Pendant brooch

This Nineteenth-century jewel draws its inspiration from the pendants made in Germany in the early 1700's, but it is unusual amongst Renaissance Revival pieces for its commemoration of an event from contemporary Italian foreign policy. Engraved on the large central sapphire is a representation of the battle at Dogali in Ethiopia, where five hundred Italian troops were massacred on 27th January 1887 while attempting to establish an Italian empire in Africa. The sapphire must have been engraved very soon after the event, and the completed jewel is recorded in Castellani's studio inventory in June 1888 - allowing a more precise dating than is usually possible with Castellani's work. Three other pendants in this form are known, but these have a double flower in place of the engraved gem.
(See Lucia Pirzio-Biroli Stefanelli's article in the Burlington Magazine June 2002)