The design of the necklace is the festoon which is a Neo-Classical style from the 1600’s in Italy. The word Festoon is a noun, a wreath or garland of flowers, leaves, paper, etc. hanging in a loop or curve; any carved or molded decoration resembling this curve. The amazing part of this early necklace is that it is all handmade. Original Chain work is rare to find today because it had to be made by hand and only a few master goldsmiths had the talent to make this time consuming art form which was a multi-step process.
First the apprentice had to “make up the gold”; mixing 24 karat pure gold with an alloy. This is because 24 karat gold is too soft so it was at this time mixed with platinum. (today it is mixed with base metals such as brass, zinc and nickel and that is the reason modern jewelry items have to have prongs re-tipped and ring bands added to (because these mixtures wear away). But it also much more cost effective to use the base metals today. Then after forming the gold, the apprentice would flatten the gold by covering it with a thin leather (fawn skin) cloth and would beat it with a leather mallet until the gold was thin enough. The next step was to cut the gold into narrow strips to make the round wire which was cut to the exact width and length. They had to cut more than needed because some may have too much flame in soldering and would melt this link. The links were then put together and soldered separately and “seasoned” for two weeks. The torque on the metal is so extreme that it is necessary to wait until it adjusts to the bend. Then after that time, the links were cut at the solder point and put together into links to make the chain one link at a time and solder the same point. In working with small detail it is easy to melt the gold and ruin the chain. The torch is a gas and air mixture that was produced by an apprentice pumping a device so the goldsmith could work. The torch tips were very large and not the pencil tips size of today’s smiths. This was such time intensive work plus skilled work that most pendants were worn on ribbons and not chains in the 1700’s and 1800’s. This festoon style has four tear shaped pearls handing from the chain. This wonderful chain is 16 inches long and has a barrow clasp to hold the chain together that is strong. If the chain is not long enough then the clasp could be removed new chain added to each end and the clasp put back on. This is a very special work of art from late 18th to early 19th century. This necklace is strong and fine to wear.