Western Asiatic Style Millefiori Glass Bead Necklace

Flat-section blade with a rounded tip and a wide, pierced tang. 110 grams, 22.2 cm



Ex Ma Gallery, Bath, UK. From a private Wiltshire, UK, collection, 1990s.

Featuring a gold mount with twisted ropework border and scalloped edges securing bevelled glass coverings, one side depicting nimbate Saint Catherine of Alexandria wearing a pale blue dress with a red cloak, holding a gilt palm frond; the other side with Saint John of Nepomuk dressed in clerical attire and holding a gilt cross and a palm frond. 29.1 grams, 43 mm



Acquired on the European art market.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian saint and virgin who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the Emperor Maxentius. She was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity and was martyred around the age of 18. More than 1,100 years after Catherine's martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to and counselled her. Saint John of Nepomuk (c. 1345 – 20 March 1393) was the saint of Bohemia (Czech Republic) who was drowned in the Vltava River at the behest of Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional. Based on this account, John of Nepomuk is considered the first martyr of the Seal of the Confessional, a patron against calumnies and, because of the manner of his death, a protector from floods and drowning. Verre églomisé is a French term referring to the process of applying both a design and gilding onto the rear face of glass to produce a mirror finish. The name is derived from the 18th-century French decorator and art-dealer Jean-Baptiste Glomy (1711–1786), who was responsible for its revival. Glomy's technique was a relatively simple one of applying decorative designs in a combination of plain colour and gilding, usually to glass picture frames. However, over time, it has come to be used to describe nearly any process involving back-painted and gilded glass, however elaborate.

Cupid shown standing amid the vegetation, his wings and arms spread and holding two short staffs in his hands, clouds and the sun above; set in a gold frame with a conical pendant drop below; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 13.53 grams, 75 mm



Acquired on the European art market. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13341-257981.

The cameo shows a Cupid in the same style as the one in the British Museum Sloane collection. Cupid was a very popular motif in 17th-century Italian artistic production. The presence of Cupid on the cameo implies amorous attachment, or sometimes, amorous conflict. The cameo shows a sophisticated atmosphere, relayed in the brown and grey colours.