Robert Phillips Archaeological Revival Bracelet

This archaeological revival bangle by Robert Phillips Brothers is composed of 18K gold and enamel, and dates from the 1860s–1870s. The hinged bangle centers a double line of white and blue enamel circular devices and applied beads, all framed in twisted wirework, with a trellised edge of larger beads elevated on posts. An important surviving jewel by a celebrated London artist and designer of the Revival movement, this exquisite bangle represents a high point of this original jeweler's work, which one contemporary reviewer described as belonging in "the jewel box of an Etruscan prince."

Gram Weight: 58.6 grams
Signed: Robert Phillips Brothers maker's mark
Literature: This bracelet appears to derive design elements from a ancient Etruscan rosette brooch belonging to the Louvre's Campana collection. See p.54 Castellani and Italian Archaeological Jewelery Walker ed. p. 54

Robert Phillips of Cockspur Street (Westminster) was a pioneer of the Archaeological Revival style, praised for exquisite workmanship combined with originality in adapting ancient jewelry for modern wear, instead of producing copies. Always considering himself "an artist more than a tradesman", Phillips participated in the 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition, and later won a gold medal for his jewelry in 1867 in Paris. Phillips' exposition display inspired the Times of London to say that there was "scarcely a piece about which there is not a separate history to be written." A design omnivore with endless curiosity, Phillips was a jewelry design leader who restlessly explored and derived inspiration from cultures as diverse as Burma, India, Assyria, the Iron Age, Egypt, and Tudor England, well before others had the idea. He was widely known for his dedicated study of collections of archaeological artifacts, and was the preferred jeweler of Austen Henry Layard, the famed excavator of Nineveh and Nimrud. Phillips was among the first to present jewelry of Indian inspiration, exhibiting a celebrated Indian-inspired necklace among his jewels at the 1867 Paris Exposition. Reviewers praised his originality, noting "he thinks for himself" and was "not content to follow" but "aspires to lead public taste." A renowned dealer in antique gems and jewelry, Phillips also handled the best contemporary cameos, led by Benedetto Pistrucci, whose work was of such virtuosity that it was often passed off as that of a Renaissance carver. This bracelet, loosely designed in the Etruscan taste, was a creative interpretation of ancient work, which Judy Rudoe and Charlotte Gere termed "no less radical" in its originality than anything by Castellani.