<I>Bouquet holder, woman and bird motif with enamel handle</I>

ca.1830-1920

Bouquet holder of pierced gilded brass vase with enamel handle. The large lily-shaped vase is comprised of four stamped gilded brass repeats designed with a pierced depiction of a young girl and a bird on a branch in silhouette. They are joined by two eighteenth-century style decorations joining each of the panels. A floral pin with a flat bifurcated head pin is inserted through one of the ornate joints. This would pierce the stems in a bouquet to secure the flowers in the vase. The panels of the vase are attached to the handle by four stamped panels that depict flowers and foliage alternating with four narrow vertical stampings. The straight tapered handle is made of light blue enamel on copper with silver and gold paillons in designs around the stem, which recalls the French porcelain designs produced in the eighteenth century.. The handle is capped in with a gilded brass finial stamped in two parts with three progressively smaller elements and a round-link chain and ring attached to the tip. The ring, which has small dots at the edges and large ones in the middle on the exterior, would allow the bouquet holder to be worn on the finger or attached to a chatelaine worn at the waist to free the lady's hands while dancing.