Portrait-inspired design is making a comeback in the world of jewellery, with many designers and customers drawn to its personal and emotional significance. Antique jewellery often featured portraits of loved ones and pets, serving as mementos, memorial pieces, or symbols of devotion. These portraits were typically carved, engraved, or painted on various materials, including precious metal, gems, glass, ivory, and porcelain.
Cynthia Renee, a custom jewellery specialist, recently created a pair of cufflinks featuring scenes from a client’s home and images of his dogs. The cufflinks, which took six months to design and engineer, were made with engravings, diamonds, and black lacquer. Renee had suggested the project to her client, who liked the idea and provided photos of his dogs and home.
Antique Portrait Jewellery
In the Georgian era, which spanned from 1714 to 1837, portrait jewellery was designed to immortalize people and express loyalty and love. Miniature portraits were set under crystal or glass in rings, while pendants featured small, hand-painted portraits on ivory, animal skin, or card, often surrounded by gemstones. The Victorian period, which followed, also saw a rise in portrait jewellery, with carvings and brooches featuring women and floral patterns.
Pets were a common motif in Victorian jewellery, with dogs and cats often depicted in miniature enamel or carved coral pieces. The work of William Essex, a celebrated miniaturist enamel painter, was particularly famous, with his animal portrait brooches still available today through designers like Rémy Rotenier. Rotenier’s Rémanimals brooch collection features reverse-carved rock crystal cabochons with images of animals, dressed in human clothes to enhance their natural elegance.
Women motifs were also prevalent in Art Nouveau jewellery, which emerged in France around 1890. The movement sought to modernize jewellery design, with famous jewellers like René Lalique creating detailed plique-a-jour enamel pieces. A plique-a-jour enamel brooch/pendant from Adin Fine Antique Jewellery, featuring almandine garnets and a hand-painted miniature portrait, is a prime example of this style.
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Initiating Portrait Jewellery Sales
Custom jewellers like Mark Schneider often initiate portrait jewellery sales through conversations with clients about their lives and interests. Schneider has created pieces featuring clients’ pets, such as a necklace and bracelet with seven stray cats. By listening to clients’ stories and suggesting original portrait jewellery ideas, jewellers can create unique and sentimental pieces that attract attention.
Schneider proposed the horse pendant in Figure 9 to a horse owner as a gift for his wife. Figure 10 shows the wax and sketch used when designing the pendant. The client liked the finished pendant so well that he ordered three more horse pendants—one for his daughter, one for his trainer, and one for the owner of the equestrian centre; and Schneider ended up selling four pear-shaped diamonds at the same time.
Schneider loves animals and is always ready to propose animal jewellery appropriate for his clients. His jewellery receives an appraisal, a certificate of authenticity, and any stone certification for the stones selected for the piece. Customers appreciate custom portrait jewellery because it allows them to express their affection for people and pets they love. It also attracts more attention than mass-produced pieces and often serves as a conversation piece, during which admirers may ask where it was purchased.
Each brooch is made with a reverse-carved rock crystal cabochon and set in sterling silver with diamonds. The collection showcases Rotenier’s skill as a painter of fine art miniatures and his ability to create unique and detailed designs.
