St. George & the Dragon

This first piece fascinated me the moment I saw it. The motif in this Austro-Hungarian piece is St. George and the Dragon encased in rock crystal with an intricately enameled frame. Although it looked at first glance like a pendant, the fitting at the top has such a tiny hole for a bail or chain to be affixed in that position that I wonder if one ever was.

I am at a loss to decide what it is... is it jewelry or an ornament of some kind, is it a religious piece or a decorative object? It does look a bit like part of the insignia of the Order of the Garter. The Order of the Garter is an English Order of Chivalry.  It started my interest in St. George jewelry many years ago.
 

  ST. GEORGE & the Dragon pendant or ornament, 2-1/3" by 1-5/8" by 1-3/4" deep. This is and enameled figure encased in a hinged rock crystal case. All the pieces within the rock crystal "egg" are poly-chrome enameled, and very three dimensional. The enameling is orange, black and green around the outside edges, and the figures are purple, blue, green, orange and black. The piece is almost as deep as it is wide. The square jump ring is typical of the 18th century, but I am still researching date and provenance. As can be seen in the pictures, the hinge is broken.  View   View   View   View   View   View   #V22499

   St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- Reverse view  This has a hinge is at the top and a clip to open it locket-style at the bottom. It is broken at the hinge.  View    #V22499

 ST GEORGE & THE DRAGON interior view. As you can see the hinge is broken. The figure inside has wonderful detail.    View   View   View   View   #V22499

St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- View of top from the front with the hallmark barely visible.  One person who has seen it in person thought there was a hallmark of the head of Diana the Huntress on the top front of what would be the bail, if it had a bail. He also said that Diana is an Austrian silver mark circa 1874-??. I have not been able to confirm this as yet.

St.GEORGE & the DRAGON- View of top from the back. CHRISTIE ROMERO, author of "Warman's Jewelry", says: "I've seen quite a few St. Georges and Dragon pieces, but never enclosed in rock crystal like this. I assume the metal is silver, and if the hallmark is the head of a woman with a crescent moon in her hair, that's Diana, goddess of the hunt, which is in fact an Austrian hallmark. And that computes. This is Austro-Hungarian Renaissance Revival."   View

St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- View from side showing depth, which is about 1-3/4".  View from side 

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN SCENT BOTTLE-  View   View   View   View   View   View   View   Says the owner of this wonderful piece: "I’m attaching photos of the Austrian Renaissance Revival scent bottle that I recently acquired.  I’ve been collecting for more than 25 years and this is the first bottle that I’ve seen with this enameling “en ronde bosse”.  I’ve had several Austro-Hungarian bottles with just the raised jewels, but no enameling.  As I mentioned before, I’ve admired Renaissance jewelry for some time and am pleased to have been able to acquire this extraordinary revival piece.
I think it dates to 1840-1860 time period.  The only mark on the piece is a swan in an oval which tells us nothing because it is a French import mark.  It was at some time sold at auction and was marked by the French to indicate it was a precious metal - in this case, silver gilt."  

    AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN SCENT BOTTLE- "The stopper is a double-sided head which is enameled.  The shoulders and neck of the bottle are decorated with hippocamp or hippocampus figures (hippocamp is a seahorse type figure).  The hippocamp is also repeated beneath the central figure on both sides only upside-down.  The Phoenix (mythological) figure is on one side, and St. George and the Dragon (religious and historical) is on the other. 

"The chain was also embellished by the maker, as would have been the case in the Renaissance, with additional figures – in this case the links are hippocamps.  At the top of the chain is a figure called a “mascaron” which is a mask/face of some sort.  Sometimes mascarons are grotesques, sometimes funny, sometimes animal heads."

   AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN SCENT BOTTLE-
A collector contacted me, suggesting as a reference the wonderful book called Renaissance Jewels and Jeweled Objects, the Melvin Gutman Collection. She was also kind enough to share here her scent bottle, shown here.

   AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN lorgnette of gold washed silver with enameling, citrines, emeralds and pearls, 5-1/2" by 1-1/4". Tiny mark "800" on the glasses hinge. Circa 1890.  See Christie Romero's "Warman's Jewelry, 3rd Ed, page 116.   View    View    View    View    #L13478

   AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN lovely translucent enamel on sterling brooch with garnets and pearls, circa 1900. This shows the distinctive white enamel with delicate brushwork typical of the Transylvanian technique. See Moro's "European Designer Jewelry" page 178.   View   View   View   #V24857

 AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN revival pendant with red and green garnets, blue and white enameling and mother-of-pearl all set in gold tone, total length 3-3/4" and 1-3/4" wide on a 24" chain. The detail is lovely and the piece beautifully made.   View   View   #Q33281 

    AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN Revival brooch with pendant loop, rose cabochons, blue rhinestones and pearl inserts, 1-5/8".  View   #Q28382

    AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN style (but probably Czech) simulated cameo necklace with orange glass cabochons, green beads, purple rhinestones and white enameling, 16" necklace with 3-1/2" drop, circa 1920.  View   View   View   #Q25010

   CZECH "CzechoSlovakia" marked multi-colored enameled and rhinestone 3-1/3" pendant 22" chain reminiscent of the Austro-Hungarian style, circa 1940.  View   #Q25337