Designs for Necklaces, Fans, Brooches, and Other Jewelry of the Second Empire

Lithograph with several designs for jewelry in the style of the Second Empire (1852-1870), characterized by extravagant motifs with complex compositions of naturalistic jewelry, composed of clearly recognizable foliage, flowers and fruit. In many cases, the colors of gemstones used in the creation of the jewels were meant to match those in nature; cabochon gems were popular elements to create complexity in curving and figurative designs, often with symbolic meanings. This plate contains a variety of designs, including a necklace made up of a strip of square-cut diamonds, holding a large ribbon bow, from which hang two large, stylized daisies, a vase with scrolling motifs and stylized dragons, holding a bundle of branches with stylized flowers and insects on it, a hand fan with scrolling motifs decorated with stylized flowers, and other brooches, rings, earrings, and hair ornaments, all of them decorated with stylized leaves, scrolling motifs, and sometimes ribbons, bows, and figurative animals or half-human figures, executed with yellow, white, and gray over a black ground, and possibly intended to be manufactured using a combination of yellow gold and silver, possibly platinum, diamonds or brilliants, pearls, rubies, and other (semi-) precious stones.