#antique charm

[boylerpf]

Arts & Crafts Red Spinel Acorn Charm Pendant

Source - Boylerpf

[littlealienproducts]

Antique 9ct Gold Edwardian Amethyst & Seed Pearl Pendant by RubyLovesTuesday

[labellenouvelle]

GAMBLER PENDANT / CHARM

19th century miniature bone capsule pendant / charm with miniature dice inside. A fantastic piece for the gambler and lover of oddities and curiosities.

Item No. E5530-36

Dimensions: 1 3/4″  tall

SOLD

504.581.3733 / t

[email protected] / e

[butterlaneantiques]

Union of Russian Artists (1903-1923)

1903 saw the foundation of the Union of Russian Artists, an exhibiting society comprising artists from the St Petersburg based Mir iskusstva (World of Art) and former members of the progressive and democratic group known as the Wanderers (Peredvizhniki). The World of Art movement had become disillusioned, as the Pre-Raphaelites had before them, with the anti-aesthetic nature of modern industrial society, seeking to restore and consolidate neo-romantic Russian artists under one flag - notable members included Alexandre Benois and Léon Bakst. Break away members of the Wanderers included Valentin Serov and Abram Arkhipov.

This Russian charm is modelled as an artist's palette, complete with gem-set paint patches. The quality is superb, as expected with Imperial Russian jewellery, it's crafted in 56z (14 karat) gold with an inscription 9th/21st March 1903 (at the time Russia used the Julian calendar, while the rest of Europe had changed over to the Gregorian, meaning the dates were 13 days out of sync). Was it commissioned to commemorate the founding of the Union of Russian Artists? Quite possibly. We'll never know for sure.

The society's explicit purpose was to "to promote Russian art and to provide members sell their art works", but it also sought to break away from the old forms through self organised exhibitions, not controlled by juries. It ran 18 exhibitions in total from 1903 to 1923, the most successful being the 11th (1913/14) which hosted over 25,000 viewers and made over 70,000 roubles from the sales of works (over $2 million in today's money).

Artists from the two groups embraced widely divergent aesthetic stances ranging from lyrical landscapes by Nikolay Klodt and Arkady Rylov, to the impressionistic paintings of Igor Grabar, symbolist works by Viktor Borisov-Musatov, and experimental works by Mikhail Brubel and V. Serov. The Union of Russian Artists didn't achieve stylistic unity until after the 7th exhibition (1910), when 17 of the St Petersburg artists, led by Benoit, departed citing artistic differences and going on to re-form the World of Art. From then until its dissolution in 1923, the members mainly produced landscapes and genre scenes characterised by a democratic tendency and an interest in the Russian landscape and the distinctly original features of Russian life.

Left: Viktor Borisov-Musatov, Ghosts (1903)

Right: Igor Grabar, September Snow (1903)

Left: Konstantin Yuon, The Night. Tverskoy Boulevard (1909)

Right: Valentin Serov, The Rape of Europa (1910)

Left: Mikhail Vrubel, Six-winged Seraph (Azrael) (1904)

Right: León Bakst, Terror Antiquus (1908)

[boylerpf]

Antique Silver Scottish Agate Thistle Charm Pendant Necklace

Source - Boylerpf

[boylerpf]

Antique Silver Bloodstone Jasper Thistle Charm Necklace

Source - Boylerpf

[boylerpf]

Antique 14K Gold Ruby Eyed Walking Grizzly Bear Pendant Charm

Source - Boylerpf

[butterlaneantiques]

Imperial Russian Leaf Charm & Sevastopol

This remarkable antique leaf charm was made in the Russian Empire during the reign of Tsar Alexander II, circa 1860. It’s formed as a wych elm leaf, a large deciduous tree found throughout Europe and the middle east from Ireland to the Urals, and the Arctic Circle down to the Peloponnese. The top is finished in the most wonderful translucent guilloché pastel enamel and set with a single rose cut diamond, and the texture simulates that of a leaf remarkably. The detail continues at the back of the charm where the maker has taken care to include both veins and the midrib. This type of translucent pastel enamelling is often found on pieces produced by Fabergé and, although the workmaster’s mark is unclear, it’s quite possible this is a Fabergé piece - the quality certainly matches what we’d expect. Marked 56z (14k gold).

“Sevastopol” is engraved on the back in Cyrillic script, which makes me wonder if this piece was commissioned to commemorate the infamous siege of Sevastopol (1854-55). The siege took place during the Crimean War when the allied forces of France, Britain, Sardinia, and Ottoman landed at Eupatoria on 14th September 1854. A force of 50,000 soldiers intended to march to Sevastopol, the Crimean capital, but the 35 mile journey proved disastrous. It took a year of intense fighting, including six major battles against the Russians at Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Tchernaya, Redan, and Malakoff, before the allies made it to the capital. Ground troops were supported by multiple naval bombardments of Sevastapol, a crucial warm water port able to harbour the Tsar’s Black Sea fleet all year round, and thus threaten incursions to the Mediterranean. Well over 100,000 lives were lost on each side, and the siege culminated in Russian retreat and ultimately the fall of Sevastopol on 28th of August, and the end of the war.

The various battles were repeatedly memorialised throughout the remainder of the 19th century and names such as Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole are still familiar today. The siege directly inspired Tolstoy’s Sebastopol Sketches, and Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is about the battle of Balaklava... Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred, indeed.

Less than 100 years later, a tragic ripple moves through time, Sevastopol was the scene of another, yet more deadly, battle between the Russian army and the Axis powers of Germany and Romania.

The modern settlement was founded in 1783 as a naval base named Akhtiar (White Cliff), however the name didn’t stick for long as, the next year, Catherine the Great ordered Grigory Potemkin to build a fortress called Sevastopol. This name selected as an homage to it’s ancient Greek origins (a 6th century BC Greek colony was established in the area of modern day city, Chersonesus, eventually abandoned in the 14th century). Since then - as a warm water port with access to the Mediterranean - it’s been an important tactical prize for Russia. The quest for a warm water port, to facilitate both trade and military expansion, has dictated the strategic decision making of Russia’s leaders for centuries. Indeed, the annexation of Crimea in 2014 - universally condemned in the West - proves the lengths to which Russia is prepared to stretch even today.

- Siege of Sevastopol by Franz Roubaud (1905).