Double-sided Florentine Devotional Pendant – Late 16th / Early 17th Century

Gold, bloodstone, polychrome enamel, engraved rock crystal, painting on copper
A remarkable example of late-Renaissance devotional art, this double-sided pendant—likely created in Florence between the late 16th and early 17th centuries—merges goldsmithing, miniature painting, hardstone carving, and Christian symbolism into an object of extraordinary spiritual and artistic refinement.
The body is made of bloodstone (heliotrope), a dark green hardstone with red specks traditionally associated with Christ’s Passion. It is adorned with fine gold and polychrome enamel mounts—particularly blue and white motifs reminiscent of heraldic or floral forms—arranged in a cruciform layout.
On the front, beneath a convex rock crystal, appears a powerful gilded relief of Christ’s face, mounted on a golden surface engraved with delicate symbolic motifs:

• Six-petaled flowers and rosettes: signs of purity, resurrection, and heavenly glory;

• Stylized branches and palmettes: symbols of eternal life and sacred growth;

• Symmetrical vegetal volutes: evoking Renaissance designs of cosmic harmony and the Tree of Life.

The reverse features a miniature painting on copper, delicately rendered and depicting Saint Joseph accompanied by an angel. Set against a gold background, the scene conveys deep spiritual intimacy and the protective role of the saint.
Likely worn as a personal reliquary or devotional pendant, this jewel expresses the union of faith, art, and sacred meaning characteristic of late-Mannerist Florentine culture, where beauty was seen as a path to spiritual elevation.