Vintage enamelled cabochon. Mary hears from Angel Gabriel that she's pregnant with Jesus.

Cabochon was part of a guilloche lot, but is definitely not guilloche. It appears to be repousse work in that it was raised from the back (perhaps with a stamp? the metal looks minimally worked) and then enamel was added to the front to complete the piece.

My guess is that the figures are just the raised metal and that the blue was added around them, then the whole thing was covered with a layer of clear enamel to preserve it and make it glow--and it does glow, especially the raised figures. Please ignore the black speck that shows up on the cab in the pictures--it must be some sort of reflection and doesn't actually exist.

I've mounted the vintage enameled cab (which seems to be a depiction of the angel Gabriel appearing to 14-year-old Mary to tell her she is pregnant with Jesus) in a "new vintage" goldtone frame, with a heart-and-bead dangle from a vintage earring (the beads appear to be metal, wood, and plastic) to which a small "soft porcelain"rose, recycled from a bracelet, has been added (She insisted on the rose, and the phrase "Rose of the World", from a Yeats poem, which may or may not refer to her, was stuck in my head until I added it.)

As mental health professionals, as well as parents of teens and adults, we've been talking about how this might play out today: Mary comes in from school, eyes big as saucers, and says,

"Mom, this guy came up to me at the bus stop and said I'm going to have G-d's baby!"

"How many times have I told you not to talk to those bus stop crazies? And just what have you been doing with that boyfriend of yours, little missy?"

"Just kissing, Mom, honest! But this guy was like, for real. Could G-d make me pregnant?" (These folks are Jewish, remember, and Jews neither say nor write the actual full name of G-d.)

Mom, faced with this deep theological question, goes to the rabbi, who opines that G-d, being omnipotent, could probably do such a thing, but why would He lay such a heavy burden on a 14-year-old?

So Mom takes Mary to her gynecologist, who confirms that she is in fact pregnant, and who suggests a visit to a psychiatrist when Mary keeps insisting that G-d must have done it, since she's never had intercourse.

Not only does Mary end up on psych meds, but the police round up Gabe and take him to a psych ward, where his dosage is adjusted--but he's moved to a long-term facility because he keeps insisting that G-d told him to talk to Mary.

And the baby? He's placed for adoption--Mary's not old enough to marry Joseph (who doesn't appear in this story anyway) and certainly not old enough to be someone's mother.

In spite of (or because of) all this, this is a pretty as well as interesting little re/upcycled vintage piece, which you are welcome to interpret .according to your own beliefs and traditions.

This piece should be fine under normal wearing conditions. I would, however, keep it outside car shoulder belts, away from animals and small children, and out of bathtubs and swimming pools.