Red Gold Kerosang Brooch

A grand set of three-pin brooches set with rose cut diamonds weighing 9.41ctw in 18k reddish gold.

This set is crafted in modern times, but it is distinguished as a single set set with extensive rose cut diamonds, through old-time craftsmanship.

Traditionally, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, kerosang pins were worn by Straits Chinese or Peranakan ladies over their sheer, buttonless blousons.

Today they wear them as a bejewelled accessory, mostly because the intricate filigree has become synonymous, and possibly the most famous, of this region’s jewelry culture.

Each brooch is 5cm tall, this is considered one of the bigger brooch sets, old or not.

The difficulty in making a set like this continues from history up to present day.

Only seasoned hands can set these rose cuts with ease, and with expertise, such that the back of the brooch is as smooth/shiny as its front, with only gold outlines framing see-through stones – like a jumbo monocle.

The rose cuts, set into the gold, is known as pierced gold work. The stones and the gold are ‘joined’ flat on a foil-like sheet of gold.

This ethnic type of carving and setting technique is the domain of only a select few craftsmen.

Not only are these diamonds flat (no girdle), each rose cut diamond has a unique shape.

It is this difficulty of setting these freeform diamonds, plus the higher price commanded of modern full cut diamonds, that present us with many full cut diamond brooches, but very few of these organic rose cut sets.

Finally, if you have noticed the color of the reddish gold, this will likely form the longevity of its beauty.

The gold is not plated rose gold, or even rose gold, but owes its reddish make to a deliberate composition of the gold.

This is actually like the older Teochew gold which is very red.

Most brooch pins feature insects or birds, or foliage patterns. The deer motif in these pins is a Chinese homonym, a reference to the ‘road’ of career.

These pins may be worn individually, with or without the chains linking the trio.

Made over a long-drawn period in the 21st century, this will be an earnest find for a soul wanting the old, beginning its keep anew.

The circumstances under which this set exists makes it hard to replicate.

There are 174 pieces of clean, white rose cut diamonds.

Each brooch spans 5cm tall and 4.5cm across.

All photos are taken in natural light (except for the last photo).