Posted 14 years ago
Agram.m
(762 items)
As you can see I am a great admirer of Piqué juwelry. I wonder why I did'nt see some Piqué juwelry up till now on Show & Tell.
It's forbidden to make this kind of jewelry nowadays and that's good because the Hawkins bill turtle is one of the protected animals. But in the good old times this kind of jewelry was loved very much also to make jewelry and other things of it. The shield of the Hawkins bill turtle was heated and then poured into a mold and than the handworksmen make (very often by hand) engravements of gold, silver, mother of pearl and so on and put in a moulding. After cooling down the jewelry hardened out and was ready for use. Because this it's forbidden since long now it will become more and more rare. I'll hope you will enjoy it like me. See also one of my finest pique brooches:
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/86120-elaborated-domed-piqu-tortoise-brooch
Wow, this is a beautiful collection of pique pieces! Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks wolcott1, I am glad you like it too.
Wow, I've never seen anything like this before, we don't have this in America... Turtle shell you say? Incredible! They must be very valauble! I thought it was damascene work at first, doesn't it remind you of that?
Yes you''r right but is is in reality another material. They melded the shell and than could bring in the figures of gold, silver, sometimes sea shell. That's called pique and for a long time forbidden to protect the animals and I'm glad. This kind of jewelry was, because of the dark color often used as mourning jewelry.
But there were also made purses, ball books made of it.