St. George & the Dragon

This piece fascinated me the moment I saw it. The motif in this late 1800's Austro-Hungarian piece is St. George and the Dragon.  It is encased in rock crystal with an intricately enameled frame. Although it looked at first glance like a pendant, the fitting at the top has no hole for a bail or chain to be affixed in that position.

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.
 

 St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- Front View  2-1/3" by 1-5/8". While this is encased in rock crystal that it is difficult to photograph through, in person it is very detailed. All the pieces within the rock crystal "egg" are poly-chrome enameled, and very three dimensional. The piece is almost as deep as it is wide.  View   #V22499

   St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- Back view  The piece opens from bottom to top... in other words, the hinge is at the top, and a clip to open it locket-style at the bottom.   View   View   #V22499

St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- Back view, closer

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."

St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- View of bottom I suppose it could have been suspended from this portion, but it would have hung upside-down, which seems unlikely.

   St. GEORGE & the DRAGON- View from side   More information on St. George HERE and HERE  and  HERE

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

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN-  Two Renaissance Revival pendants are shown above, one of which is St. George and his dragon. The loop suspending the pearl on the dragon has an Austrian hallmark on it - but as is typical, it is so tiny it's almost impossible to see. This picture is from the new edition of
Warman's Jewelry: A Fully Illustrated Price Guide to 19th and 20th Century Jewelry, Including Victorian, Art Nouveau, and Costume (3rd Ed)
by Christie Romero

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/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.

VICTORIAN Austro-Hungarian St. George and the dragon pendant, enamel on sterling with a pearl drop, c1890, very slight enamel loss, 2-1/2" by 1-1/2".   View   View   #V34321

   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

 ENAMEL on 10k white gold (tested) Austro-Hungarian "St George and the dragon" pendant 1867-72, hallmarked including an "A" for Vienna, 1-1/3". Wonderful quality, with even the the tiny loop enameled in blue.  View    #Q24982   

    AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN style 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