The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Renaissance brooches were predominantly functional items, although they were still extremely decorative.

Renaissance styles and traditions were found in parts of Europe throughout the Roman period and reappeared just before the medieval era. They were often made of bronze but some were also made in gold, silver and iron.  Often, they were decorated with red enamel, red coral inlays, cloisonne or champlene enamelling. Some brooches had more than one of these techniques.

During the Migration period (fourth to eighth centuries AD), many brooches and other jewellery were inlaid with richly coloured stones.

Brooches are probably one of the most common items of jewellery which have been found by archeologists, which is probably due to their functionality as well as decorative purpose.

Renaissance brooches were often worn as cloak-fasteners on both shoulders. Renaissance brooches are also referred to as penannual brooches. They acted as a safety-pin where the pin was secured in a catch-plate at the foot of the brooch and a bow would link the foot and spring.

Renaissance brooches were usually cast in one piece.

There was an enormous revival of interest in Classical and Renaissance art from about 1850. Archaeological discoveries in Greece, Italy and Egypt fuelled the imagination of designers. Renaissance art and architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, itself inspired by ancient Rome, also had a great influence. Classical and Renaissance pieces were sometimes copied quite closely, but often a variety of forms and motifs were combined or reinterpreted.

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Frederic Boucheron Brooch Maker.

Frederic Boucheron was born in 1830. Boucheron was a French goldsmith designer specialising in fine diamond jewellery. Frederic Boucheron founded the business on the Palace Royale in Paris in 1858 but subsequently relocated to Place Vendome in 1893. The company is still in existance today.

Boucheron’s styles ranged from jewellery similar to the Egyptian pharoahs to naturalistic styles of butterflies and flowers.

The amorous subject matter of cupid and putti depicted on the enamel design of the fan brooch are symbols, such as flowers, hearts and nesting birds, which represent the triumph of love. This brooch was made by the reknowned Parisian jeweller Frédéric Boucheron (1830-1902). Boucheron gathered around him a team of fine designers and craftsmen to execute his work.

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Carl and Josef Bacher Brooch Maker.

Josef Bacher was a Viennese jeweller known for his Etruscan jewels in the art of Castellani. His son Carl Bacher followed in his footsteps. Their jewels were exhibited at the time at several Expositions of Decorative Arts, for instance: in Vienna 1874-75, in Munich 1876, in Amsterdam 1877 and Paris 1878, where they received a gold medal. Since 1873 they had a gold and jewel factory and a retail shop named J. Bacher and Son, at the Lindengasse 11 in Vienna.

Much of their jewellery resembled a Hellenistic style using gold and enamel. One of the makers marks for Carl Bacher was C.B.

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