Caterina The Tigress Necklace Tourmaline Hessonite Garnet Black Spinel Citrine Quartz Silver Renaissance Style

Apart from her formidable political, diplomatic and administrative skills, Caterina wrote handbooks on alchemy, hunting and beauty treatments. She is not as well known today as Lucrezia Borgia (who was definitely not a femme fatale but a pawn of her powerful Borgia father and brothers. For more about Lucrezia, read Sarah Bradford's or Maria Bellonci's exquisite biographies, or Ferdinand Gregorovius' Victorian masterpiece. The malicious stories about her are nonsense.) Caterina, however, really was a very dangerous lady to cross, and was one of the most brilliant women of the Renaissance.

And for sticklers for historical accuracy, like me, the portrayal of her in the current series "The Borgias" leaves me uncomfortable. As Guilia Farnese implies, Caterina's military genius was formidable. But she was far more beautiful, far less reasonable and far more dangerous than the series shows her. As for the famous scene of her standing on the walls of her castle defying Juan Borgia...........yes, she really did what the series showed.

I've crafted this necklace in her honor, in the tawny and black colors of the Tigress that she was. I have a matching pair of earrings available in my Ruby Lane store.

The necklace features a cascade of tigress colors: black spinel, deep tawny tourmaline, hessonite garnet, honey chalcedony, citrine-colored quartz crystal, and Austrian and Chinese crystals in copper, Madeira-color and jet.

The focal point of the pendant is the kite-shaped 14mm. faceted briolettes of citrine quartz crystal. This is genuine quartz crystal that has been dyed a radiant citrine color. Above it are: 7 and 8mm. smooth ovals of tawny tourmaline in various shades; 7mm. faceted ovals of tawny hessonite garnet; 4mm. faceted rounds of black jet, copper-color and Madeira-color crystals; 4mm. faceted rondelles of hessonite garnet; 8mm. faceted briolette and 8mm. faceted oval of deep honey chalcedony; 9mm. faceted teardrop briolette of glittering black spinel.

All are worked on sterling-silver wire and sterling silver-filled jewelry pins, to sterling silver-filled rolo chain, and accented with 2mm. sterling silver beads. The pendant hangs from a sterling silver bail and measures a total of 2.5" long.

The pendant hangs from a necklace chain of 4mm. faceted jet crystal and 6mm. Madeira-color crystal rondelles of Chinese jet, spaced with 2mm. sterling silver beads, and closes with a sterling lobster clasp. It measures 16.5" long and in addition, it has a sterling silver-filled extension chain so you can wear it up to 17.75" long if you wish. The extension ends in a honey chalcedony briolette. I can add a longer extension if you need.

For those who want to read more about the Divine Caterina, please look for a new biography by the respected Italian Renaissance art historian Elizabeth Lev. She has written a comprehensive account of Caterina's extraordinary life, called "The Tigress of Forli." Very highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the Italian Renaissance! The last scan is a portrait of Caterina by Lorenzo di Credi (she is painted in the black and tawny colors of a tigress).

This necklace would retail in a good museum or historical reproduction jewelry catalog for about $350.

All metals used are sterling silver or sterling silver-filled. The tawny tourmaline, hessonite garnet, black spinel and honey chalcedony are genuine. The crystals are both Austrian and Chinese lab-created crystals. The citrine quartz is dyed genuine quartz crystal.

NOTE: all my original designs and text are sole property of Strega2 Jewelry and protected under Title 17 of the U.S. copyright laws. Any copying, adaptation or infringement will result in legal action.

Item ID: n/a1020