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| Brooch England ca. 1840-65 paste gems set in silver originally owned by Pre-Raphaelite muse Jane Morris Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Shoe-buckle Western Europe ca. 1770 paste gems set in silver Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
PASTE – a hard, vitreous composition (of fused silica, potash, white oxide of lead, borax, etc.) used in making imitations of precious stones; a factitious or artificial gem made of this.
1662 Christopher Merrett (translator). Neri's Art of Glass.
This past[e] imitates all Jewels and colours, and hath a wonderful shining and lustre, And in hardness too it imitates the jewels.
1718 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Letter to the Countess of Bristol, 10 April.
That paste with which they make counterfeit jewels.
1753 Chambers' Cyclopaedia.
Pastes – in the glass trade, a sort of compositions of the glass kind, made from calcined crystal, lead, and metallic preparations, to imitate the several natural gems.
1796 Robert Burns. Poems on Life.
Tho' fiction out may trick her / And in paste gems and fripp'ry deck her.
1824 Washington Irving. Tales of a Traveller.
High-heeled shoes, with paste or diamond buckles.
1827 Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Pelham, or, The Adventures of a Gentleman.
The diamonds went to the jeweller's, and Lady Frances wore paste.
– definition and citations, Oxford English Dictionary
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| Hair-pin Spain ca. 1865-70 silver-gilt set with paste emeralds Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Ring Western Europe ca. 1650-1700 enameled-gold set with paste emerald Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Bodice-ornament England ca. 1760 rock-crystals and pastes set in silver Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Pendant Western Europe ca. 1750 pastes set in silver Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Earrings Western Europe 1760s silver-gilt set with pastes Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Pendant Portugal ca. 1750 silver openwork set with pastes Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Pendant Western Europe ca. 1760-80 opalines and white pastes set in silver Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
The opaline was essentially a glass opal, another form of paste.
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| Brooch Western Europe ca. 1760 opaline and pastes set in silver Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Ornament England ca. 1770 opalines and pastes set in silver Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Bracelet Clasp Western Europe 1790s opalines and pastes set in silver Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Pendant Switzerland ca. 1800-1870 silver-gilt filigree set with black pastes Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Brooch mass-produced by Schlichtegroll, Vienna ca. 1855 silver-gilt openwork with paint imitating enamel set with garnets, emeralds, pastes, imitation pearls Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
I am grateful to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for the excellent images.