Limoges Porcelain Pendant Necklaces

Limoges Brooch & Lapis

These three necklaces showcase antique Limoges porcelain brooches. The manufacturing of hard-paste porcelain was established in the city of Limoges, in the center of France, in 1771 after the discovery of local supplies of kaolin. Limoges still maintains today the position it reached in the 19th century of premier manufacturing city of porcelain in France.

Limoges brooch & green moonstone

Limoges brooch & blue Kyanite

Early 20th Century Italian Cameo Necklace

The pendant in this necklace is a shell cameo set in gold-plated silver. It is Italian work from the early 20th century. The portrait of a woman is delicately hand-carved in the shell. This particular one was designed to be worn either as a brooch or a pendant. The beads are faceted rondelles of green garnet.

Ancient and Renaissance Cameos were made from semi-precious gemstones, like agate and onyx or glass. Old cameos are carved with the traditional and difficult method directly out of material with layers or banding in different colors.
The earliest known use of shell cameos was in the 15th and 16th centuries, during the Renaissance. In the 18th century, new shells were imported in Europe and sparked a big increase in the production of shell cameos. They were extremely popular after the mid 19th century.
The shell most used since this period is the bullmouth helmet "cypraecassis rufa" which has a white upper shell layer and an orange-brown lower layer.
The world center for shell cameo carving is Torre del Greco in Italy.