Bee silver brooch with yellow sapphire and plique a jour

This brooch is a minature work of art, made in rhodium plated sterling silver with a cluster

of lemon yellow sapphires and plique-a-jour wings in soft brown to yellow tones.

The bee is three dimensional and measures 26mm by 31mm by 9mm deep. It has a hinged pin with a safety catch fastening.

Plique-a-jour

A French term meaning glimpse of Day, plique- a-jour is a particularly difficult technique whereby delicate translucent enamel is suspended between threads of silver. This allows the light to pour through, illuminating the colours with the same brilliance as a stained glass window seen in sunlight.

Plique-jour is a technique used by the French enamellists Lalique and Feuillatre in the 1900’s. The French term means “glimpse of day”.

This difficult technique has been revived by the craftsman who made this pendant. The enamel is suspended between silver wires and is fired without any backing so that the light can shine through.

A plique-a-jour enamel piece requires many painstaking hours to complete. Patience and humility are the most important tools for this technique! It’s a work of art that needs to be treated with care like a fine glass sculpture.