Pendant

Object Type
The gold frame is in the form of a lobed quatrefoil with four flat trefoils protruding over the enamel. The pendant is suspended from a plain gold loop. An enamelled drop is suspended from the base.

Subjects Depicted
An angel holds the chalice of the Holy Grail, painted with a red cross, 'to show you lose yourself to gain yourself', as Phoebe Traquair once wrote to Percy nobbs, a friend of her son. This was an image that Traquair used and reworked frequently. It first appeared in a mural for a Scottish mortuary chapel in the 1880s with the title, 'Can ye drink of the Cup that I have drunk of?'

Materials & Making
Phoebe Traquair used translucent enamels which enabled the metallic ground to reflect light back through the glass, adding luminosity. This technique was developed to the highest level in 14th-century France and is generally known as basse taille.

Historical Associations
Traquair produced several pieces of enamel for friends but most of her work was sent to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in London where she sold about 30 pieces in 1903 and another 10 in 1906. Records suggest that she made around 150 enamelled works in her lifetime.