Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

An early 19th century ‘Berlin’ Ironwork necklace, the composed of graduated polished steel and ironwork ‘cameos’ of classical profiles (one loose), within cast ironwork floral surrounds, with scrolled and foliate links between, to a Bacchus-mask ironwork clasp, length 49cm. £200-£400

The central three cameos depict famous classical ideals of male beauty (l-r):
1. Apollo, the handsome young god of light and the arts, after the famous Classical statue, the Apollo Belvedere, now on display in the Museo Pio-Clementino, in the Vatican City.
2. Antinous, a favourite of the emperor Hadrian, considered a perfect male beauty. This depiction, with fruiting vines in his flowing hair, is after a Classical bust of Antinous as Dionysus/Bacchus, now in the Palazzo Aldobrandini in Rome.
3. Eros, the god of love, after the Classical sculpture the Eros of Centrocelle, now on display in the Museo Pio-Clementino in the Vatican City.
The remaining smaller cameos depict profiles of male and female classical youths.


The first factory producing ironwork jewellery opened in Berlin in 1804, although in 1806, when Napoleon captured the city, it is recorded that the casts were removed to France, where manufacture continued. After 1815, and the return of the Bourbons to the French throne, this heroic classical subject matter, associated with the French Empire, quickly went out of fashion.