Iris Corsage Ornament

At the turn of the 20th century, Tiffany and Co. produced a number of fabulous, realistic floral brooches. This extravagant example designed by G. Paulding Furnham was in the firm's display at the Exposition Universelle of 1900. It is set with faceted blue sapphires mined, which vary in intensity of color and hue as well as size. The blossom is composed of three sepals, or upright petals, and three falls, or drooping sepals, in oxidized silver, beneath which are three small small branches in etched gold. The bearding of the falls is suggested by citrines mounted in gold collets. The blossom emerges from a long, etched gold stem, from which spring three spathes rendered in demantoid garnets mounted "a jour" in gold frames.