Antique jewelry glossary

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Canetille

Canetille (French), a type of metal decoration on jewelry in the form of this wires making a coarse filigree pattern, sometimes enhanced with a gemstone or enamelling.

It is named after the type of embroidery made with very twisted gold or silver thread. The patterns are often in the form of scrolls or rosettes made of tightly coiled wire.

The style have been derived from sources in Portugal or India were filigree work was popular, but possibly it was developed in England, where it was frequently used in the early 19th century, and it was later adopted in France. Gold articles so decorated were hand-made but when used on silver or a base metal, the pattern was made by stamping.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson