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about 1890
Alphonse Auger
Overall: 23 x 8 x 2.7 cm (9 1/16 x 3 1/8 x 1 1/16 in.) ornament
Overall: 26 x 12.5 x 6.5 cm (10 1/4 x 4 15/16 x 2 9/16 in.) box
Silver, gold, and diamond
Classification: Jewelry / Adornment
Culture: French
Accession number: 2012.7
Location: Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation Gallery (Jewelry)
Description: Large gem-set brooches worn on the chest were popular adornments worn in the evening by well-to-do European ladies during the eighteenth century. Naturalistically-rendered floral motifs dominated and in this revivalist example, made in the late nineteenth century, the flower heads are set en tremblant and mounted in silver and yellow gold. The blossoms are detachable and have individual mounts (now missing) so they can be worn separately. Has original leather box with impressed crown and the initials L.Q.on lid.
Provenance/Ownership History: Private collection, London; 2006, sold from this private collection to Wartski, Ltd., London; 2012, sold by Wartski to the MFA (Accession date: January 25, 2012)
Museum purchase with funds donated by the Vance Wall Foundation, Saundra B. Lane and an anonymous donor