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This bracelet is part of a six piece set of jewelry, or parure, made of silver set with iron pyrite. This bracelet has a central harp design pave-set with iron pyrite, surrouned by pyrite-filled circles to form the large central element. This is flanked by graduated pyrite-filled ovals. The closure is a slide clasp.
bracelets (jewelry)
pyrite
silver (metal)
Steel
Mica
Bracelet
The central harp design in this bracelet represents the instrument of Brian Borhomie, the High King of Ireland reputed to have unified regional leaders in the eleventh century. A powerful symbol of Ireland after its exhibition in 1851 at the Crystal Palace, the harp was frequently reproduced in jewelry sets such as this as tourist souvenirs made from the locally-produced iron pyrite crystals often called "Irish diamonds." Other popular Irish motifs included in this set are trefoil shamrock leaves. For more on this type of jewelry and to see a similar set in the Birmingham (UK) Museum of Art, see Charlotte Gere and Judy Rudoe, Jewellery in the Age of Victoria (2011), 496.
Original to Castle Tucker (Wiscasset, Me.),
Unknown
6.5 x 1.5 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of Miss Jane S. Tucker
1998.4924.2
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