A gold brooch by Giacinto Melillo,

in the form of an amorino taming the dove of Venus, the Roman Goddess of love,
with silken cords decorated with intricate granulation and filigree.

Melillo specialised in jewellery in the archaeological taste and this particular
brooch is based on a Hellenistic prototype. Such is the extraordinary refinement
of this work that its reverse has been as meticulously carried out as the visible part of the jewel,
in effect turning it into a three dimensional example of the goldsmith's art.
Naples, circa 1890

3.5 cm

A matching pair of earrings is in the collection of the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston, 49.917 a-b.

The revival of ancient goldsmithing techniques has been credited principally to
the firm of Castellani in Rome in the 1860's. Giacinto Melillo was trained in the workshop that Alessandro Castellani
subsequently established in Naples, becoming its manager in 1863,
and taking over its ownership in 1870. According to his patron Count Micahel
Tyskiewicz, Melilo produced exceptionally fine revivalist jewels, often of superior quality to
those by Castellani, pronouncing them of ‘exquisite taste’.

See: Archaeological jewellery in the orbit of Castellani by D Scarisbrick in
Castellani and Italian Archaeological Jewelry, Ed Susan Weber Soros
& Stephanie Walker New York 2005