The Met Store Pins & Brooches*Mermaid Baroque Pearl Brooch

Unique art jewelry inspired by The Met.

A German or French pendant (ca. 1870–95) in the form of a marvelous mermaid is transformed into an eye-catching brooch. Our adornment adapts the baroque pearl torso on the original, now in The Met collection, with a cultured freshwater pearl, likewise embellished with colorful enamel and sparkling accents. Her tiara and long, wispy tail are among the attributes also present in two unpublished designs for a mermaid jewel by the German goldsmith Reinhold Vasters (German, 1827–1909), now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The variation in quality and variety of objects made according to Vasters’s designs indicate that his visions were likely realized by a fleet of different artisans.