Forms: α. 7–9. fillagree, 8–9 filligree, 7– filagree, 9 filigree. β. 8 phillagree, phil(l)igree, -grew. [Abbreviated from filigreen: see FILIGRANE.]
1. ‘Jewel work of a delicate kind made with threads and beads, usually of gold and silver’ (Encycl. Brit.).
1693. Evelyn, Diary, 13 July. A cabinet of silver fillagree, which I think was our Queene Mary’s, and which in my opinion should have ben generously sent to her.
1721. Lond. Gaz., No. 6014/3. Fine chac’d Philigrew and Houshold-Plate.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, I. 118. The ladies were pretty, and dressed with much taste; no caps at all, but flowers in their heads, and ear-rings of silver flllagree finely worked.
1821. Byron, Juan, III. lxiii.
| Gold cups of filigree, made to secure | |
| The hand from burning underneath them placed. |
1821. Scott, Kenilw., vi. On the toilet was a beautiful Venetian mirror, in a frame of silver filigree, and beside it stood a gold posset-dish to contain the night-draught.
transf. 1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 69.
| Admittance of a cataract of light | |
| Beyond attainment through earth’s palace-panes | |
| Pinholed athwart their windowed filagree | |
| By twinklings sobered from the sun outside. |
b. The art of making this work.
1800. Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1801), IV. 366. The haberdasher’s lady thinks, that living in style is evident in going once a year to a masquerade at Ranelagh—in having her daughters taught French and filagree.
2. attrib. (= made of, or worked in, filigree); also filigree glass (see quot.), FILIGREE-WORK.
1747. H. Walpole, Lett. to Conway, 8 June. It is a little plaything-house that I got out of Mrs. Chenevix’s shop, and is the prettiest bauble you ever saw. It is set in enamelled meadows, with phillagree hedges.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 299. They have goldsmiths, who make filligree buttons, earings, &c. pretty well.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xi. Enclosed within a filigree screen of gold, lay the image of the saint.
1803. Gent. Mag., in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1804), VII. 44. Gilt and painted frames for flower-pots; the fillagree tea-caddies; the fruit-baskets, &c. &c.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., II. ii. He wore a tippet of ermine, and a collar or necklace of uncut jewels set in filagree gold.
1871. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 264. Filigree glass, which consisted of spirally-twisted white and coloured enamel glasses, cased in transparent glass.
1886. Sheldon, trans. Flaubert’s Salammbô, 4. Bowls of wine, and canthari filled with water, were placed by the side of gold filigree baskets containing flowers.
