Imagine trompe l’oeil as jewelry, a translucent-enamel handbag of molten green simulating silk moiré, its gold frame crawling with snakes. Their presence is enough to intimidate anyone. It also assures that only the bravest soul would dare flip the diamond latch to open the purse.
The designer was Aloisia Rucellai, an Italian aristocrat by marriage who became the jeweler to know in Florence during the 1960s and 1970s. Indeed, the Rucellai bejeweled universe makes sport of mythological creatures and those from the netherworld, some with hissing red tongues as sharp as darts or eyes preternatural in their gaze. They depict what Aloisia’s granddaughter and namesake, Aloisia Rucellai, describes today as her grandmother’s “fun style.” Others might find that style a tad dark.
