EY – From Greek health to English love: Castellani's Victorian micro-mosaic brooch

As with this Victorian brooch in 18-carat yellow gold, the Italian jewelry brand "Castellani" has mastered the art of transporting everyone to an ancient place where time has stopped. The white and blue center is adorned with a finely detailed micro-mosaic, composed of small squares of enamel threads – also called "smalti falti" in Italian. Various gold filigree patterns decorate the archaic center. The letters EY symbolize a caress, whether in Greek "Good health" or in English "Eternally yours."

Group of antique jewelry objects: brooch

Condition: excellent condition
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Country of origin: Italy

Style: Victorian - Victorian decorative arts refer to the style of decorative arts from the Victorian era. This era is known for its eclectic revival and interpretation of historical styles, as well as the introduction of cross-cultural influences from the Middle East and Asia into furniture, accessories, and interior decoration. Victorian design is largely perceived as having shown a regrettable excess of ornamentation. The Arts and Crafts movement, the Aesthetic movement, the Anglo-Japanese style, and Art Nouveau all have their origins at the end of the Victorian era.
- See also: Victorian or more information on styles

Style specifics: The Grand Victorian Period - Experts divide the reign of Queen Victoria, also called the Victorian era (1837-1901), into three periods of about twenty years each; the Romantic Victorian period (1837-1860), the Grand Victorian period (1860-1880), and the Late or Aesthetic Victorian period (1880-1901).

We consider this to be the Grand Victorian period.

This second Victorian period is famous for its sumptuous pieces set with pearls and diamonds (from South Africa). From around 1850, wealthy English people brought back the existence of jewelry from India and Japan, which greatly inspired jewelers of this era. This period also corresponds to the death of King Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, which made mourning jewelry (set with heavy dark stones) the specific type of jewelry for this time.

Period: circa 1880
- (events and facts in 1880)

Source of inspiration: Excavations of Pompeii - ancient city in southwestern Italy (destroyed in 79 AD by the eruption of Vesuvius)

Theme: EY – Although it may not be obvious at first glance, these are not Latin letters, but Greek. EY means "good health," but one could also say it is the abbreviation of "Eternally yours."

Material: 18-carat yellow gold
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Additional information on the technique used
A "micro-mosaic object" is a decorative object or an architectural element composed of pieces of hard substances of relatively uniform size, assembled and embedded in an adhesive or binding matrix which, when hardened, holds the pieces in place. The word derives from the Greek "Muses," which implies that it is a form of artistic expression.

SMALTI FILATI: Filati means "thread" in Italian. Smalti filati literally means thread tesserae. The opaque enamel is heated and stretched to form long, thin threads shaped like spaghetti or linguine. These are then broken into shorter pieces called tesserae. These tesserae were created around the middle of the 18th century in the mosaic workshops of the Vatican.

Smalti – Flat and rectilinear tesserae obtained by pouring colored opaque enamel in a molten state onto a steel plate, letting it cool, and then cutting it into small flat or cubic pieces called tesserae. Smalti are composed of silica, an alkaline substance such as soda or potash, lead, coloring metallic oxides, and tin oxide for opacity. Opaque tesserae were sought after to avoid a shiny and reflective surface when using mosaics to reproduce the paintings of St. Peter's Basilica. Smalti means "enamels" (smalto means enamel) in Italian, but is used in the singular in English. Micromosaics are said to be made of enamel, not "enamels."

Support – The base of the mosaic, whose material depends on the size of the work. For small pieces such as jewelry, the support consisted of a metal, such as a copper tray with a rim, or glass, gilded stone, or small marble plaques, hollowed out to the necessary depth to hold the mosaic. For larger works, the weight required the use of slate or marble, also hollowed out, or iron surrounded by a rim.

Take a look at the photo with the ruler in which we took a close-up to show you the incredible degree of excellence of this micro mosaic.

Additional information about Castellani - Fortunato Pio Castellani (May 6, 1794 - January 1, 1865) was a 19th-century Italian jeweler and founder of Castellani, an Italian jewelry company.

Castellani opened his first shop in Rome in 1814. He specialized in the reconstruction of jewelry by ancient craftsmen, notably Etruscan. Many of his creations were directly inspired by archaeological evidence and often incorporated intaglios, cameos, and micromosaics. His work became very fashionable throughout 19th-century Europe and his shop was frequented by distinguished tourists and the aristocracy. The Castellani dynasty, which spanned three generations, was also composed of renowned antiquarians.

The life of Castellani
Castellani opened his first workshop in Rome in 1815. At first, his creations reflected the fashion of the time and were generally inspired by French and English jewelry of the era. However, in the 1820s, Castellani began to develop the style that would make him famous. In collaboration with his friend and patron Michelangelo Caetani—future Duke of Sermoneta and renowned archaeologist—Castellani began to draw inspiration from archaeological discoveries, particularly those of the pre-Roman Etruscan culture.

In 1836, archaeologists discovered the Regolini-Galassi tomb, a particularly important Etruscan find that yielded a large quantity of beautifully preserved jewelry. Thanks to his expertise in the field and his connections with Caetani, Castellani was chosen as an advisor for the excavations. Much of the jewelry unearthed was decorated with granulation, tiny gold particles applied to the surface. This technique was unknown to 19th-century jewelers, and Castellani drew inspiration from it to rediscover this lost art.

In the 1850s, Castellani handed over the management of the family business to his two sons, Alessandro (1824-1883) and Augusto (1829-1914), who made it prosper. Passionate collectors, the family, in addition to their jewelry business, were actively involved in the trade and restoration of antiquities. Castellani's main shop adjoined the Trevi Fountain, one of Rome's most prestigious sites, and housed a museum dedicated to the family collection.
From: Wikipedia

Monogramme : Castellani (see the photos for the famous Castellani hallmark—two mirrored Cs)

Hallmarks : None, apart from the Castellani mark
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Dimensions : diameter 2.40 cm (0.94 inch)

Weight : 7.40 grams (4.76 dwt)