Brooch

Tiffany & Co.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This brooch features a large, square, step-cut emerald with rounded corners ringed by two concentric oval frames of round, marquis, and pear-shaped brilliant-cut diamonds. The gems are arranged like garlands in thin platinum bezels with millegrain detailing. Findings on the back of the piece allow it to be worn as either a brooch or a pendant. The delicate appearance of this and other "garland style" pieces popular around the turn of the twentieth century relied on the advanced use of platinum, which was a newly accessible material at the time of this brooch’s manufacture. Although unmarked, this piece was possibly made by New York-based jewelers Tiffany & Co. The first iteration of Tiffany & Co. was founded in New York City in 1837 and specialized in stationary and fancy goods. By the early 1900s, around the time this brooch was made, Tiffany & Co had become a favorite shopping destination of the Gilded Age elite, with branches in London and Paris.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art