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Antique RareVenetian ArchimedeSegusoStyle HandblownGlass Links Pendants Necklace

About the Item

Like elegant multi-pendant festoon necklaces from the mid-1800s, this antique 19th-Century Italian glass choker collar by the Seguso family that founded Vetri d'Arte on the Venetian island of Murano features three one-inch-drop pendants, which here include reddish pink mouth-blown glass balls with golden reflections that are supported by brass findings and unusual ecru glass links that form a chain. The handcrafted closed links appear to be miniature versions of the style made famous in the next century by the family's descendant Archimede Seguso (1909-1999), whom Gabriel "Coco" Chanel worked with to create couture glass necklaces as a rare foreign commission with an artisan not living in France. Unlike such historically-inspired mid-20th-Century glass-chain necklaces, this shorter necklace with pendants closes with a tiny brass flat wrap-around hook that fastens to a brass ring. What is remarkable about this rare necklace--beyond its attractive elements that all capture light--is that jewelry so delicate survived in excellent condition for over a century. The necklace could be older given that Seguso-family glassmasters emerged in the late 14th Century, not to overlook that the simply round multi-toned slightly-iridescent glass balls look like they could have been excavated by an archeologist from an ancient Roman site. Helping to date this antique to the 19th Century, the faux-filigree thin clasp is decoratively stamped with a double rose flower motif between two diamond-shaped perforations that are surrounded by a radiating pattern. Further, the glass colors of the necklace suggest that its was made during the mid-1800s when coral, agate and faux-gem paste became fashionable in Europe and the U.K. as beautiful materials for jewelry irrelevant of their worth. This was decades before glassmasters American Louis Comfort Tiffany and French Rene Lalique, Maison Gripoix and Louis Rousselet established the worldwide demand for artisan-glass jewelry. So we believe that it is a historically important necklace. Notably, when different kinds of plastics were invented later such as celluloid, this glass chain-link style that can also be found in Venetian chandeliers by the Seguso glassmakers was imitated for costume jewelry, such as in the 1930s for commissions by Parisian couturier Elsa Schiaparelli and for ready-to-wear by American Miriam Haskell with her first designer Frank Hess. Please view our other listings for pieces by those 20th-Century designers.
  • Creator:
  • Metal:
  • Weight:
    0.4 ounce (lb)
  • Dimensions:
    Depth: 1 in (25.4 mm)Diameter: 5 in (127 mm)Length: 15 in (381 mm)
  • Style:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1837-1900
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Chicago, IL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3244221157052
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