Bodice ornament

This wide gold ornament of spiralling acanthus leaves was held by two flat hooks at the top of the bodice. In front there are nearly 300 diamonds held in substantial gold settings, much heavier than the silver settings which became dominant in the eighteenth century. The five large diamonds are rose-cut. It is characteristic of Spanish gold jewellery at this date that the gold settings nearly enclose the smaller diamonds. Parisian work would have been much lighter in its use of gold.

The design is easier to read on the back where the plain gold stems extend in sinuous curls across the ornament. The leaves are delicately engraved and the drums which holds settings for the largest stones are engraved with rosettes of foliage. A parallel for the design can be found in a superb design by Pietro Cerini, made in Rome in about 1675 in the V&A Print Room.

The ornament was acquired from the Treasury of the Cathedral of the Virgin of the Pillar, Zaragoza. It was described, when sold, as having been presented to the shrine by Doña Ana Maria de Flores, Marquesa de la Puebla, who is said to have been mentioned by Madame d'Aulnoy (1650-1705) as one of the beauties of the Spanish Court. It was one of a group of jewels purchased by the Museum in 1870, when the Cathedral authorities sold off treasures presented to the shrine of the Virgin in order to complete their building programme.