermaid 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, emerald, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous French Jeweler Pendant - Cleopatra 19th century imitating 16th century enameled gold, sapphire, ruby, emerald, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous German Jeweler Pendant - Galloping horse and warrior 16th century, altered in the 19th century enameled gold, ruby, emerald, pearl British Museum |
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| Anonymous Italian Jeweler Pendant - Hippocamp 16th century, altered in the 19th century enameled gold, ruby, emerald, pearl British Museum |