Victorian 18ct Gold Love Is Blind Brooch

A very finely modelled and heavy gage 18ct75% pure gold (or 750 parts pure gold and 250 parts other metals) gold brooch featuring Cupid blindfolded and three cherubs.

Shakespeare used the simple statement “love is blind”  The idea itself comes from long before Shakespeare’s time, from one of the images of Cupid (a winged Roman God of love) in which he wears a blindfold. We often think of Cupid as blind, even though that is only one of the versions of him. He appears in many different forms, as a baby, a child, and a teenager, not always wearing the blindfold.  He sometimes carries a bow and has a quiver of arrows on his back. That has given rise to the tradition of his being able to make people fall in love by shooting them with one of his arrows. If an arrow strikes you that’s it and you immediately fall in love. He doesn’t shoot you deliberately, as he can’t see you.  Anyone can suddenly, out of the blue, be wounded by one of Cupid’s arrows. There is no sense or reason in it because ‘love is blind.’

This brooch is stunning with amazing chased detail.  It was made circa 1860-1900.