Bangle Bracelet
ca. 1875
Medium
Gold, cloisonné enamel
Dimensions
11/16 × 2 7/16 × 2 1/4 in. (1.7 × 6.2 × 5.7 cm)
Classification
Jewelry|Metalwork-Gold and Platinum
Culture
French, Paris
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Albion Art Co. Ltd., 2018
Accession Number
2018.447.3
Art Historical Context
This exquisite Bangle Bracelet, around 1875 by the renowned French jeweler Alexis Falize and his son, exemplifies the opulent jewelry of Second Empire Paris. Made of gold adorned with cloisonné enamel—a technique involving thin metal wires that form cells filled with vibrant, fired glass enamel—the bracelet measures a delicate 11/16 × 2 7/16 × 2 1/4 inches. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European and Decorative Arts department, it was a generous gift from Albion Art Co. Ltd. in 2018. The Falizes were masters of reviving historic enameling methods, blending Renaissance-inspired pre...