Antique Georgian cannetille jewelry.
#4282 Georgian agate earrings with cannetille.
As children we were taught that there are rules and then there are exceptions to the rules. This is very true of cannetille. Let's take a look.
First: what is cannetille? How did it come about? When did it come about?
What is cannetille?
Cannetille is extremely fine three-dimentional wirework in gold, often accompanied by little gold globules. Cannetille uses thin threads of gold. Winds, coils, twists and turns it, sometimes embellishing it with tiny granulations or little golden globules. Rosettes and pyramids were often built up from tiny wire strands. This results in extremely fine and delicate gold mounts of great beauty.
Cannetille incorporates filigree work, but goes a step further as it is 3-dimentional, whereas regular filigree work is more flat.
The origin of antique Cannetille Jewelry:
After the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, the resources of Europe and England were somewhat depleted. Gold was scarce, labour was cheap. The clever jewelers of the day created a brilliant and beautiful solution to the paucity of materials, making a little bit of gold go a long way. Instead of a solid surface of gold, they stretched gold into hair-thin wires, then wound it around itself, producing three-dimentional pyramids, cones and flowers. Gold was literallly stretched which gave a big look for a light weight. More bang for your buck so to speak.
At that time, man-power was cheap. Gold was expensive. Today, nobody can do this kind of work and if they could, the cost in time and labour would make prices prohibitive.
Our first generalisation is that cannetille was produced from 1820-1830, in England, coinciding with the reign of King George IV. When we see cannetille work, we usually assume that is is English, 1820-1830. This is a convenient way of identifying and dating antique jewelry.
#4793 Pink topaz parure with cannetille: 
And the exceptions: Alternative origins:
Firstly, the English were not the only people creating beautiful cannetille jewelry. I have seen quite a few pieces of fine cannetille work made in France.
#5432 French cannetille earrings bracelet cross pendant. True, the rams head French hallmark dates the set pre 1838 so it does conform to the date rule.
While English cannetille usually involves pyramids and cones, the French cannetille I've seen is in the form of flowers.
#7491 
It has been suggested that cannetille work was inspired by the Portuguese - both in their gold work and embroidery. Other theories abound - that India was the origin of this kind of work, or was it maybe France? Ultimately, we do not know exactly how this style of gold-work came about.
2nd exception - the date.
Cannetille is associated with the period of George IV's reign, 1820-1830 and when you see cannetille work, especially from Great Britain, it's a good guess that is when it was made.
Cannetille work made in France might date to slightly earlier in the 19th century. French jewelry is always hallmarked, so we can date and identify it conveniently as well.
I have owned cannetille jewelry that was made a lot later than 1830. Items of this sort usually date to the late 19th century. Later Victorian cannetillle is heavier, more stolid and staid in its appearance. It lacks the same fine and light quality as earlier work. In some cases what appears to be wirework is in fact moulded to look like twisted wires.
A generalisation about cannetille with no known (to me) exception is that it is always made of gold. I've never seen cannetille work in any other metal.
#5305 pink sapphire torpedo earrings with cannetille.
Not only gold was in short supply at the time: expensive gems were also difficult to procure, so many colorful lesser stones were used in their stead. This means that cannetille jewelry is often set with bright and cheerful colored stones. The Georgians, prior to the age of electricity, were very fond of bright, colored gems.
Although it does exist, is is quite unusual to find cannetille jewelry made entirely of gold. In most cases the jewelry is set with a variety of semi-precious gemstones.
Sometimes, cannetille is set with foiled stones - another great Georgian 'trick' to get more bang for your buck.
Many jewels combine cannetile with other forms of lightweight gold. Thin sheets of gold hammered from the back in repousse designs.
eg earrings #6709 
We do know how the end came for cannetille: cheaper and easier means of production were invented. Thus, cannetille jewelry was replaced, in the 1830's by repousse sheet work. Cannetille can be associated with George IV - a great lover of jewelry and fine arts. His boorish brother William, who became king after his death is associated with the less refined repousse work of the '30's.
#6851 later brooch. 
In my searches for great antique jewelry, cannetille is high up on the list of desireable. It can be found. Make sure that condition is good enough, as with all antique jewelry. A little bent wire here or there is not a tragedy.
Beware of fakes and later 'copies'. I found a necklace set in a cannetille setting, but there was something heavy and slightly clumsy about the cannetille. It was no doubt a much later Victorian version of cannetille. Even during the later 19th century, it had become impossible to attain that lightness and delicacy of the 'real thing'. Some later versions are worth buying, but you can distinguish them via general style, workmanship and materials.
6705 amethyst earrings 
Despite it's great delicacy, cannetille has been surprisingly successful in withstanding the wear and tear of the last 200 years. It can be found in good condition. Look for it.
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