Diamond, Pearl, Plique-à-jour, Gold Necklace 2349GM

Art Nouveau (Modern Style) or Jugendstil jewelry (1895-1915) features natural designs such as flowers and butterflies and were generally considered “romantic”. This style was popular from about 1895 until World War I. The style actually began around 1875 in Paris, and its influence went throughout the western world. The style died out by the end of World War I but has often been revived.
Art Nouveau jewelry follows curves and naturalistic designs, especially depicting long-haired, sensual women, sometimes turning into bird-like or flower-like forms.

All pearls originate in mollusks (mollusca), whether natural or cultured. Mollusks are a phylum of invertebrate animals that includes oysters, clams, mussels, snails and octopus among their approximately one hundred and twenty-eight thousand species, all with the ability to produce pearls. Only a few of these varieties can create gem quality pearls.

Plique-à-jour (French for “letting in daylight”) is a vitreous enamelling technique where the enamel is applied in cells, similar to cloisonné, but with no backing in the final product, so light can shine through the transparent or translucent enamel. It is in effect a miniature version of stained-glass and is considered very challenging technically: high time consumption (up to 4 months per item), with a high failure rate. The technique is similar to that of cloisonné, but using a temporary backing that after firing is dissolved by acid or rubbed away. A different technique relies solely on surface tension, for smaller areas. In Japan the technique is known as shotai-jippo (shotai shippo), and is found from the 19th century on.

A single cut diamond has a large table and an octagonal girdle. The culet, or bottom edge of the diamond, may be pointed or it may be flat. A single cut diamond usually has 18 facets. The single cut is an extremely old diamond cut dating to the 1300s.

Because of the softness of pure (24k) gold, it is usually alloyed with base metals for use in jewelry, altering its hardness and ductility, melting point, color and other properties. Alloys with lower carat rating, typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 9k, contain higher percentages of copper or other base metals or silver or palladium in the alloy. Copper is the most commonly used base metal, yielding a redder color.