The Pearl
“As technical craftsmanship developed in the sixteenth century, decoration progressively veered toward elaborate, brilliant, and skillful designs. Complex motifs of human figures, animals, gods and monsters began to replace the abstract styles of the previous century, and the simpler formats of colored stone with a drop-shaped pearl gave way to more elaborate pendants. Small, lost wax sculptures in gold and en ronde basse enamels were hung from chains in strange and wonderful designs. The most imaginative examples of sixteenth-century jewelry were made using large baroque pearls of surprising and irregular shapes, framed in precious metal and enamel to create animal or human forms. These designs formed a fantastic world populated by exotic animals, fauns, Neptunes and sirens that straddled the boundary between attractive and disturbing,” (121)
-The Pearl by Silvia Malaguzzi