Pendant in the form of a mermaid

Reinhold Vasters

ca. 1870–95 · Baroque pearl with enameled gold mounts set with diamonds and with pendant pearls · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

A number of details of the design of this jewel—including the long, attenuated fish tail, the wispy, featherlike skirt, the stole draped from the shoulders, and the hair styled in a low chignon worn with a tiara—are present in two unpublished designs for a mermaid jewel by the Aachen goldsmith Reinhold Vasters that are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The techniques employed in finishing the enameled gold tail indicate that the goldsmith who executed the jewel misunderstood certain Renaissance practices in preparing gold to receive enamel and in smoothing and polishing the surface once the enamel has been fired, misunderstandings that may have arisen, at least in part, from looking at worn or damaged sixteenth-century jewels.

Artist

Reinhold Vasters

Date

ca. 1870–95

Medium

Baroque pearl with enameled gold mounts set with diamonds and with pendant pearls

Culture

German or French

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection, 1982