Pendant with Masonic symbols

Unknown

ca. 1753–56 · Enameled copper · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This pendant is decorated with a variety of Masonic symbols and phrases, including a figure setting a keystone into an arch on the obverse and "Knowledge is withdrawn away by secrets" on the reverse. Enameled objects like this one were intended to imitate the lustrous quality of porcelain at more affordable prices. By the middle of the eighteenth century, technological innovations had made it possible to roll copper, instead of the far costlier gold, into very thin sheets. Powdered glass mixed with minerals (to determine the opacity and color of the enamel) would then be applied onto the copper sheets and fired at high temperatures. A design—whether a famous portrait, generic pastoral scene, or floral motif— could be painted on by hand or copied from an engraving through the newly invented process of transfer printing. Many enameled objects combined both methods of decoration and would be refired after the application of each new layer or color.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1753–56

Medium

Enameled copper

Culture

British, London (Battersea?)

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Bequest of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of his wife, Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1977