The theme for “Looking Close on Friday” for the 27th of May is “blue and green”. This was a wonderful challenge as there were so many possibilities. I contemplated pieces of blue and green porcelain, blue and green glass, blue and green fabric, but in the end I settled on blue and green guilloché enamel. I chose an English guilloché enamel and sterling silver button made in 1911 and a French guilloché enamel and pearl gold stick pin. Guilloché is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a rose engine lathe. This mechanical technique improved on more time-consuming designs achieved by hand and allowed for greater delicacy, precision, and closeness of line, as well as greater speed. Translucent enamel was applied over guilloché metal by Peter Carl Fabergé on the Faberge eggs and other pieces from the 1880s. I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile.
This peacock blue guilloché enamel and sterling silver button was made in Birmingham by James Fenton and Company in 1911. It is one of six small buttons, two long hatpins and belt buckle, all made of silver with the same peacock blue guilloche enamel, presented in a blue leather presentation box with gilt tooling. James Fenton and Company, was a Birmingham silvermakers between 1854 and 1956. They were well known for their manufacture of silver and gold thimbles and later silver and enamel jewellery.
This French made Art Nouveau (circa 1905) lapel stick pin of flowers and leaves is made of 18 carat rose gold, and features seven seed pearls and six beautiful vibrant green guilloché enamel leaves on rose gold backings in a dainty filigree setting measuring just over a centimetre in diameter. With its curling foliage, it represents the delicate and elegant style of the Belle Epoque. The maker is unknown.