Pendant

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Pendant, in jewelry, ornament suspended from a bracelet, earring, or, especially, a necklace. Pendants are derived from the primitive practice of wearing amulets or talismans around the neck. The practice dates from the Stone Age, when pendants consisted of such objects as teeth, stones, and shells.During the Middle Ages, characteristic jewels were the reliquary, or devotional, pendant and the cross, chased or enamelled with religious subjects and often set in an architectural frame. One of the most famous early pendant reliquaries, which belonged to Charlemagne, contained relics of the True Cross and the crown of thorns under a sapphire set with gold. In the 14th century it was customary for noblemen to wear necklaces with pendants bearing heraldic subjects; pendants worn by women generally depicted sentimental subjects.Toward the beginning of the 16th century, pendants became decorative rather than religious objects. The Renaissance artists created numerous beautiful crosses and figured pendants modelled in high relief and depicting numerous subjects, such as mermaids, tritons, animals and ships, and mythological and religious scenes. Often, the irregular shapes of baroque pearls were exploited and adapted for the bodies of human beings or animals, whose faces and limbs were modelled in gold and enamelled. jewelry gold shining martix cad silver 3d modal riono scanned models various