Italy. Marquisate of Saluzzo, Ludovico II Silver Issue in Later Silver Brooch.

Comprising a fluted band with openwork shoulders set with facetted rock crystals, rub-over setting engraved with floral motifs on the reverse and set with a red carnelian intaglio carved with the coat of arms of the owner; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 5.64 grams, 24.89 mm overall, 21.56 x 17.76 mm internal diameter (approximate size British U, USA 10, Europe 22.52, Japan 21)



Acquired on the European art market.

Composed of spherical mosaic glass beads interspersed with small light blue beads, two pairs of biconical blue beads at the ends; restrung with loop-and-bead closure; likely Indonesian. 139 grams, 59 cm



From the family collection of a Hampstead gentleman; formerly acquired in the 1980s.

Finely engraved intaglio portraying a left-facing bust of Henry IV (1553–1610), King of France, in armour, with a decorated gorget and distinctive curled beard, set in a high-carat gold bezel and later fitted with a modern plain shank; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 5.24 grams, 21.83 mm overall, 19.35 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P, USA 7 1/2, Europe 16.23, Japan 15)



Acquired on the European art market.

The engraving is directly after a medallic portrait by Guillaume Dupré, Henry IV’s official medallist, which was widely circulated during the king’s reign and thereafter. The king’s profile is clearly drawn from a familiar medallic type, often used in the 17th and 18th centuries as a symbol of royal authority and dynastic legitimacy.