Miniature Book Pendant, “Sermons of Love”
France, late 18th–early 19th century
18K Gold with polychrome enamel and painted miniature pages
This rare miniature book pendant, titled Sermons of Love (Sermons d’Amour), exemplifies the poetic intimacy and symbolic refinement of late-18th to early-19th-century French sentimental jewelry. Crafted in gold, the hinged volume opens to reveal delicately painted interior pages rendered in red, green, and cream tones—an evocation of devotional or allegorical texts intended not for reading, but for emotional resonance.
The exterior cover features a boldly enameled red heart motif, framed by hand-engraved gold borders. When opened, a pierced heart window in the opposing cover allows light to pass through the symbolic core of the object, reinforcing themes of love, fidelity, and emotional transparency. Such heart-pierced book pendants were exchanged as tokens of affection, betrothal, or private vows, merging literary symbolism with the language of the heart.
Miniature book jewels occupied a liminal space between personal devotion and romantic expression, often worn close to the body as talismans of remembrance or promise. The survival of intact hinges, layered “pages,” and vivid enamel underscores both the craftsmanship and rarity of this piece. Today, it stands as a tangible artifact of Enlightenment-era sentiment, where love, literature, and jewelry converged in exquisite miniature form
This charm was purchased in Tonnerre, France
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