Unusual Victorian citrine intaglio brooch depicting a pet German spitz named Muff c.1860. Gold-cased original setting.
The German Spitz stands proudly on a mound of grass with its name carved above.
‘Muff’ seems to have been a popular name for spitz breeds in the c19th. A popular fashion accessory of the time the muff was always extremely fluffy and usually white. An Essex Crystal brooch of a white German Spitz in the British Museum is also inscribed Muff and dated 1862. A tiny gravestone once in the garden at Marlborough House recorded the death of Princess Alexandra’s pet dog, “Muff”, aged two, in 1865.
1.5 by 1 inch.