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Victorian Masonic "Eye of Providence" Pendant

Victorian Masonic "Eye of Providence" Pendant

$800.00

Description

DATE: Victorian, c.1890

An exceptional antique Masonic pendant dating from the late 19th Century. An assortment of stone mason tools are arranged within a gold chain border, with an enamelled Eye of Providence nestled at the bottom. It's beautifully made, with detailing to both the front and back, and modelled in 14 karat gold throughout.

Many intellectuals, architects, and artists of the 18th and 19th Centuries were Freemasons, and believed that the principles of true architecture had been given - by God - to the ancient Jewish people. An unusual (but fascinating) perspective can be found in John Wood's The Origin of Building (1741). Of the pillars of Moses's Tabernacle he writes: "[they] furnish'd the various Sorts of Building necessary for Man; as the Strong, the Mean, and the Delicate; and which, in the Process of Time, were ranked under the Name of Order, with Grecian Names; to wit, Dorick, Jonick, and Corinthian". These principles, including the three classical orders, were passed on the the ancient Greeks, then the Romans, and then spread throughout the lands that the Romans had conquered. Interestingly, Wood goes on to make the argument that the Druids of ancient Britain, through their henges and standing stones, had bypassed the Greeks and Romans and acquired their knowledge of building grand monuments straight from the Jewish source.

MEASUREMENTS 

2.6 x 2.0cm

WEIGHT 

2.6g

MARKS 

Stamped 585

CONDITION 

Very good

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