Description
A lovely example of the work of Edith Linnell, who studied at the Birmingham School of Art in the early years of the 1900s. Originally intending to become a portrait painter, Edith was derailed and followed her new found love of jewellery design instead. Not too many pieces of work of this standard come up, as her business was bombed out during the 2nd World War and she did not reopen. Her pieces, therefore, are fairly scarce compared to the work of other Arts and Crafts’ designers.
An instantly appealing brooch, not least because of the vivid colours, which can easily be worn as a pendant, by wrapping your chain around the sturdy pin. It even suspends in an upright position. The colours are rich, vibrant and demonstrate her clever use of colour to enhance the naturalistic statements she made in her pieces. This brooch really does have eye-popping appeal, as it has a pink and purple base with those vibrant, bright red ruby stones. These test as rubies and I imagine they were lab created in that era. They were able to get the most magnificently intense colours on these rubies-hence the Arts and Crafts jewellers desired to use them in their designs. They were actually as expensive as nature-created rubies, but were often selected because of the intensity of colour obtained in their creation. Other stones here include, jade, moonstone, rose quartz and amethyst.
That bouquet of gems is clearly the main event, however, the stalk and leaves are represented by thick, sinuous lines crafted in sterling silver. It is such a beautiful thing. The back is smooth and neat, and it comes with a silver safety chain. Stamped simply “SILVER” as you would expect-Linnell did not sign her pieces.
I shall send by Tracked and Signed in a box to keep her safe. Boxes in the images are for display only. Thank you.
