Pendant with Europa and the Bull

1870/1890

Alfred André

Associated Names
Alfred André

Jeweler, French, 1839 - 1919

This is an ornate pendant featuring a woman seated atop a bull. The woman is nude, and her arms are outstretched above her head, with a blue and gold sash flowing around her in an arc. Her skin is white with some patches of gold, and her hair is bright yellow-gold. The bull she sits on has a torso made of pearl, adorned with red and gold embellishments. Its head and feet are white with small golden lines. A large jewel is placed on top of its head, between its gold horns. The pendant is connected by a chain link of star-shaped designs with precious stones to the top section which it hangs from, and three dangling pearls hang from the golden base below the bull.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    baroque pearl; gold enameled in white, black, dark green, pale blue, translucent red, green, yellow, and blue; 22 colorless stones (sapphires, diamonds), 1 blue sapphire, 19 red stones (rubies, glass), 6 pearls

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (with chain): 13.6 x 6.8 x 2.7 cm (5 3/8 x 2 11/16 x 1 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1942.9.304

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Baron Maurice de Rothschild [d. 1957], Paris. (Duveen Brothers, New York); purchased 11 November 1912 by Peter A. B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, probably as Italian sixteenth century; inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, 1942.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1935

  • Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 45.

1942

  • Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 11, as Italian 16th Century (Style of Benvenuto Cellini).

1958

  • Stone, Peter. "Baroque Pearls I." Apollo (December 1958): 194-199, fig. 14.

1972

  • Neumann, Robert von. The Design and Creation of Jewelry. Rev. ed., New York and Philadelphia, 1972: 13, fig. 3.

1974

  • Heiniger, Ernst A. and Jean Heiniger. The Great Book of Jewels. Boston, 1974: 170, color repro.

1979

  • Hackenbroch, Yvonne. Renaissance Jewellery. London and Munich: 1979: 251-252, color pl. 31, no. 688.

1981

  • Newman, Harold. An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewellery. London, 1981: 118, 119, repro.

1983

  • Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 165-166, color repro.

1993

  • Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 288-291, color repro. 289.

2019

  • Vignon, Charlotte. Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940. New York, 2019: 103, 259 n. 269.

Wikidata ID

Q62131040

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