UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION PENDANT - Souvenir medallion offers for the 1900's French exhibition with dual images of the Electricity Building
Antique 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle World's Fair "Pavillon de l'Electricité"" French Souvenir medallion.
This is quite a rare memento of the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris which brought more than 50 millions visitors to witness the latest emerging industrial developments and technologies.
Designed as a medallion and with an ornate silver tone setting, one side displays what became one of the most attractive exhibition that year: water spouts in the grand basin that functioned thanks to electrified pumps! One side depicts a view of the building and fountains by day and the other side depicts them lit up at night.
Both images are hand painted under glass on slightly convex pieces. The work is not unlike miniature painting and the lines are extremely fine. The painting now appears iridescent in places, almost like a butterfly wing, and the colors are very fresh.
One of the decorative rolls on the frame is a little bent but it doesn't detract to the beauty of the piece. The glass displays some light scratches only visible under close inspection and they are only offers really visible at an angle. The under glass painting can be observed in transparency, some areas are rather more transparent than others, but where it may be lacking, the other side is visible, adding to the general patina. Altogether a lovely and unique piece of jewelry that comes in its own gift box!
It measures 1 3/4" high by 1 1/8" wide. The painted glass pieces are 1" in diameter.
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