Ernesto Pierret Fringe Necklace

Created in Rome by the archaeological revival workshop of Ernesto Pierret circa the 1860s, this 18K gold fringe necklace represents the Etruscan style. It is designed as a densely double-layered and slightly overlapping fringe of tapering leaves suspended from a line of beads strung on foxtail chain. A rare find from a legendary Roman maker that softly conforms to the neck and collarbone, this refined, rich gold necklace of supreme flexibility and and sophistication is both wearable and historically significant.

Dimensions: 13.625" length.
Materials: 18K Gold
Gram Weight: 87.4 grams
Signed: Pierret ROMA

A Revivalist jeweler of international fame, Ernesto Pierret (1824-1870) arrived in Rome from Paris in 1845 at the age of 21, opening his first salon there in 1857 in the Piazza Firenze, soon moving to 36 Via dell' Umiltà, not far from Castellani premises. A top competitor of the Castellani, his work is often indistinguishable in its technical refinement, aesthetic, and academic merit from the more famous family. In 1865m Pierret moved his business and his family to a former Vescovali family palazzo at no. 20 Piazza Spagna, which fronts Bernini's fountain "La Barcaccia". Standing to the left of the Spanish steps, the palazzo still bears his Pierret's name in mosaics above the entrance. Thanks to Pierret's wife, whose father was a papal lawyer, Pierret's customers may have had a more conservative orientation, allowing him to segment a local luxury clientele apart from that of the Castellani family, one of whose members (Alessandro) was prominent nationalist and revolutionary who stood under an order of banishment. Pierret, who was multi-lingual, and perhaps -some scholars have suggested- "less demanding" of his clients than the Castellani, offered jewelry in Etruscan, Hellenistic and Byzantine styles. Pierret's name is signed with an pplied plque, as here, of with an elaborate monogram, rarely used.