ROBERT PHILLIPS: REVIVALIST GOLD AND ENAMEL NECKLACE AND BROOCH SUITE, CIRCA 1870

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Footnotes

Robert Phillips (1810-1881) was one of England's foremost jewellers working in the fashionable Revivalist style, with close links to both Castellani and Giuliano, the latter being employed by his firm.

During the 19th century, copying and adapting motifs from antiquity and earlier historical periods became an important symbol of Nationalism for the wearer of the jewel, which in turn helped to create a national style. The design of this brooch and necklace exemplifies the Tudor Revival style that was unique to Britain. The motifs seen in similar jewels were often inspired by the tapestries and clothing depicted in the paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497-1543). For the Victorians, the Holbein label embodied the romance of the entire Tudor dynasty and a quintessentially English aesthetic.

In 1872, the Art-Journal praised Phillips's designs in the 'Holbeinesque' taste and described a series of Tudor rose jewels thus: "Another rose in enamel has been copied from a document, to which is attached the sign manual of Henry VIII. The design is by Holbein, who, in commemoration of the union of the houses of York and Lancaster, has formed the flower of white and red leaves. This may be used as a brooch or pendant." See Gere, C. and Rudoe, J. Jewellery in the Age of Queen Victoria, The British Museum Press, 2010, pp.331-353.

In her book, The Art of Beauty (1878), the historian and chronicler of fashion, Mrs Haweis, described the "artistic appreciation of good forms and good work" by Messrs Phillips of Cockspur Street, going on to recall, ".....the most perfect models are sought for the ornaments they furnish. Museums and picture galleries are ransacked for devices of necklaces, earrings and pendants. I there observed... a bracelet of enamel and gold whose delicate traceries with Tudor roses and fleur-de-lis, are adapted from a fine frieze beneath the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey..." See Richie, H. Designers & Jewellery 1850-1940, pp.37-39.