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Rémy Rotenier Debuts Hand-Painted Animal Jewelry
The “Rémanimals” brooches are a lighthearted spin on classic portrait miniatures.
Rémy Rotenier has introduced a new collection of animal portrait miniatures. Pictured is the designer’s portrait of his own dog, Zuzu.
New York—Hand-painted portrait miniatures were sentimental hallmarks of 18th- and 19th-century jewelry.
Designer and jewelry rendering teacher Rémy Rotenier is putting his fingerprint on the style with his new “Rémanimals” collection of brooches.
“Reverse-carved and painted portrait miniatures, often called Essex brooches, were prized possessions during the Victorian era,” he explained. “I’ve added modern jeweled frames to give these vintage and timeless expressions of love a new life.”
Essex brooches were so named for William Essex, the royal enamellist under Queen Victoria. Essex created many animal portrait miniatures for the queen, a noted dog lover. The style was popular across Europe.
The Rémanimals collection exclusively depicts animals, with a menagerie encompassing dogs, cats, rabbits, frogs, pandas, porcupines, and more.
Just like the antique jewelry style, Rotenier reverse hand paints each portrait in oil. The portrait is topped with rock crystal featuring a reverse carving of the design and backed with translucent mother-of-pearl.
These layers add dimension to the portrait’s meticulous details.
“I wanted to celebrate the close relationship between people and animals, by giving precious pets a human touch in my brooches,” said designer Rémy Rotenier of his new Rémanimals collection.
Rotenier’s renditions of antique animal portrait jewelry feature his subjects dressed in human clothing.
The portraits are reverse hand painted in oil paint and set underneath a reverse-carved intaglio in rock crystal cabochon.
Portraits are set in 22-karat yellow gold bezels in a sterling silver frame.
“Most of us carry pictures of our loved ones everywhere we go, and for many of us, that includes our animals,” Rotenier said.
The portraits are set in 22-karat yellow gold bezels and sterling silver frames adorned with approximately 0.18 carats of diamonds.
On the back of each brooch are two “hidden” diamonds, one baguette-cut stone representing the animal and the other a round diamond representing the brooch’s human wearer.
Rotenier’s portraits depicts his animal subjects in human clothing for a measure of playfulness.
“This is a collection based on celebrating our dear animal friends,” Rotenier said.
“Using anthropomorphism gives them human attributes to highlight their steadfastness. Dressing them up also enhances their natural elegance. I find our animals are symbiotic to us, so they needed to borrow our clothes.”
The collection’s brooches are priced at $5,800. Rotenier also accepts commissions for $6,400.
More information is available on the designer’s website.
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