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The Blue Bird Brooch: M/P.2-1914

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Current Location: In storage

Titles

The Blue Bird Brooch

Maker(s)

Maker: Carlo & Arthur Giuliano
Designer: Ricketts, Charles de Sousy

Entities

Categories

Description

Gold brooch in the shape of a blue bird on a spray of berries, enamelled and set with a garnet and coral

Gold, enamelled in translucent green, and opaque turquoise and green, and set with a cabochon garnet, and seven cabochon corals. In the shape of a bird on berried foliage, with a pin fastening across the back. The bird's eye is a cabochon garnet, and the berries are cabochon corals

Notes

History note: According to a note from Miss Janet Backhouse in 1971, the brooch was designed by Charles Ricketts for Miss Katherine H. Bradley (1846-1914).

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Miss K.H. Bradley

Measurements and weight

Height: 4.7 cm
Width: 4.8 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1914) by Bradley, Katherine H., Miss

Dating

Victoria I
Production date: AD 1899

Note

According to a note from Miss Janet Backhouse in 1971, the brooch was designed by Charles Ricketts for Miss Katherine H. Bradley (1846-1914), and intended for her birthday on 12 January 1900. It was completed early and she was allowed to wear it on Christmas Day 1899. There are four versions of the brooch design in the Album of Designs for Jewellery by Ricketts in the Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, 198 a 43, 1962.8.9.2 (7), (8), (9), and (10).

Components of the work

Decoration composed of garnet ( 1 cabochon cut) coral ( 7 cabochon cut) enamels ( translucent green, and opaque turquoise and green)
Brooch

Materials used in production

Gold

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: M/P.2-1914
Primary reference Number: 93549

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 2 December 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "The Blue Bird Brooch" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/93549 Accessed: 2025-12-05 06:03:50

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/93549 |title=The Blue Bird Brooch |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 06:03:50|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Blue Bird Brooch</figcaption>
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