RENAISSANCE JEWELLERY
[CHAPTER XX]
ITALY, FIFTEENTH CENTURY
THE history of Renaissance jewellery in general may be approached by reviewing the condition of Italian jewellery in the fifteenth century. In the foregoing outline of European jewellery to the end of the fifteenth century—which has served as an approximate date for the termination of the mediæval epoch—practically no reference has been made to Italy. One need only examine the general style of Italian painting, architecture, and sculpture of the Quattrocento, to see how far apart the art of Italy stands from that of the rest of Europe.
Italian jewellery certainly merits the great reputation it has always possessed. Nor is this surprising, considering the prominent part played by the goldsmiths in the renaissance of artistic taste—by these craftsmen who, in the highest sense artists, were the first to break the fetters of tradition, and yield to those impulses that sought a wider field for the gratification of their creative instinct. Hence the history of the jeweller's art in Italy at the period of the Quattrocento largely resolves itself into the biographies of those master sculptors and painters, who worked first as goldsmiths and jewellers, and throughout their careers remained ever mindful of their original trade.
Venice, which in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was the wealthiest city and the principal port in Europe, though rivalled in the former century by Bruges and by Antwerp in the latter, encouraged the use of luxurious jewellery, as did the great cities of the north. But Florence undoubtedly took the lead as an artistic centre, judging alone by the artists she produced. The paintings of the Venetian school (the work of Crivelli, for instance), and those of the schools of Tuscany, etc., reveal the exquisite beauty of ecclesiastical jewellery, and of the ornaments with which men, no less than women, loved to deck their persons. Nearly every painter possessed an insight into the mysteries of the goldsmith's craft, and represented his subject, whatever it might be, with careful attention to its jewelled accessories. The great merchants of opulent and artistic cities, such as Siena, Milan, and others, besides Venice and Florence, delighted in rich jewels; and the masters of the schools of painting which had their centres in these towns have preserved in glowing pigment a faithful record of these delicate works of art, on which the eminent jewellers of the day lavished their skill and ingenuity.
The great superiority and beauty of the personal ornaments revealed to us in this manner must first of all be ascribed to that awakening to the full joy of life that was so characteristic a feature of the Renaissance. The rapture of spring ran hot in men's veins. Life was an uninterrupted succession of revelry and gaiety, amid splendour of colouring and glitter of gold. The goldsmith emerges from the subordinate state he occupied in the mediæval guild, and attains fame as a free artist, whose duty was to minister personally to the luxurious tastes of those who played a part in the gorgeous pageant of the new epoch. The goldsmiths included among their ranks great master craftsmen, whose perfection of technical skill seemed to find satisfaction only in overcoming the greatest problems that their art could offer.
Vasari tells of the very close connection and almost constant intercourse that existed between the goldsmiths and the painters. Indeed, nearly every artist, before applying himself to painting, architecture, or sculpture, began with the study of the goldsmith's craft, and "passed the years of his apprenticeship in the technical details of an industry that then supplied the strictest method of design."[117]
The names of several artists of the Renaissance have been handed down who are specially recorded as having worked at jewellery. One of the earliest of those who began their career in the goldsmith's workshops is Ghiberti (b. 1378), who throughout life remained faithful to that species of work. His jewellery is specially extolled by Vasari.
Following upon Ghiberti were two great jewellers, Tommaso (commonly called Maso) di Finiguerra and Antonio Pollaiuolo; the former famous for his nielli, the latter for his enamel-work upon relief. Pollaiuolo's love for jewel-forms in his paintings (executed together with his brother Piero) is seen not only in the Annunciation at Berlin, but in the group of SS. Eustace, James, and Vincent in the Uffizi, and the portrait of Simonetta Vespucci at Chantilly. Born in 1435, a few years after Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio resembled in the peculiar versatility of his genius, others of these typical artists of the Middle or High Renaissance—the Epoch of the Goldsmith it has been termed.
A jeweller whose influence in his own day was greater, and whose fame almost equalled that of Cellini, was Ambrogio Foppa, called Caradosso, who was born about 1446 at Milan. He worked first in the service of Ludovico Sforza, and afterwards at Rome, where he died as late as the year 1530. He seems to have been skilled in every branch of the goldsmith's art, and especially excelled in making little medallions of gold, enriched with figures in high relief and covered with enamels, which were worn as enseignes in the hat or hair. His work in this direction is highly extolled by Cellini, and his skill in enamelling specially mentioned by Vasari.
Pendant worn by one of The Three Graces in Botticelli's "Primavera."
Among the artists of the end of the fifteenth century who, after being goldsmiths and jewellers, became celebrated as painters must be mentioned Botticelli (1444-1510), Domenico del Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), and Francia (1450-1517). Ghirlandaio is commonly referred to as a maker of the jewelled coronals (ghirlande), popular with the unmarried and newly wedded ladies of Florence. It is probable that he did produce this class of work in early life; but his name seems to have been borne by several members of his family, for in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a goldsmith was often familiarly termed "Ghirlandaio," as one of his chief occupations was the manufacture of the rich head-ornaments then so much in vogue.
Jewel, in Ghirlandaio's portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni.
Though Ghirlandaio does not fill his pictures with dainty details like the intricate settings which Botticelli devised for the neck-pendants of the Graces in his "Primavera," yet he invariably pays careful regard to the representation of jewelled accessories. Such may be seen in the well-known portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni (1488), belonging to Mr. Pierpont Morgan (formerly in the Kann Collection). She has two jewels: one, worn on her breast, is formed of a ruby in claw setting with a small beryl above, and hung with three pendent pearls; the other, specially introduced into the picture and lying beside her in a recess, is composed of a cluster of stones—a ruby surrounded by two pearls and three beryls—beautifully set, and surmounted by a winged dragon with a sapphire over its head. Resting upon a table in the foreground of another picture—a curious panel in the possession of Mr. George Salting—representing Costanza de' Medici, are several pins, three rings on a roll of parchment, and a pendant hung with three pearls and set with a large and a small sapphire. In the Pitti Gallery is a portrait, not by Domenico, but by his son Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, which may be here alluded to owing to the special interest of its subject. The portrait is that of a jeweller holding in his hand and gazing intently at what is presumably one of his own creations—a richly enamelled jewel fashioned in the form of a "pelican in its piety."
Concerning the jewellery of the great goldsmith of Bologna, Francesco Raibolini, called Francia, a considerable amount of information has been preserved. Born in 1450, he passed the best part of his life as a goldsmith, and not till he was upwards of forty did he abandon the goldsmith's art for that of the painter.[118] One of Francia's finest paintings is the "Felicini" altar-piece in the Bologna Gallery, executed in 1484 by commission of Messer Bartolomeo Felicini for the church of S. Maria della Misericordia in that city. Among the many splendid gifts this famous church had received was a jewel which the records say was set by Francia himself. Its beauty was held in such esteem, that by desire of the chapter the artist introduced it into his picture, where it can be seen hanging over the head of the Madonna. Its centre is occupied by a fine amethyst, and is bordered by deep blood-crimson enamel, with pearls at the angles. So carefully is every detail of this jewel painted, that a modern goldsmith has found no difficulty in copying it with absolute exactness[119] ([Pl. XXV, 1]).
PLATE XXV
fifteenth-century pendants, etc.
(italian and flemish)
The last of the great jewellers of the Quattrocento was Michelagnolo di Viviano, who worked at Florence under the patronage of Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici. He was the earliest instructor of the greatest goldsmith and jeweller of the late Renaissance, Benvenuto Cellini, in whose Treatise and Life he is spoken of with the highest praise.
From actual examples we obtain but slight information of the Italian ornaments of the fifteenth century; but that there is a distinct alteration in the style of jewellery between the Quattrocento and the Cinquecento, the pictures of these great artistic periods offer abundant proofs. This difference is particularly noticeable in ornaments for the head. During the fifteenth century we find the forehead heightened, and the space thus obtained emphasised by a single jewel placed at the top of the brow. This form of ornament is admirably shown in Piero della Francesca's "Nativity" in the National Gallery, and particularly in his "Madonna and Child," with saints and angels, and with the donor, Federigo of Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, in the Brera, Milan. The parts of these two pictures most characteristic of the artist are the figures of the angels, who wear jewels executed with extraordinary brilliancy—compositions of pearls in delicate goldwork enriched with blue enamel. Precious stones and jewels were often sewn, at regular intervals, all round the band of ribbon or galloon that encircled the head, as seen in a portrait in the Ambrosiana, Milan, ascribed to Ambrogio da Predis, and considered to be that of Beatrice d' Este; but it is more usual to find in the centre of the brow an isolated jewel, held by a narrow ribbon or silken cord, knotted at the back of the head—as in Caroto's portrait of the Duchess Elizabeth Gonzaga in the Uffizi, who wears on the forehead a jewelled scorpion, emblem of logic.
This head-ornament is known as the ferronnière; and the origin of its title is somewhat peculiar. There is in the Louvre an attractive and greatly admired portrait of a lady, with her hair held in place by black cord supporting a diamond in the middle of the forehead. For many years the portrait was entitled "La Belle Ferronnière," having been erroneously considered to be that of the blacksmith's wife (ferronnière) whose beauty enthralled Francis I in his declining years. It is now generally held to be a portrait of Lucrezia Crivelli, mistress of Ludovico Moro, Duke of Milan. The name of the painter is a matter of dispute, though the work is still ascribed, as it has long been, to Leonardo da Vinci. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the Romantic movement was at its height, a similar ornament was revived, and received its present name under a misconception of the subject of the picture. In the sixteenth century this simple ornament is abandoned, and it was the painter's task to depict magnificent coiffures like those of Veronese's ladies, sprinkled with jewels and entwined with ropes of pearls.
As regards the ornaments for the neck, the changes of fashion in the two periods and the artistic mode of expressing the fashion demanded a different style of jewellery. The slender neck which is displayed in the portraits of the earlier period required lighter ornaments than did the massive forms of the later. "The artist no longer trifled with single gems, hanging on a thread, but painted a solid chain, and the light, close-fitting necklace becomes pendent and heavy."[120] The distinct refinement exhibited in Italy in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries did not demand a great profusion or variety of jewellery. As the pendent ornament for the neck-chain, a simple jewel formed by one stone in the centre and smaller stones or four pearls around seems in most cases to have been sufficient. Circular pendants of niello-work surrounded by silver-gilt bands of corded ornament were much in use, and a small number, dating from about 1460 to 1530, have survived. They sometimes bear a religious subject ([Pl. XIX, 4]). But not infrequently the head of a lady is represented in profile, generally with a flower under her nose; and it is possible that these were worn by men as a pledge of affection from their lady-love. Finger rings with somewhat similar designs were also worn ([Pl. XXIII, 16]).
Beyond a small number of objects of this description, very few examples of Italian Quattrocento jewellery have escaped the crucible. The change of taste even between the early and the full Renaissance was sufficient to cause their destruction. Among surviving jewels of this century is a very beautiful gold and enamel pendant in the collection of Mr. Pierpont Morgan. It is circular in form, and was probably intended as a reliquary. Upon the front is an Annunciation in high relief. The garment of the Virgin is enriched with red and blue, and that of the angel with red and white enamel; the chequered base being of translucent green. Around is a border of leaves and flowers enamelled red and white. The open-work back consists of a central rosette, surrounded by interlacing curves, and edged with a delicate wreath ([Pl. XXV, 2]).
It remains to draw attention, by means of a beautiful representation of jewellery in painting, to an example of the style of brooch worn in Florence in the latter part of the fifteenth century. The picture referred to is that of the Virgin and Child (No. 296) in the National Gallery. It is apparently the work of Verrocchio, Pollaiuolo, or one of the goldsmith-painters of whom we have spoken; for the minute execution of the ornaments would seem to denote the hand of an artist who had practised the goldsmith's and jeweller's art. The brooch that serves as a fastening for the Virgin's cloak—the same being represented on that of one of the angels—is of most charming design. It has in the centre a table-cut ruby, around which are set four pearls between ornaments in the form of blackberries, surrounded by an outer border of blackberry leaves. So carefully is the jewel drawn that every detail can bear close inspection. A peculiar point of interest is that the pearls, each of which is set in a couple of crutch-like clasps, appear to correspond to the "perles à potences" frequently mentioned in the contemporary jewel inventories of the Dukes of Burgundy.
Brooch worn by the Virgin in fifteenth-century Florentine picture (No. 296, National Gallery, London).
Some measure of compensation for the unfortunate lack of actual examples of Italian Quattrocento jewellery is obtained, apart from their representation in pictures, by the very remarkable use that was made of jewel forms for the marginal decoration of manuscripts. Such enrichments of the borders of missals, etc., by means of painted jewel ornaments, would seem to be but the direct outcome of the system whereby most of the painters, sculptors, architects, and no less eminent miniaturists received their first instruction in art in the workshops of the goldsmiths. It is certain from their quality that the jewels represented in manuscripts, generally in their natural size, are the work of artists well acquainted with the jeweller's art, whose eyes were further impressed by the embroidered edgings of ecclesiastical vestments enriched with jewel ornaments and sewn with pearls and precious stones. In painting with corresponding luxury the border decorations of church missals, the miniaturists have obviously not drawn on their imagination, or constructed jewel forms in a mere haphazard manner. The individual pieces, often complete jewels, are just such as might at the time have been found on the shelves of some goldsmith's workshop.
Among the most skilful of such reproductions of jewels are those in the celebrated choir books of the cathedral of Siena, particularly the pages painted by Liberale di Giacomo da Verona, who worked at Siena from the year 1466. An examination of these illuminations reveals Liberale as an artist thoroughly conversant with the jeweller's craft: so that his work, together with that of his followers, such as the Florentine Giovanni di Giuliano Boccardi, the Dominican Fra Eustachio, Litti di Filippo Corbizi, Monte di Giovanni, Antonio di Girolamo, the famous Attavante, and the various miniaturists of King Mathias Corvinus of Hungary, apart from its charming execution, constitutes a veritable storehouse of information respecting the ornaments of the period. Particularly fine examples of jewelled and enamelled decorations are also contained in choir books in the cathedral of Florence, missals in the Barberini Palace, Rome, a Bible of Mathias Corvinus in the Vatican Library, several books in the Brera at Milan, and the fine Glockendon missal (circa 1540) in the Town Library at Nuremberg. More important perhaps than all is the Grimani Breviary, now in the Library of St. Mark's, Venice. The ornamentation of this famous work, the product of a Flemish artist of the final years of the fifteenth century, displays a northern naturalism favourable to the striking representation of jewel forms, and serves to illustrate the close and active relationship then existing between the Flemish and Italian goldsmiths.[121]
A fifteenth-century jeweller. From Ortus Sanitatis (Strasburg, about 1497).
CHAPTER XXI
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY (GENERAL)
ITALY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY
GREAT ostentation and external splendour were the chief features of the Renaissance. So, if the jewellery of this time appears to us more magnificent than that of any other, this superiority is but an indirect result of the intermediate causes which find a place in all that is included under the term Renaissance.
In enumerating certain characteristics that distinguish sixteenth-century jewellery from that of other epochs, the enormous quantity used may first of all be noted. A general increase in wealth had taken place, but in the comparative rarity of opportunity for investments, it was still customary to keep gold and precious stones secreted,[122] or, as was more generally done, make them into ornaments of small compass and easily convertible into hard cash.
Coupling this with the magnificent style of living during the Renaissance, we need feel less surprise at the extraordinary abundance of jewellery which we read of in contemporary chronicles, and find represented in the utmost variety on the portraits of the period. Men of solid reputation and serious disposition seem, equally with women, to have fallen victims to the reigning passion for jewellery.
If we are at first inclined to wonder at the number of Cinquecento jewels that have survived, we can more readily understand that they represent the merest fraction of what formerly existed, when we take into consideration all the risks of destruction such fragile and precious objects have undergone—objects by their nature the very first to disappear. Monetary pressure caused by war, the division of property, and many other events were fraught with danger to objects in the precious metals. Change of taste, almost as rapid as that in dress, which has caused the last fashion but one to be the least of all desired, necessitated the repeated refashioning of jewellery. Notwithstanding their perfection, the exquisite productions of the sixteenth century were unable to resist the fatal influence of fashion, and were largely broken up towards the termination of the seventeenth century, when brilliant enamels and artistically wrought gold were less in request, and the precious metals became entirely subservient to the stones, for which they acted simply as settings. On the other hand, their small size, which has rendered them easy to conceal, accounts for the preservation of some examples, while mere chance, or perhaps an historical association, oft-times solely traditional, has saved others from destruction.
The finest productions of the artificers of antiquity transcend in abstract beauty of design everything, perhaps, that has since been produced. Those of the mediæval craftsmen possess a charm and beauty impossible to deny, and a peculiar naïveté and ingenuousness of their own, to be looked for in vain elsewhere. It must be acknowledged, however, that the jewels of the Renaissance, the receptacle of every variety of adornment by way of precious stones, pearls, and enamels that the goldsmith could devise in order to enrich them, are in their own manner incomparable. It may be that some err so far on the side of over-elaboration that they lose the balance and dignity of harmonious design, but the majority possess qualities rarely found in combination save at this remarkable period—a richness of form, boldness of conception, and extraordinary refinement of technique. There is no species of technical work, whether it was a case of hammering, chasing, or casting, or, above all, enamelling, that was not then brought to perfection. But the splendours of the Renaissance must not blind us to the efforts of the preceding age; for thorough though the change was from the style of Gothic art, the jewellers of the Renaissance were deeply indebted to the mediæval traditions which they had by their side to aid them in developing their artistic conceptions.
Another noticeable point with regard to the jewellery of this period is its astonishing variety. Its decline, and reduction to a monotonous repetition of design, coincides with the disappearance of those artists who possessed the universality of a man like Cellini, and with the division of labour characteristic of modern art and industry.
In addition to the enormous quantity used, a distinctive feature of Renaissance ornaments is the preference shown for colour. The placing together of bright-coloured gems with delicately worked gold invariably enriched with polychrome enamels is the fundamental motive of the jewellery of the period. So admirable was the craftsman's taste that each jewel forms in itself a scheme perfect in design and colour, and the rubies, emeralds, and sapphires introduced for the sake of their colour values, serve the composition as a whole without overwhelming it; while the diamond, which comprised almost the sole material of the jewellery of later times, was used only for purposes of contrast. It cannot be said that precious stones had entirely forfeited their mediæval reputation at the period of the revival; but as jewellery was beginning to assume generally the character of mere ornament, the stones which enriched it were naturally chosen rather with an eye to their decorative qualities than for any fancied virtues they might be considered to possess.
One of the charms of this old jewellery lies in the setting of its stones, which are mostly table-cut, and fixed in square pyramidal collets. The usual process of setting was to rub the upper edges of the closed and box-like collet over the setting edge of the stone, and occasionally to lay over this an additional ornament in imitation of claws. This manner of beating up or pressing the edges of the collet over the faceted sides of the stone is extremely pleasing, for the stone, with its colour thrown up by a foil or paillon, harmonises admirably with the somewhat irregular frame of gold that surrounds it.
The art of enamelling, especially where figures are represented in full relief, attains the highest point of perfection. Even when enamels cover the various parts of jewels in a wondrous harmony of colour, the artists of the period contrived with extraordinary tact to leave small portions in gold: the hair of the figures, manes of horses, armour, weapons—glittering points that enhance the beauty of the whole. Translucent and opaque enamels are found side by side employed in different modes with astounding assurance. Extensive use was made of opaque white enamel, always by way of contrast; a favourite device being to enrich with it the edges of tendrils in the form of minute beads, each no larger than a pin's head.
It is the desire for harmony and beauty of execution, rather than for display of wealth, that characterises the best productions of the Renaissance, whose true value lies not in their intrinsic, but in their real artistic worth. The whole of every jewel, back as well as front, is finished and enamelled with the same exquisite care. What little material value these jewels possessed when their form and design was destroyed and their beautiful devices obliterated is well illustrated by Brantôme's story of the jewels of the Countess of Châteaubriand. This lady had been supplanted in the affections of Francis I by another—the future Duchess of Estampes—who persuaded the King to claim all the fine jewels he had bestowed on his former mistress. The value of these lay chiefly in their beautiful designs and devices, so on receiving the demand, she melted them all down, and returned them to him converted into golden ingots.
The splendid love of life which finds expression in every production of Renaissance art exercises a pervading influence over its jewellery, and determines the subjects to be represented. All the larger objects, and indeed every object which is not of a purely decorative pattern, is given to the depicting of a subject. Throughout the finest period of jewellery, goldsmith's work was closely associated with sculpture; and the human figure, or figures of animals either real or imaginary, wrought in relief or executed in the round, find a place on almost every jewelled composition. The subjects, largely chosen from among the new circle of ideas opened up by the literature of the Renaissance, reveal wide knowledge of classical mythology, romance, and poetic legends, as well as remarkable adaptive genius. Nor are subjects from the Old and New Testaments excluded; though fanciful groups—in one case a representation of some theological virtue, and in another some sacred allegory—are more popular. The symbolical figures of the Middle Ages, as the unicorn and the "pelican in her piety," with sea monsters and fantastic men and beasts, are of frequent occurrence. Subjects such as these, and many others suggested by the fertile mind of the Renaissance jeweller and the artist who drew his designs, are so numerous that space would fail were one to attempt to enumerate even a tithe of those met with on jewels of the Cinquecento.
Notwithstanding its subjects, we find in the jewellery of the Renaissance, beyond what tradition had preserved, no direct influence resulting from the study of the ornaments of the ancients, though the awakened interest of Italy in the antique cannot but have been accompanied by some acquaintance with the productions of her early goldsmiths. There appears, however, to have been no attempt to base the jewels of the period on the forms of ancient ornaments, to imitate the beaded work of the Etruscans or the goldwork of ancient Greece or Rome.
Yet Renaissance design of the sixteenth century, with its arabesques and scrollwork (best represented by Raphael's famous arabesques in the Loggia of the Vatican) seems to have been in the main inspired by antique designs, such as the frescoes discovered at Rome in 1506, in the Baths of Petus—the so-called grottos, from which was derived, as Cellini explains, the term grotesque.
The newly developed design, a combination of figures, masks, flowers, fruits, and various other details, applicable as it was to every branch of art, was peculiarly adapted to jewellery, and was quickly seized upon by the jewellers, who employed it for ornaments of a purely decorative formation, or for the framework or backgrounds of the exquisite figured compositions then so much in vogue.
The real difficulty that confronts one in dealing with the jewellery of the sixteenth century lies not in the inability to obtain the necessary material examples, but in expressing a definite opinion as to their nationality and origin; and this difficulty the best informed and most experienced connoisseurs are the first to confess. The utmost, therefore, that one can hope to do, without attempting in every case to arrive at accurate conclusions, is to indicate, as far as possible, such means as may be of assistance in ascribing a nationality, not to all, but to at least the majority of Renaissance ornaments.
ITALY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Italian jewellery of the sixteenth century presents what is probably one of the most difficult problems in the whole history of the art. In the fifteenth century the almost complete absence of examples necessitates recourse mainly to pictures; but Italian pictures of the sixteenth century are of comparatively small assistance, from the fact that Italian painters of that period mostly neglected the preciosity of style and delicacy of perception that studied the gleam and shimmer on jewels and such-like objects. The bright blending of beautiful colours had to give way to strong shadows and skilful effects of perspective. There exists, on the other hand, an abundance of material in the form of actual specimens of Cinquecento jewellery, but owing to the far-reaching influence of the Renaissance style of ornament a decision as to their precise provenance is a matter of the utmost difficulty.
The great popularity of one of the central figures of the late Renaissance—Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1572)—has for many years caused the finest examples to be attributed to him or to his school, often with complete disregard of their design, which can be traced in many cases to another source. It is unnecessary to give a biographical account of the famous Florentine goldsmith, for his life may best be studied in his own memoirs. More to the present purpose is it to attempt to estimate the real position that Cellini should occupy, especially with regard to such examples of jewellery as have come down to the present day.
Upon the question of Cellini the artistic world has long been divided into two camps. The majority of those who have previously dealt with the subject have considered it sufficient to sum up the whole history of the jeweller's art of the sixteenth century under the name of this one artist, and to attribute everything important to him. The lively and singularly attractive narrative of his own life and adventures contains such candid glorification of himself and his work, that the temptation is strong to follow the majority, and, unmindful of his contemporaries, to associate with him, as he himself has done, the finest jewellery of the whole Renaissance. Eugène Plon, for example, Cellini's chief exponent, in his magnificent work, Benvenuto Cellini, Orfèvre, Médailleur, Sculpteur (1883), though eminently just, and on the whole fair in his attributions, cannot disguise an evident desire to ascribe to the Florentine goldsmith, or at any rate to his school, not only several jewels which might conceivably be associated with Cellini, but also several others of more doubtful origin. Among these is the important group of jewels in the Rothschild Collection in the British Museum, known as the Waddesdon Bequest, the real origin of all of which is held by those best entitled to judge to be incontestably German.
Cellini's critics, on the other hand, sceptical, and in the main dispassionate, have placed him under a more searching light, and despoiled him of the halo with which his own memoirs have encircled him. He remains, however, an excellent and many-sided artist, thoroughly versed in all the technicalities of his craft, and one who without doubt strongly influenced his contemporaries. Admirable goldsmith and jeweller as he certainly was, he is entitled to the highest distinction, but not so much on account of the references in his Vita and Trattati to his own productions, as for his lucid treatment of technical questions.
"Artists," says Mr. Symonds, "who aspire to immortality should shun the precious metals." Despite all that has been said respecting such jewels as the Leda and the Swan at Vienna ([Pl. XXIX, 5]), the Chariot of Apollo at Chantilly, and the mountings of the two cameos, the Four Cæsars and the Centaur and the Bacchic Genii in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, which have, with some degree of likelihood, been attributed to Cellini, the only quite authenticated example of his work as a goldsmith is the famous golden salt-cellar at Vienna. This object when looked at from the goldsmith's point of view, in the matter of fineness of workmanship and skill in execution, is seen to possess particular characteristics which should be sufficient to prevent the attribution to Cellini of other contemporary work, created by jewellers who clearly drew their inspiration from entirely different sources.
In endeavouring to affix a nationality to existing jewels, the only really serviceable landmarks are those furnished by the collections of engraved designs by German and French masters of ornament; and when these are compared with the contemporary work just spoken of, the common origin of nearly all becomes at once evident. Bearing in mind the skill and fame of the Italian goldsmiths, not only of Cellini, but of his contemporaries, such as Girolamo del Prato, Giovanni da Ferenzuola, Luca Agnolo, and Piero, Giovanni, and Romalo del Tovaloccio, the reason why the vast majority of extant jewels should follow German designs is difficult to understand. An authority no less reliable than Sir A. W. Franks has expressed an opinion that the designs of Dürer, Aldegrever, and other German artists were extensively used in Italy.[123] Italian goldsmiths did not produce any such examples of engraved ornament for jewellery as did their confrères in Germany, France, and Flanders; but the current knowledge we possess of the art of the period renders it at least unlikely that the individuality which is the key-note of all the productions of the Italian Renaissance would have countenanced there, in Italy, the use of extraneous ready-made designs. Certainly artists of the stamp of Cellini would not have used them. One is forced nevertheless to acknowledge the possibility of minor Italian craftsmen having executed jewels from German engravings. The international character visible on so many art objects of the time must be attributed in no small degree to the circulation of such designs in almost all the workshops of Europe.
A reason for the many difficulties that arise in connection with this particular question seems to lie in the fact that for causes unexplained the jewellery of the first half of the sixteenth century, whether Italian, German, or of other nationality, has almost all vanished, and that examples met with at the present day belong chiefly to the second half of that century. While acknowledging the existence of a fair number of jewels whose authorship cannot be otherwise than Italian, and without denying the possibility of the survival of examples of jewellery even from the hand of Cellini himself, a protest must be raised against the practice, hitherto so common, of describing every jewel of the sixteenth century as Italian, and of coupling every high-class object of this description with the magic name of Cellini.
CHAPTER XXII
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
GERMANY, THE LOW COUNTRIES, HUNGARY
THOUGH introduced early into Germany, the style of the Italian Renaissance made its way but slowly in a country where the ideas of the Middle Ages long held possession of people's minds. It was not till after about 1515, when the spread of books and engravings quickened its general acceptance, that the new movement gained ground there. The German goldsmiths, when once they had cast aside the Gothic style, seized upon Renaissance ornament with such avidity that by the second half of the sixteenth century they had acquired a widespread fame, and would seem by their richness of invention to have completely cast into the shade the Italian jewellers of their own day.
From an early period there had been a steady flow of artists leaving Germany to study in the great Italian ateliers. The principal of these, and one who influenced his countrymen more than any, was Albert Dürer, who showed in the engravings produced after his journey to Italy a perfect apprehension of Italian design. As it travelled northward, Renaissance ornament increased in freedom from classic rule, and in the hands of the later draughtsmen and engravers who executed patterns for the goldsmiths, it lost much of its original purity, and assumed a mixed style, composed of strap and ribbon work, cartouches, and intricate complications of architectural members; while the industrious affectation of the jewellers of the day for manipulative difficulties led to the production of ornaments whose effect is sometimes marred by over-elaboration of detail.
In addition to other circumstances, we must remember that the greater wealth of the middle classes was a powerful factor in the increasing production of jewellery. The goldsmiths consequently occupied an important position; and that there was a great demand for their services is proved by the fact that patterns for jewellery executed on their behalf by the foremost engravers of the day form no unimportant part of the engraved work produced by these artists.
In Germany, as elsewhere, success in trade resulted in a demand for objects of luxury. The city of Augsburg, situated on a great trade route, early attained to a height of commercial prosperity, while Munich, and especially Nuremberg, not far distant, flourished to an equal degree. Under the stimulating patronage of wealthy families, such as the Fugger family of Augsburg, articles of jewellery of every kind were produced in abundance, and throughout the sixteenth century found their way over nearly the whole of Europe. In addition to these three cities, Prague during the last few years of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth century was likewise a centre for the manufacture of an immense amount of enamelled jewellery. This industry, carried on with considerable activity owing to the influence of the Archduke Ferdinand of Tirol (1520-1595), brother of Maximilian II, was most flourishing in the time of the Emperor Rudolph II (1552-1612), King of Hungary and Bohemia, under whose patronage several remarkable specimens of German goldsmith's work now at Vienna were executed, such as the Austrian Imperial Crown, made in the year 1602.
The epoch of about forty years that terminated at the death of Rudolph II in 1612, and known as the Rudolphine period, witnessed the production, mainly in Southern Germany, of the greater part of the enamelled jewellery now extant. Renaissance jewellery, as we speak of it, may be said to have almost ceased after that period, at a date which coincided with the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in Germany, and the Civil War in England.
Its proximity to Italy rendered Augsburg more quickly subject to the influence of the Italian style than Nuremberg and Munich, though by the middle of the sixteenth century the whole of Southern Germany followed the style of decoration of the Italian masters so thoroughly, that it is difficult to assign a large proportion of the ornaments of the period to either nation, since the distinguishing feature of the hall-mark finds no place on jewellery, as on other objects in the precious metals. It is true that the extraordinary development of cartouche and strap ornament on German work, as on that of the Netherlands, serves in many cases to distinguish it from the Italian, yet there is sufficient similarity in details of ornamentation, in masks and figures, as well as in the method of enamel-work and the setting of gems, to account for the divergence of opinion that exists as to the provenance of all the jewels of the period. Such is the glamour that surrounds Italian art, that it has been the custom to assign every fine jewel of the Renaissance to Italy; but a careful examination of existing examples has left us convinced that by far the greater number of them are not Italian, but of German origin, and belong to the second half of the sixteenth century and the early years of the seventeenth. Portraits, alone, by such German painters as Wolgemut, Strigel, Burgkmair, Altdorfer, Hans Baldung Grien, Lucas Cranach, and Bartholomäus Bruyn, show that by the very commencement of the sixteenth century the wealth of the merchant princes of Southern Germany resulted in an even greater display of jewellery than was indulged in by the Italians.
Various other considerations contribute to this conviction. First and foremost is the question of the designs from which the jewellers drew their ideas. A certain number of original drawings for jewellery by German artists exist. Of these there are examples of the work of the two greatest, namely Dürer (1471-1528) and Holbein (1497-1543). To Holbein's drawings, which were executed in England, detailed reference is made in a later chapter. In his designs for jewellery, as in all else, Dürer, the son of a goldsmith and descended from one on his mother's side, maintains a high standard of excellence.
His drawings (as catalogued by Lippmann) include the following: (1) In the Kunsthalle, Bremen. Three sketches for pendent whistles, where the sound-producing part is formed of a ball with a hole in it, into which the air is carried by a pipe. In two cases the ball is held in the mouth of a lion, and in the third in the beak of a cock. The animals stand each on a curved pipe, and have a ring above for suspension (L. 124). (2) In the British Museum. Two sketches for ring-shaped pendants—apparently whistles ([Pl. XXVI, 1]). In both cases is air blown from a mouthpiece half-way round the ring into a ball held in an animal's mouth (L. 252). (3) In the possession of Herr von Feder, Karlsruhe. Four designs for brooches and clasps, richly ornamented (L. 433-435, and 437). Two of these sketches (L. 433 and 437) and several others (the whereabouts of the originals of which is not known) were etched by Wenzel Hollar in the seventeenth century, and are enumerated in Parthey's catalogue of Hollar's works. The etchings after the two known originals are numbered 2565 and 2561. The other jewels etched by Hollar from Dürer's designs are the following: (1) A pendant in the form of St. George and the Dragon within a laurel wreath, with a ring above and below (P. 165). (2) A girdle-end formed of two dolphins with a chain attached (P. 2559). (3) A buckle and buckle-plate—the buckle formed of two dolphins, the plate ornamented with two cornucopiæ (P. 2560). (4) A round scent-case or pomander (P. 2567). In addition are miscellaneous designs for ornaments, erroneously considered to be patterns for embroidery (P. 2562-3-4 and 2566). A charming representation of a pendent jewel is seen in Dürer's woodcut of the Emperor Maximilian's Triumphal Arch suspended from the Imperial Crown held by the figure of Genius.
PLATE XXVI
designs for jewellery by dürer and holbein
Following Dürer there appeared a number of goldsmiths who, with the spread of the new style over Europe, were prepared to perform the task of remodelling personal ornaments in accordance with the taste of the day. The most ingenious of them, together with some artists of distinction, engraved with great fertility of imagination, for those who were not capable of design, patterns for goldsmith's work and jewellery. A large demand was made on the productive faculties of these engravers, who included among their ranks not only the best artists, termed from the usual small size of their productions "the little masters," but many other designers of goldsmith's ornament; and from their works, multiplied by means of engraving, the numerous craftsmen who worked in gold, enamel, and precious stones, drew their subjects and ideas.
On the question of the production of jewellery from such engraved designs, it is interesting to note the several points of similarity that exist in the procedure of the ornamentists of the sixteenth century and that of the English furniture-designers of the eighteenth. In both cases the original producers of the designs were practical craftsmen, who certainly executed objects after their published patterns; while the patterns themselves were employed extensively as models. In both cases, too, it is quite evident that in a number of instances fanciful designs were produced which were never carried out. Hence one can readily understand the difficulties that are encountered in attempting to determine the provenance of such small and portable objects as personal jewels, the engraved designs for which were in like manner widely distributed. But there is the strong probability, after all, that the greater number of jewels, after engraved designs of German origin, were executed in, or not very far distant from the locality in which the designs originated.
If designs are considered insufficient for the identification of jewels, there exists a means much more certain, and one which should surely prevent the attribution to Italians of jewels unquestionably the work of German craftsmen. It may be remembered that Cellini in his Trattati, in dealing with the goldsmith's art, advised jewellers to preserve castings in lead of their works in gold and silver. In many cases Cellini's recommendation has been literally carried out, and a considerable number of proofs struck by German jewellers of details of their jewels have fortunately come down to us. The Bavarian National Museum at Munich contains a highly important collection of these leaden casts, being a complete series used by a family of gold and silver workers in Augsburg for upwards of 250 years (from about 1550 to 1800). The jewellers of Augsburg were among the first in Europe, and these models of their productions, bearing strong traces of the influence of contemporary ornamentists, correspond in many details with original jewels dating from those times.
Examples of these lead models for jewellery exist in other collections, such as the Historical Museum at Basle. Of the same material but of infinitely higher artistic importance, are the lead models by the hand of Peter Flötner of Nuremberg. In addition to engraved designs, Flötner executed models for goldsmiths, carved in stone and boxwood. From these—of which original examples have survived—casts (so-called plaquettes) were made in lead, which were used as patterns for craftsmen in the same manner as engravings of ornament. Flötner's models, though issued mainly for workers in gold and silver plate, were employed also by the jewellers, and exercised considerable influence on their productions.
Few engraved designs for jewellery are prior in date to the year 1550, though nearly all the prominent painter-engravers delighted in exercising their inventive faculty in this direction. One or two plates of pendants by Brosamer, and a buckle and whistle by Aldegrever, represent almost the sole engravings of the kind before Virgil Solis—the first to devise a more ambitious series of jewels. Amongst the earliest is the Kunstbüchlein[124] or pattern book for goldsmith's work, by Hans Brosamer (about 1480-1554). These woodcuts, which are singularly attractive, are of a transitional character, with traces of Gothic design. They include two pages of pendants composed of stones between leafwork grouped round a central ornament and hung with pear-shaped pearls. One pendant consists of a niche between pillars—a similar style of ornament to that adopted by Androuet Ducerceau, and the first assignable instance, says Herr Lichtwark,[125] of the use of architecture in German jewellery of this time, though this same motive was frequently represented later on by Erasmus Hornick and Mignot. Three other pendants are in the form of whistles for wearing on the neck-chain. In an engraving for a whistle of a similar kind by Aldegrever (1502-1558), the lower part is formed of a case containing an ear-pick and a knife for the finger-nails. Except for this design (which finds a place in the background of his engraving of the pair of folding pocket-spoons of the year 1539), Aldegrever's only example of jewellery is the remarkable Gothic girdle-buckle with its buckle-plate and tag (dated 1537). The characteristic fig-leaf ornament of the early German Renaissance is better represented here than on any other engraving of the period.
More modern in style is Mathias Zundt (1498-1586), whose compositions (dated 1551-1554) are carried out with great fineness. Zundt lived at Nuremberg, his great contemporaries, Virgil Solis and Erasmus Hornick being natives of the same city.
It was to Virgil Solis (1514-1562), one of the most skilful and prolific of the German Klein-Meister, that the jewellers and other craftsmen of the day owed their finest inspirations. Virgil Solis's beautiful series of pendants are executed with great charm and delicacy. They bear the character of a transition from the graceful foliage of the early to the full Renaissance, with its fanciful architectural forms, its scroll ornament, arabesques, animals, and grotesque human masks and figures ([Pl. XXVII, 1, 2]).
Erasmus Hornick likewise exercised a potent influence on the jewellery of the time. He engraved in 1562 a series of pendants, chains, and other jewels of the most delicate execution ([Pl. XXVII, 4-6]). The pendants in form of an architectural niche with the subject placed in the centre, are the prototype of all the jewels of this kind which we meet with subsequently in the prints of the Flemish engraver Collaert.
PLATE XXVII
designs for jewellery by solis, woeiriot,
hornick, and brosamer
While many important engravings were being issued for the benefit of the jewellers of Nuremberg, a great quantity of jewellery was produced at Munich under the patronage of the Dukes of Bavaria. Duke Albert V had as court painter a skilful miniaturist, Hans Mielich (1516-1573), whom he employed to paint in the form of an inventory exact copies in miniature of his jewels and those of his wife, Anne of Austria, preserved in his treasury. In addition to these drawings, now in the Royal Library at Munich, are a number of others, which came into the possession of Dr. von Hefner-Alteneck, and on his death in 1904 were purchased for the sum of £2,500 for the Bavarian National Museum.[126] Though the majority of these drawings for jewellery, in themselves works of extraordinary beauty, were copies of objects then already in existence, the presence of jewels similar to Mielich's designs leads to the supposition that this artist exercised a strong influence on the jewellers of his day, and that a number of jewels were also executed at the command of the Duke from original sketches of his. None of the actual objects depicted by Mielich have survived, save a large gold chain set with pearls, rubies, and emeralds, which corresponds, particularly in its rich enamel-work, to one of the drawings lately added to the National Museum. This chain is known as the collar of the Order of St. George. The size and quality of its stones and the great beauty of the enamelled settings render it, without doubt, the finest article of its kind in existence. It is preserved in the Royal Treasury (Schatzkammer) at Munich, together with a number of other objects of the same type.
The last decades of the sixteenth century saw the appearance of a new species of ornamental design, whose chief advocate, Theodor de Bry (1528-1598), of Liège, with his sons Johann Theodor and Johann Israel, settled in Frankfort-on-the-Main about 1560. It is a rich and varied surface decoration, often of white upon a black ground, composed of scroll ornament richly set with flowers, fruit, grotesques, and figures of animals, the whole being charmingly designed, and engraved with great brilliancy of touch. In addition to his more famous knife-handles, de Bry executed several engravings for clasps, buckles, and metal attachments to girdles.
For the counterpart of the artistic style of de Bry one must look to the Low Countries and particularly to the work of the engraver Hans Collaert (1540-1622), of Antwerp, who developed remarkable fertility in the production of patterns for jewellery. Collaert's designs require special attention, because of the tendency, elaborated largely by him and other engravers of the school of Antwerp, towards exuberant cartouche ornaments with a mixture of extravagant and loosely arranged strap-work, and stud -or boss-work. This style, full of grotesques and arabesques, pervaded the work of every craftsman of the day, and dealt a final blow to any further development of pure Renaissance ornament. Collaert's chief series of pendants, eleven in number, published in 1581 under the title Monilium bullarum inauriumque artificiosissimæ icones, are probably the best known of all designs for jewellery of this epoch. One of these engravings, in particular, has been several times reproduced. It is a large pendant hung from a cartouche and surmounted by a figure of Orpheus with a lyre, with two seated female figures. The rest of the jewel is made up of scroll ornaments and bracket-shaped terminal figures, and is hung with three drop pearls. This pendant is of peculiar interest in connection with its bearing on what has already been said with regard to the attributions given to Cinquecento jewellery. Two striking instances of misapplied attributions of this kind may be quoted. In one[127] work the engraving in question is described as: "Pendant par Benvenuto Cellini (Musée de Florence)"; and in another[128] as: "Gehänge in der Bibliothèque nationale zu Paris nach seinem [Cellini's] Model gearbeitet!"
It has been usual—while acknowledging the great influence of these engravings on the jewellery of the time—to doubt whether jewels exist which have been executed in exact imitation of them. To show that such designs were actually followed, we may point to a jewel figured by Herr Luthmer in his catalogue of Baron Karl von Rothschild's collection at Frankfort-on-the-Main, which follows in every detail the particular engraving by Collaert just mentioned as having been ascribed to Cellini. Collaert's influence was considerable in his day, and his compositions circulated not only in Flanders, but also in Germany and other prominent jewel-producing centres. Jewels are repeatedly met with, which, though they do not follow in every detail Collaert's published designs, are obviously inspired by them. A very notable example of such is a jewel, to be referred to subsequently (p. 247), in form of a gondola containing figures of Antony and Cleopatra, which was sold by auction in London for a very large sum a year or two ago. With Collaert were several minor designers of jewellery, such as Abraham de Bruyn (1538-after 1600), among whose engravings are seventeen models for pendants and portions of jewels in the style of the admirable French jeweller-engraver Etienne Delaune. Other Dutch and Flemish engravers of ornament belong more to the seventeenth century, and will be dealt with later.
At the furthest corner of Germany from Flanders was the ancient kingdom of Hungary, where jewellery was employed in almost Oriental profusion. The native costume is luxurious even at the present day, and in olden times the nobility made a practice of attaching to it a great part of their fortunes in the form of precious stones, which, in enamelled settings of button-shape, termed "boglars," were sewn on, or were mounted in aigrettes, or set in girdles or dagger-sheaths. Independent jewels enriched with enamel-work in the Renaissance taste were produced, too, in considerable quantity. Fine examples of the latter are preserved in the museum at Buda-Pesth; while to the exhibition held there in 1884 Cinquecento jewellery of great beauty and wealth was lent by noble Hungarian families. All these display striking similarity to the jewels executed at Augsburg, Prague, and elsewhere in the latter part of the sixteenth and the early years of the seventeenth century. In addition to those which betray the influence of foreign styles, there are jewels of native work, whose surface is enriched with the so-called Draht-Email. This "filigree-enamel," which was executed from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century in Hungary and throughout the valley of the Danube, is composed of bright opaque colours fired between cloisons or partitions composed of twisted wire.
Design for a pendent whistle by Hans Brosamer.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
FRANCE—SPAIN
THE campaigns of Charles VIII and Louis XII in Italy, and the patronage of Italian artists by Cardinal d'Amboise, brought a knowledge of Renaissance art into France. France was the first nation to adopt the style of ornament to which Italy had given birth, and at the very outset of the sixteenth century Italian influence made itself felt. From the reign of Francis I to that of Charles IX, French jewellery was closely modelled on the Italian, while many Italian jewellers took up their abode in France, and among them Cellini, who resided in Paris from 1540 to 1545.
Not since the days of Charles V had France witnessed such profusion of jewellery as was indulged in by the splendour-loving Francis I who exceeded even Henry VIII and Pope Paul III—two other great collectors of the day—in gathering together jewels and precious stones. We hear much of the jewellery of the day from Rabelais, who speaks of the rosaries, girdle-ornaments, rings, gold chains, jewelled necklaces and of the various kinds of precious stones worn both in articles of jewellery and scattered in profusion over the dress.
An incident of considerable interest is recorded to have taken place in the time of Francis I in connection with a supposed abuse of enamel on the part of the jewellers. The king's attention was drawn to the fact that when jewellery enamelled with opaque enamels, which were considered to weigh heavier than the clear ones, came to be realised, the enamel was so much pure loss. So, in spite of a protest by some of the leading goldsmiths, who declared that the proper execution of the majority of articles of jewellery was impossible without opaque enamel, an ordinance was passed in 1540 forbidding its use. After three years, however, the king relented, and again permitted the jewellers the full exercise of the resources of their art, provided there was no superfluous excess in the use of enamel.
Under the last Valois kings, Charles IX and Henry III, the production of jewellery in France, as elsewhere, was greater than at almost any other period. Vivid descriptions of the rich jewellery of this time are furnished by the chronicler Brantôme.
Actual articles of French Renaissance jewellery are, it must be confessed, of great rarity. Almost the only extant specimens are the wonderful mounted cameos in the Cabinet des Médailles of the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, the majority of which are presumably of French origin. From comparison of these with contemporary designs, the distinguishing features of the French jewellery of the time appear to be—a cartouche-shaped frame with comparatively unbroken outline, enriched with scroll ornament and occasionally with human figures and grotesques, a slight use of open-work, and the general employment of a central ornament.
Like the Germans, the French had excellent masters, who engraved models for jewellery of great beauty of design. The following are the chief maîtres ornemanistes who flourished in the sixteenth century:—Jean Duvet, known also as the Master of the Unicorn, born at Langres in 1485 and died about 1562, was goldsmith to Francis I and Henry II. His designs for small objects of personal use in the form of scrolls, flowers, and foliage, intended for execution in enamel, are among the earliest engravings in taille-douce produced for the purpose. Jacques Androuet Ducerceau (about 1510-about 1585) worked chiefly at Orleans. His numerous engravings in the form of cartouches with rolled and voluted frames show the type of design mainly employed for pendants. His actual models for jewellery, numbering upwards of fifty, comprise clasps and brooches, and many pendants, including earrings (pp. 241 and 269).
After Androuet Ducerceau, the most famous jeweller of this time was Etienne Delaune, called Stephanus (1518-1595). He is said to have worked under Cellini during the latter's residence in Paris. In 1573 he moved to Strasburg, where the greater part of his work was produced. A "little master" par excellence, he engraved with extraordinary delicacy a number of exquisite designs for jewellery. Two of his engravings of slightly different design, both dated 1576, represent the interior of goldsmiths' workshops, and are of particular interest in illustrating the practice of the goldsmith's art and the equipment of the workshop at this period.
Designs for jewellery are the most interesting of the engravings of René Boyvin (1530-1598), of Angers. He appears to have been influenced by the Italian artists of Fontainebleau, and his plates of jewel-ornament, engraved with great skill in the style of Il Rosso, show considerable ingenuity and fancy in the combination of faceted stones and large pearls with human and fantastic figures.
More influential perhaps than any of the designs of the time are those of Pierre Woeiriot of Lorraine, who was born in 1532 and died after 1589. In 1555 Woeiriot settled at Lyons, where he produced a large number of engravings for jewellery. These, showing the greatest variety of design, include numerous patterns for rings, a dozen earrings, and ten pendent ornaments ([Pl. XXVII, 3]). These masterpieces of engraving and composition were published at Lyons in 1555 and 1561.
Spain occupies a peculiar place with respect to its Renaissance jewellery. In the sixteenth century the Spanish Peninsula was perhaps the richest part of the civilised world. Even at a time when universal luxury in personal ornaments reigned, Spain made itself an object of note by its extraordinary display in this direction. The union under the same dominion of three of the most powerful countries of Europe coincident with the newly developed wealth of America resulted in a desire among all classes for a more luxurious style of living and for more sumptuous ornaments. The natural instinct of wealthy and cultured individuals to surround themselves with the choicest productions of the fine arts led to the importation of the best of such objects from other countries and of the first foreign craftsmen of the day.
Juan de Arphe, "the Spanish Cellini," himself of German extraction, devoted much attention to the naturalisation of Renaissance forms. Other jewellers also remained in so large a measure dependent on foreign influence, at first of Italian types, and then of the designs of French, German, and Flemish engravers of ornament, that it is often hard to arrive at a decision as to the precise provenance of their productions. But just as other works of art, the product of different countries, are stamped with certain indefinable characteristics, which in general circumstances may at once be detected, so jewels of Spanish origin betray the influence of national temperament in their composition and design. The series of drawings by Barcelona jewellers published by Davillier in his Recherches sur l'Orfèvrerie en Espagne, bear sufficient evidence of this native spirit.
Nevertheless, the majority of the surviving examples of the Renaissance jewellery of Spain approach at times very near to those of Germany. And there can be little doubt that the Nuremberg and Augsburg jewels which, as has been shown, were in vogue not only all over Germany, but in France and England and the Low Countries, were imported and imitated, as Davillier says, by the goldsmiths of Spain.
The most important Spanish jewels of the sixteenth century are in the form of enamelled pendants. Of these the Victoria and Albert Museum possesses a collection, excelled by that of no other public museum, which acquired at the sale in 1870 of the treasures of the sanctuary of the Virgen del Pilar at Saragossa.
A species of pendant which in Spain above all places has always been popular was the reliquary. It assumed numerous shapes; and among the many kinds of adornment it received were small panels of painted glass commonly known as verres églomisés.
This so-called verre églomisé, which had been handed down from antiquity and was used in the Middle Ages, was brought to high perfection at the Renaissance. Adopted from Italy, where it was also employed for jewellery, it met with considerable favour in Spain in the sixteenth century ([Pl. XLIII, 4]).
The process employed in its production consisted in covering the under side of a plate of glass or rock crystal with gold leaf. On this were traced the outlines of the design intended to be reserved in gold, and the remainder of the gold was then removed. In the painting which followed, the finest details, the high lights, the shadows and flesh tints were first executed. Then came in successive applications, transparent varnishes of different colours and thicknesses, in accordance with the value of the tones desired. Small pieces of silver leaf were applied to certain parts to reflect the light and heighten the effect; and the whole was finally backed with a sheet of metal.[129]
Verre églomisé appears to take its name from one Glomy, a French craftsman of the eighteenth century, who produced a special black and gold varnish which he applied to the back of glass. In a similar way his countrymen the Martins gave their name to the varnish of their invention. Verre églomisé, a somewhat unsatisfactory title, which came first into use in the latter part of the century, and was wrongly applied to paintings under glass of a similar order, has been retained ever since.
A peculiar and characteristic species of pendent ornament, numbers of which were produced in the seventeenth century chiefly at Barcelona, are certain badges worn by members of religious corporations. They are of open-worked gilt brass enriched with white, black, and blue opaque enamels fused into recesses stamped in the surface of the metal. These badges, which are either triangular, oval, square, or oblong in shape, are formed of two parts—a frame surrounded with rayed patterns, and a central portion ornamented with various designs ([Pl. LIII, 5]). Among the latter designs are crowned monograms of Christ or the Virgin, with emblems such as palm leaves, and the device of a nail and the letter S interlaced—a rebus for "Esclavo." Fitted in the back is usually a miniature under crystal. In point of technique these enamelled badges offer an interesting comparison with the well-known English enamels of the same date applied mainly to objects such as candlesticks and fire-dogs. Pendent badges of the same designs exist in gold. The collection of Señor de Osma at Madrid contains several examples.
To the seventeenth century belong also the characteristic "lazos" or bow-shaped jewels worn as breast-ornaments, made of open-work gold set with emeralds, and occasionally with other stones ([Pl. LIII, 1]). Of the same style are rings, also set with emeralds, and particularly long earrings, which have always been popular in Spain. The backs of these jewels are engraved with floral designs. The greater part of the Spanish jewellery of the time is set with emeralds, which were acquired in quantities from Peru. Spain has always had a great reputation for these stones, which when of fine quality are still alluded to as "old Spanish emeralds." Emeralds are always subject to flaws and rarely free from them. The emeralds set in Spanish jewellery, though usually full of feathers, are nevertheless of great decorative value. Further reference will be made to Spanish work of the seventeenth century when the jewels of that period are dealt with.
The earlier Hispano-Moresque jewellery is of considerable rarity. It is often enriched with opaque enamel fired between cloisons formed of twisted wire. From the union of Moorish and Renaissance forms developed the Spanish peasant jewellery, usually fashioned of stout silver filigree parcel-gilt.
Design for a pendant by Hans Brosamer.
CHAPTER XXIV
ENGLAND, SIXTEENTH CENTURY
(HENRY VIII—ELIZABETH—MARY STUART)
WITH the accession of Henry VIII a new period opens in the history of the jeweller's art. The spirit of the revival, which had previously affected only the Court, began to spread rapidly throughout the community, under the influence of the example set by the great jewellers of Italy. The King inherited an enormous treasury, and the display of jewellery on his own person and on that of his Court was prodigious. We are indebted to the Venetian ambassador, Giustinian, for the following graphic description of the King's personal adornment a year or two after his accession—
"He wore a cap of crimson velvet, in the French fashion, and the brim was looped up all round with lacets and gold enamelled tags.... Very close round his neck he had a gold collar, from which there hung a rough-cut diamond, the size of the largest walnut I ever saw, and to this was suspended a most beautiful and very large round pearl. His mantle was of purple velvet lined with white satin, the sleeves open, with a train more than four Venetian yards long. This mantle was girt in front like a gown, with a thick gold cord, from which there hung large golden acorns like those suspended from a cardinal's hat; over this mantle was a very handsome gold collar, with a pendent St. George entirely of diamonds. Beneath the mantle he wore a pouch of cloth of gold, which covered a dagger; and his fingers were one mass of jewelled rings."[130]
Many a lively and detailed picture has been left us by the chronicler and lawyer, Edward Hall, of the equipage and adornment of Henry VIII on his coronation and at the court entertainments, and particularly of the famous meeting of the Cloth of Gold, where, in their insane desire to outshine each other, the English and French nobles entered into boundless extravagance in dress, and so loaded themselves with jewellery, that, in the words of Du Bellay, "they carried the price of woodland, water-mill, and pasture on their backs." Many are the elaborate descriptions of entertainments and pageants by the chroniclers Leland, Holinshed, and Stowe, in which rich jewellery figures; but Hall's Chronicle, the most minute in its accounts of contemporary fashions, teems with references to "Gold Smithe's woorke" and to the wealth of precious stones broidered on the garments. The passion for personal ornaments ran such riot that even foreign critics inveighed against Englishmen for their extravagance.
This love of jewellery was largely due to foreign fashions, which hitherto discountenanced, were growing popular at Court, in consequence of the increasing communication with the Continent. From the commencement of Henry's reign merchants and craftsmen from abroad swarmed in numbers into London, and Hall, who shared the characteristic English antipathy to all things foreign, gives an instance of an invasion by these alien artificers. It was on the occasion of a magnificent embassy from France in 1518 in connection with the betrothal of the Princess Mary to the Dauphin that there came, he says, "a great number of rascals and pedlars and jewellers, and brought over divers merchantize uncustomed, all under the color of trussery [baggage] of the ambassadors." In accordance with the system of his predecessors in pursuit of their own personal interests, Henry VIII extended his protection to the foreigner, while the example of the French Court, the rivalry with Francis I, and the foreign proclivities of Wolsey and Cromwell induced him to patronise extensively foreign jewellers and merchants in precious stones. Occasionally Henry was a sufferer in his transactions with sharp Italian dealers; and Cellini relates a story of how a Milanese jeweller counterfeited an emerald so cleverly that he managed to palm off the same for a genuine stone on the sovereign of "those beasts of Englishmen," as he elsewhere terms them, for 9000 golden scudi. And all this happened, because the purchaser—who was no less a person than the King of England—put rather more faith in the jeweller than he ought to have done. The fraud was not found out till several years after.
A considerable number of the foreign craftsmen patronised by the King were Italians; but in jewellery the French influence seems to have predominated—judging by the frequent mention of jewels of "Paris work," and by the fact that the majority of the jewellers mentioned in the "King's Book of Payments,"[131] bear French names. Among those of foreign extraction the following were the most prominent: Robert Amadas, John Cryspyn, Allart Ploumyer, Jehan Lange, Cornelius Hays, Baptist Leman, John Cavalcant, John Baptista de Consolavera, Guillim Honyson, Alexander of Brussels, John of Utrecht, and John (Hans) of Antwerp. The mention, however, of such names as John Angell, Morgan Fenwolf (a Welshman), John Freeman, John Twiselton, Thomas Exmewe, Nicolas Worley, John Monday, and William Davy indicates the English nationality of several of the royal jewellers—though it is well to remember the common tendency of the time to Anglicise foreign names.
Throughout the first half of his reign Henry placed huge orders in the hands of these craftsmen, but advancing years and an exhausted treasury appear to have somewhat diminished his expenditure on personal ornaments. Some interesting correspondence between the above-mentioned Jehan Lange, a jeweller of Paris, and certain of his native townsmen has been preserved.[132] "The King," he writes in 1537, referring to certain jewelled garments he had submitted to His Majesty, "was very glad to see such riches. He said he was too old to wear such things, but he has offered 4000 cr." To Allart Ploumyer he writes: "The King always makes good cheer, but he has grown cold, and we have not quite sold everything; for the gentlemen have spent their money in the war." "I find the King," he says in another place, "disinclined to buy, for he has told me he has no more money, and it has cost him a great deal to make war."
In spite of Lange's complaints, it was only just before his death that Henry VIII acquired a famous and magnificent historical jewel, the great pendant of Charles the Bold, last Duke of Burgundy.[133] In its centre was set the wonderful diamond—a deep pyramid five-eighths of an inch square at the base—believed to be the first on which Louis de Berghem tried his newly invented method of cutting. Around it were set three balas rubies, styled from their equality in size and weight the "Three Brothers," which, owing to their fine quality, were set open, without the foil with which stones were then usually backed. Between these were four enormous pearls ([Pl. XXV, 3]). According to the universal custom of his day, the Duke, accompanied by all his treasure when campaigning, carried this jewel with him, partly to have it constantly under his personal supervision, and partly because of the magic properties then attributed to precious stones. Captured by a common soldier from his tent after his memorable defeat at the battle of Granson in 1475, the pendant came into the possession of the magistrates of Berne, and from them was purchased by Jacob Fugger, of the opulent merchant family of Augsburg, whose son, after keeping it for several years, disposed of it to Henry VIII. Fifty years later the jewel was still intact, and in James I's inventory of the crown jewels in 1603, it is thus described:[134] "A fayre Flower,[135] with three greate ballaces, in the myddest a greate pointed dyamonde, and three greate perles fixed, with a fayre greate perle pendaunte, called the Brethren." The last we hear of this famous jewel is in 1623, when it is described in the same words in the list of jewels removed from the Tower by James I, and handed over to his jeweller Heriot to be refashioned for the use of Charles and Buckingham on their visit to Spain. That it was then remounted is evident from the King's letter to his son, in which he says: "I send for your wearing the Three Brethren, that you knowe full well, but newlie sette."
About the year 1536 the great painter Hans Holbein, who had come to England several years previously, entered into the service of Henry VIII, and it was between that date and his death in 1543 that he executed those masterpieces of design for jewellery which will ever stand as a landmark in the history of the subject. There is no evidence to show that Holbein himself worked in the precious metals. But brought up under similar influences as had moulded the great Italian artists of the Renaissance, Ghiberti, Pollaiuolo, Verrocchio, Francia, and Ghirlandaio, who combined the arts of painting, architecture, and sculpture with the jeweller's craft, he had been well grounded in the limitations of his materials, and knew how far the draughtsman could display his skill in this direction.
The most important of Holbein's designs for jewellery are preserved in the British Museum, to which they were bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753. The collection, originally mounted in a quarto volume, termed Holbein's London Sketch-book, is now remounted and systematically arranged. The designs, comprising 179 separate items, are for the most part drawn with a pen with black ink, and then some slight touches of brown put in for the shadows. Several of the designs have the ground blackened, the ornaments being left in white. Some of the jewels, entirely coloured and often touched up with gold, are designed for enamelling in high relief; some are perhaps designed for execution in niello, though it is not improbable that these were intended to be ornamented with black champlevé enamel. The most attractive are the patterns for jewels enriched with precious stones and enamels, the majority of which were for neck pendants intended to hang from a chain, ribbon, or silken cord, itself sometimes shown in the drawing ([Pl. XXVI]).
The design of a few of these pendants is based upon the prevailing custom of wearing initials of the name either in embroidery or in pure gold attached to the garments. Some curious instances of this fashion are recorded by Hall, particularly in his graphic account of what took place at a masque given by Henry VIII at his palace at Westminster. Upon the King's invitation to divide the rich garments of the maskers sewn with letters of "fine and massy gold in bullyon as thicke as they might be," which generally went as largess to the ladies, a rabble of citizens, who were allowed to look on, broke in, and "ranne to the Kyng and stripped hym into his hosen and dublet, and all his compaignions in like wyse. Syr Thomas Knevet stode on a stage, and for all his defence he lost his apparell. The ladies like wyse were spoyled, wherfore the Kynges garde came sodenly, and put the people backe, or els it was supposed more inconvenience had ensued." So pure was the gold of which these letters were composed that it is recorded subsequently that a "shipeman of London who caught certayn letters sould them to a goldsmyth for £3. 14. 8"—quite a considerable sum in those days.
In the same way jewelled initials were also frequently worn in the form of pendants and a jewelled B can be seen hanging from the neck of Anne Boleyn in her portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. Holbein's drawings contain several beautiful instances of this type of design, generally completed with three pendent pearls. One of them has a monogram of the initials R and E in chased and engraved gold set at the four corners with two rubies, an emerald, and a diamond. Another has the letters H and I (probably for Henry and Jane Seymour) with an emerald in the centre; and a somewhat similar jewel, formed of the sacred monogram, is worn by Jane Seymour in her portrait by Holbein at Vienna.
The designs for the larger pendants, mostly circular or lozenge-shaped, are set with sapphires, diamonds, rubies, and pearls, and terminate with large pear-shaped pearls. The spaces between the stones are filled with chased or enamelled arrangements of scroll or leaf work.
The smaller jewels, which might also have been worn as enseignes or badges on the hat, or as brooches, are of open goldwork with leaf or ribbon ornament set with stones and pearls. They include a very beautiful design of a half-length figure of a lady in the costume of the period holding between her hands a large stone, upon which is the inscription well laydi well ([Pl. XXVI, 9]). The fifteenth-century traditions seem to have influenced Holbein in the design of this jewel, which at once calls to mind the Flemish-Burgundian brooches (an example of which, in the British Museum, has already been mentioned) ornamented with similar figures, full-faced, and holding a large stone before them.
The jewels actually executed from these designs were probably the work of Hans of Antwerp, known as John Anwarpe.[136] He was a friend of Holbein, and one of the witnesses of his will; and his portrait, painted by Holbein, is now at Windsor. Hans of Antwerp appears to have settled in London about 1514, having perhaps been induced to do so by Thomas Cromwell, who in early life resided for a time in Antwerp as secretary to the English merchants there. It was presumably Cromwell who, as "Master of the King's Jewel House," was instrumental in procuring for him the post of the King's goldsmith. His name occurs several times in Cromwell's accounts, and it was in accordance with the latter's "ryght hartye commendations" that he obtained the freedom of the Goldsmiths' Company of London. The chief duty of the King's goldsmith was to supply the New Year's gifts (estrennes), so popular at that time. These usually took the form of personal ornaments, and it seems likely that Holbein's famous sketches were specially designed for this purpose.
ELIZABETH—MARY STUART
However remarkable the Court of Henry VIII was for its profusion of jewellery, that of Queen Elizabeth, who inherited the Tudor love for display, was still more extravagant. Throughout her reign—a period marked also upon the Continent for its prolific production of jewellery—the fashion set by the jewel-loving Queen for a superabundance of finery maintained its sway. The country suddenly becoming wealthy, was tempted, like one not born to riches, to use the whole in outward show, and this display was rendered comparatively easy by the influx of gold and precious stones after the Spanish conquests in America.
Numerous portraits of courtiers and court ladies afford ample evidence of the prevailing fashions in jewellery, while the portraits of the Queen herself, all overburdened with ornaments, are too well known to need detailed description.[137] "There is not a single portrait of her," says Walpole, "that one can call beautiful. The profusion of ornaments with which they are loaded are marks of her continual fondness for dress, while they entirely exclude all grace, and leave no more room for a painter's genius than if he had been employed to copy an Indian idol, totally composed of hands and necklaces. A pale Roman nose, a head of hair loaded with crowns and powdered with diamonds, a vast ruff, a vaster fardingale, a bushel of pearls, are features by which every body knows at once the pictures of Queen Elizabeth."
An excellent description of the jewellery of Elizabeth towards the close of her brilliant reign is given by Paul Hentzner, who visited England in 1598: "The Queen had in her ears two pearls with very rich drops; she wore false hair and that red; upon her head she had a small crown; her bosom was uncovered, and she had on a necklace of exceedingly fine jewels. She was dressed in white silk, bordered with pearls of the size of beans, and over it a mantle of black silk shot with silver threads; her train was very long. Instead of a chain, she had an oblong collar of gold and jewels." To a courtier who knelt to her, "after pulling off her glove, she gave her right hand to kiss, sparkling with rings and jewels."
The best of all representations of that "bright occidental Star" is her faded waxwork effigy, still to be seen in Westminster Abbey—no other than the one which on the 28th of April, 1603, was carried on her coffin to the Abbey. It shows the veritable passion Elizabeth possessed for pearls. Her stomacher is encrusted with large Roman pearls, while strings of pearls hang round her throat and neck. Her earrings are circular pearl and ruby medallions, with huge pear-shaped pearl pendants.
Full of detail are the records of costly "juelles" that have come down to us, particularly in the list, preserved in the British Museum,[138] of the New Year's gifts presented to the Queen, from the fourteenth to the thirty-sixth year of her reign. The practice of exchanging presents on New Year's Day attained extraordinary proportions at the Court of Elizabeth, and was supplemented by birthday presents, which, as Her Majesty's weakness for jewellery was well known, took for the most part the form of personal ornaments of every kind. The very accurate accounts that were kept by the officers of the Queen's wardrobe of every item in her enormous store of jewellery is witnessed by a number of curious entries in her wardrobe-book of losses of jewellery sustained by Her Majesty.[139]
In addition to numerous inventories and wills full of information concerning the jewellery of the period, we have at our service, as in Roman times, the works of social satirists, such as The Anatomie of Abuses, by Philip Stubbes (1583), and Bishop Hall's poetical satires of 1597, to which we are indebted for many valuable details. In accepting these it is well to bear in mind the common tendency of every age to ridicule its own fashions; yet, in spite of Puritan narrowness, and the exaggerated indignation of the satirist, it is manifest that extraordinary luxury and extravagance in dress and jewellery were prevalent not only at Court, but among all classes of the community.
Of greater importance, however, than the information to be gleaned from pictorial and literary sources is that derived from the actual jewels themselves, a considerable number of which, through all the changes and chances of more than three centuries, have been handed down still practically intact, and retaining the chief feature of their decoration—their exquisite enamel. Shakespeare, while appreciating the charm of its harmonious combination of colours, recognised, it appears, the delicacy of this beautiful medium, when in the Comedy of Errors he makes Adriana say:—
I see the jewel best enamelled
Will lose his beauty; yet the gold bides still,
That others touch, and often touching will
Wear gold.
The New Learning, which made itself felt in England during the reign of Henry VII, began at this time to exercise a direct influence on the choice of the designs of jewels and on the arrangement of their ornamentation. As witnesses of the intellectual revival, they often took emblematic forms, bearing in exquisite enamel-work fancy mottoes and devices, generally obscure in their interpretation, and intended to express the sentiments of their wearers, or those of donors, regarding the presumed state of mind of their recipients.
The passion for these reached its height in the golden days of Good Queen Bess, when it became the fashion for the bejewelled gallants who fluttered like a swarm of glittering insects around her to display their wit and ingenuity in devising jewelled emblems as fit presents to the Virgin Queen. Thus in the list of costly articles of jewellery offered to Elizabeth, we meet with the present, made in Christmas week 1581, by some courtiers disguised as maskers, of a jewel in the form of "a flower of golde, garnished with sparcks of diamonds, rubyes, and ophales, with an agathe of her Majestis phisnamy and a perle pendante, with devices painted in it." The love for strange devices and enigmatical mottoes was fostered by the spirit of an age that witnessed the production of Lyly's Euphues and Spenser's Faerie Queene; while Elizabeth's colossal vanity prompted the dedication to her of highly laudatory mottoes, like the inscription on a jewel belonging to Mr. Pierpont Morgan: hei mihi quod tanto virtus perfusa decore non habet eternos inviolata dies. Few of the jewels of this stirring period display a more charming symbolism than those produced after the defeat and destruction of the Spanish Armada, whereon England is figured as an ark floating securely and tranquilly on a troubled sea, surrounded by the motto, saevas tranquilla per undas. The most remarkable of these Armada jewels is Mr. Pierpont Morgan's, just mentioned, and another of the same class in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, Milan.
A jewel more characteristic of the period than any other, and an historical relic of singular interest, is that chef d'œuvre of inventive genius—the Lennox or Darnley jewel, the property of His Majesty the King. It is covered inside and out with the most elaborate symbolism, and contains altogether no less than twenty-eight emblems and six mottoes (Pl. XXVIII, 4). Internal evidence proves this remarkable jewel to have been made by order of Lady Margaret Douglas, mother of Henry Darnley, in memory of her husband, Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who was killed in 1571.
Among many other examples of Elizabethan jewellery, there stand out above the rest a certain number to which, besides their high artistic excellence, is attached the additional interest of historical associations. To this class belong the following important jewels: the Berkeley heirlooms, belonging to Lord Fitzhardinge; the Drake jewels, the property of Sir Francis Fuller-Eliott-Drake; the Wild Jewel (Miss Wild); the Barbor Jewel (Victoria and Albert Museum); and the Phœnix Jewel (Sloane Collection, British Museum). Public and private collections likewise contain a considerable number of enamelled miniature cases furnished with loops for suspension, and cameos set with jewelled and enamelled mountings of the period.
The Berkeley heirlooms, among which is the Anglo-Saxon ring already mentioned, include the Hunsdon Onyx, the Drake pendant in form of a ship, Edward VI's Prayer Book, and a crystal armlet. These exquisite jewels, according to tradition, were presented by Queen Elizabeth to her cousin Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, who died in 1596. They then passed to his son George, the second Baron Hunsdon, who so highly valued them, that he bequeathed them on his death, in 1603, to his wife, and afterwards to his only daughter Elizabeth, with strict injunctions to transmit the same to her posterity, to be preserved (according to the actual terms of his will) "Soe longe as the conscience of my heires shall have grace and honestie to perform my will, for that I esteeme them right jeweles, and monumentes worthie to be kept for theire beautie, rareness, and that for monie they are not to be matched, nor the like yet knowen to be founde in this realme." The jewels mentioned, which came into the Berkeley family through the marriage of the above-named Elizabeth Carey with Lord Berkeley, are still preserved at Berkeley Castle.
PLATE XXVIII
renaissance jewellery of enamelled gold
(the property of his majesty the king)
Further reference to these and other remarkable Elizabethan jewels will be given when the special species of ornaments to which they belong is being dealt with. There is one jewel of this date, however, which, though it no longer exists, is of particular interest from the fact that it is specially mentioned in the famous inventory of Charles I's collection drawn up by Abraham Van der Doort in 1639.[140] This golden jewel, we learn, was round, and hung with a small pendent pearl; one side was enamelled with a representation of the battle of Bosworth Field, and the other with the red and white roses of Lancaster and York upon a green ground. Within were four miniatures, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Queen Mary. The miniatures are still preserved at Windsor Castle, but shorn of their enamelled case, which has long since disappeared. The jewel was bought by the King, so Van der Doort tells us, from "young Hilliard," son of the famous miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, who, besides painting the miniatures, probably also executed the enamel-work upon the jewel itself. Hilliard, like the artists of the Renaissance already cited, had been brought up as a goldsmith and jeweller, and, as we see by the inscription which he placed round his own portrait, held an appointment as goldsmith at Elizabeth's Court; while his knowledge and love of jewellery are admirably displayed in his miniatures, in which every jewel is painted with faultless accuracy and care.
The mention of Hilliard introduces to our notice the other creators of the beautiful jewellery of the period. English work continued to be influenced by the Continent; and engraved designs for jewellery by the Frenchmen Ducerceau and Woeiriot, and by the eminent goldsmith and engraver Theodor de Bry, who himself worked in London in 1587 and the two following years, must have been well known and imitated in England. In spite of this, however, it would appear that Englishmen were no longer actually dependent for their jewellery upon foreigners. The latter ceased to hold the virtual monopoly they had once enjoyed; and their place was taken by a number of native craftsmen. Among these, the following were the most prominent: Dericke Anthony, Affabel Partridge, Peter Trender, and Nicolas Herrick—elder brother of William Herrick, James I's jeweller, and father of Robert Herrick the poet. During the latter years of her reign Hugh Kayle and his partner Sir Richard Martin supplied the Queen with jewels as New Year's gifts and presents to ambassadors amounting to upwards of £12,000.
Enough has been said to demonstrate that the reign of Elizabeth, fertile in great events, was productive of much important jewellery, whose charm, excellence, and historic interest have, up to the present, by no means received the attention they deserve. And it may be stated, without prejudice, that jewels of the period which bear a clear stamp of English origin compare favourably, nay even advantageously, with the productions of contemporary jewellers of the Continent.
The jewels of the unhappy Mary Stuart form a subject of peculiar interest. Like her jealous rival Queen Elizabeth, Mary was most lavish in her display of jewellery. In addition to the crown jewels she had a profusion of personal ornaments, her own private property. Her inventories, published by the Bannatyne Club (1863), furnish many a vivid description of the splendid objects which, during the course of her turbulent life, she bestowed on her friends or lost under stress of circumstances. They have further acquired quite an historical celebrity "from the frequency with which they were claimed by their unfortunate mistress in her appeals for mercy and justice during her long captivity, and the rapacity with which her royal jailer and other enemies sought or retained possession of these glittering spoils."
It is impossible here to enter into details respecting the many beautiful things recorded in her inventories, or the strange vicissitudes that they underwent. Their dispersal would seem to have begun with her infatuated passion for Bothwell. The number of jewels she lavished on him when they parted on Carberry Hill, those she distributed as personal gifts, and others that served in the various emergencies in which the unfortunate Queen found herself, afford some idea of the extraordinary quantity of precious articles in her possession. A few of Mary's actual jewels, such as the Duke of Norfolk's rosary and jewelled necklace, the Duke of Portland's jewelled cameo, and the Penicuik jewel, have been preserved to our own day. Along with the historical documents must rank the Leven and Melville portrait—the brilliant centre-piece of Mr. Andrew Lang's Portraits and Jewels of Mary Stuart. As far as jewellery in general is concerned, this portrait may be said to merit greater consideration than any picture of its own or of other times, in that it displays a complete parure of contemporary jewellery, each item of which is entered and described in detail in the personal inventories of the individual it represents.
CHAPTER XXV
RENAISSANCE HEAD-ORNAMENTS
(ENSEIGNES, AIGRETTES, HAIR-PINS, EARRINGS)
THE origin of the ornaments for the hat or cap, known generally as enseignes, has been mentioned in dealing with the jewellery of the Middle Ages. At the period of the Renaissance, the enseigne—the "bijou par excellence" it has been termed—was above all the recipient of the very highest workmanship, and formed the subject of varied designs of the most ingenious character. By the beginning of the fifteenth century fashion had already turned hat-badges almost entirely into articles of adornment, and judging by that worn by King Dagobert in Petrus Christus's picture of 1449, and, amongst many other portraits, by that of Richard III in the National Portrait Gallery, these jewels were composed of goldsmith's work, enamelled, and set with precious stones. In the sixteenth century the majority of enseignes seem always to have borne some figured design; and Cellini, referring to the year 1525, says: "It was the custom at that epoch to wear little golden medals, upon which every nobleman or man of quality had some device or fancy of his own engraved; and these were worn in the cap."
For a considerable time the earlier religious badges sold at places of pilgrimage continued to be worn. Though enseignes very frequently bore some religious representation, or the figure or emblem of some patron saint, they ended, like other articles primarily religious, by becoming purely secular, and took the forms of devices of a fanciful or even humorous character.
Every one from the highest rank downwards had his personal devise or impresa, or more often a series of them. It was worn as an emblem—an ingenious expression of some conceit of the wearer, the outcome of his peculiar frame of mind. It usually contained some obscure meaning, the sense of which, half hidden and half revealed, was intended to afford some play for the ingenuity of the observer. The love of the time for expressing things by riddles led to the publication of sets of emblems, like those of Alciatus, which had imitators in all directions. Every one, in fact, tried his hand at these "toys of the imagination."
Numbers of enseignes are mentioned in the inventories, and male portraits very commonly exhibit this form of decoration. Women also wore them upon the hat or in the hair, but not until about the middle of the sixteenth century. The hat was turned up so as to show the lining, and the badge was usually placed under the rim, at the side, and somewhat to the front of the hat. Some of these medallions are furnished with a pin, like a brooch; but as the majority have loops at the edge, or are pierced with holes for the purpose of sewing them to the head-dress, they can as a rule be distinguished from ordinary brooches. Pendants of the same form as those hung from neck-chains also appear occasionally as enseignes upon the hat.
In England, during the sixteenth century, brooches, owches, or nowches, as they were often called, were extensively worn in caps and hats[141] as men's jewels in particular; and besides these there were jewelled hat-bands richly decorated with precious stones. The chronicler Hall mentions that on one occasion, in 1513, Henry VIII wore a hat called a "chapeau montabyn" which was adorned with a rich band or coronal, and had in addition an enseigne, for "ye folde of the chapeau was lined with crimsyn saten; and on yt a riche brooch withe ye image of sainct George." An enamelled brooch of this design modelled in full relief with the figure of St. George and the dragon, with the Princess Sabra in the background, is preserved amongst the exceedingly interesting series of jewels in His Majesty's collection at Windsor Castle. It is of gold, finely chased, brilliantly modelled, and surrounded with an open wire balustrade enamelled green. This brooch, traditionally believed to have been worn by Henry VIII, is known as the Holbein George; but internal evidences tend to prove the unlikelihood of Holbein having had any hand in its construction. It appears to be of Venetian origin—though not without some traces of German influence—and to date from the first few years of the sixteenth century ([Pl. XXVIII, 2]).
There exist several other jewels, the majority of them hat-ornaments, executed in this so-called "gold wire" enamel,[142] of the same exquisite and rare style of workmanship, and all possessing a singular likeness to that at Windsor, both in the patterns of the dresses worn by the figures represented on them, and in general treatment, particularly of the hair of the figures, which is formed of ringlets of spiral twisted gold wire. Among other examples are two in the Salting Collection, another which was lately in the collection of Sir T. Gibson Carmichael,[143] and a fourth in the Cabinet des Antiques in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
The wide range of subjects chosen for hat-ornaments can best be judged from the lists of "bonnets" in Henry VIII's possession in the years 1526 and 1530, enriched with a variety of brooches.[144]
Representations of enseignes in pictures are too frequent to permit of any attempt to enumerate them. It is impossible, however, to refrain from drawing attention to the fine male portraits of Bartolommeo Veneto, an artist of marked individuality of character, who worked at Venice from about 1505 to 1530. He appears to have delighted in painting with peculiar care the beautiful enseignes worn by his sitters—attractive jewels enamelled in ronde bosse, and contemporary with the Windsor "George" and its fellows. The examples of his work that display such ornaments in the most striking manner are in the following collections: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Dorchester House, London; the Crespi Gallery, Milan; the collection of Baron Tucher at Vienna; and the National Gallery, Rome.[145]
One of the most exquisite jewels of the Renaissance is a medallion of enamelled gold numbered 5583 in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. It is oval, and in a space of 2 by 23⁄16 inches contains a composition of no less than twelve men and eight horses in high relief, representing a battle. Horsemen and foot-soldiers in antique armour are engaged in furious combat, and many have fallen. One horseman carries a banneret which flies in the wind. The background is enamelled green, and the figures, delicately modelled, are white, save for their armour and weapons, which are reserved in the gold. The frame of the jewel is furnished with four loops, which clearly explain its use ([Pl. XXIX, 2]). Its design offers an interesting comparison with two cameos (Nos. 643 and 644), themselves fanciful renderings of the subject of another cameo (No. 645), and an intaglio, the work of Matteo del Nassaro, in the same collection, both undoubtedly inspired by the famous painting after Raphael, known as the Battle of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge (a.d. 312), in the so-called Gallery of Constantine in the Vatican.
Among the jewels in the public collections in London, which on account of their design or form were presumably intended to be worn in the hat or cap, there are several noteworthy examples. The Wallace Collection contains a circular gold enseigne, repoussé, chased, and partly enamelled, with a representation of Judith carrying the head of Holofernes. It is probably Italian. In the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum is an oval badge enamelled in relief with the Judgment of Paris. It is of the same minute style of work as that of the "Battle-Piece," and is of striking similarity to a drawing by Hans Mielich, in the Royal Library, Munich.[146]
An enseigne in the Victoria and Albert Museum—perhaps the most beautiful of all, and probably the work of a Florentine goldsmith—represents the head of John the Baptist on a charger. The caput Johannis in disco, a favourite subject in mediæval art both in painting and sculpture, was also popular for personal ornaments. This symbol of the Precursor was no doubt phylacteric, for the efficacy of his intercession was most highly esteemed against epilepsy and other disorders. The enseigne in question, contemporary with one described as a "St. John's head in a dish" in Henry VIII's possession in 1530, is of gold, one and five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and shaped like a circular dish. It has a corded edge, and round the rim, in pierced and raised letters, now only partially enamelled, are the following words: non · surexsit · inter · natos · mulierum. The sunk centre is covered with translucent ruby enamel, and in the middle is the head of the saint in gold and white enamel. The head is delicately modelled, and such care has the artist displayed in its execution that he has shown above the eyebrow the gash which Herodias, according to the legend,[147] on receiving the head from Salome, inflicted on it with a pin from her hair, or with a knife seized from the table where the feast had taken place ([Pl. XXIX, 1]).
PLATE XXIX
renaissance enseignes
All the four enseignes last mentioned are examples of the method of executing these ornaments described in Cellini's famous treatise[148] on the goldsmith's art, where he extols the goldsmith Caradosso as a craftsman skilled above all others in their production. The work is repoussé; the St. John's head being also worked into full relief by this process, and then applied to the dish. Such repoussé figures were frequently attached to an independent background formed of lapis-lazuli, agate, or some other precious substance.
The revival of the art of gem-engraving led to a large demand for cameos—themselves more suitable for decorative purposes than intaglios—as personal ornaments. "It was much the custom of that time," says Vasari, writing of the gem-engraver Matteo del Nassaro, "to wear cameos and other jewels of similar kind round the neck and in the cap." Matteo produced many admirable cameos for use as enseignes for Francis I and the nobles of his Court, almost every one of whom carried on their persons some example of his work. On jewels of this kind parts of the figures were occasionally executed in cameo, and the remainder in gold, chased and enamelled; but more frequently figures were worked entirely in hard material, and then, in accordance with the artistic taste of the time, enclosed in borders, enriched with enamel and jewel-work of the most exquisite variety of design. Unhappy vicissitudes, like those which the gems at Florence have undergone,[149] have in course of time despoiled many a cameo of its rich setting. Yet in the great public gem collections of London, Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Munich, and Dresden, as well as in the cabinets of private collectors, are to be found a number of beautiful examples of the jeweller's art at its best period, which have been preserved on account of the cameos they served to adorn.
The finest enseigne that displays cameo and enamelled gold worked together in combination is Cellini's exquisite "Leda and the Swan," in the Münz-und-Antiken-Kabinet at Vienna. The head and the torso of the figure of Leda is in cameo—the latter being an antique fragment; the remainder of the jewel is of gold, enriched with enamels, diamonds, and rubies. This is considered to be the actual jewel executed by Cellini at Rome about 1524 for the Gonfalonier Gabriele Cesarini[150] (Pl. XXIX, 5).
By far the most extensive collection of mounted cameos is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. The majority of these jewels which follow the cartouche form are presumably of French fabrique, though a decision as to their precise provenance is here, as ever, a matter of considerable difficulty. Among brooches or medallions for the hat, whose purpose is clearly indicated by the presence of a pin or holes for attachment, the most noticeable are four, numbered respectively 595, 465, 513, and 1002. The first, bearing the head of a negro in agate, encircled with a band of rubies, has an outer border of open scrollwork, of white, heightened with red enamel. On each side and below is a table diamond; and above, a crown set with triangular faceted diamonds ([Pl. XXIX, 4]). Lack of space precludes detailed reference to the other three enseignes de chaperon. They are equally attractive, both on account of their design and the high quality of their workmanship.
Those unable to afford such costly ornaments wore hat-brooches or medallions in cheaper materials, either bronze or copper. These were cast or stamped, and not, like the more magnificent enseignes of gold, executed by the repoussé process. The work of the earlier medallists was produced by means of casting, the medallions being afterwards delicately chased. From the beginning of the sixteenth century, medallists, who, it may be remembered, were mostly jewellers and gem-engravers as well, executed engraved dies, from which their medallions were struck instead of cast. The majority of smaller medallions so generally worn as hat-badges were multiplied by the newer process of stamping, and pierced with holes for attachment to the head-dress. They were afterwards gilded and occasionally enriched with enamel. Further information about the cheaper class of enseignes is met with in Bernard Palissy's Art de la terre, according to which the enamellers of Limoges, owing to competition, had to supply figured hat-badges at trois sols la douzaine. "Which badges were so well worked and their enamels so well melted over the copper that no picture could be prettier." Brooches of even cheaper materials are alluded to by Shakespeare in Love's Labour's Lost, when Biron and Dumain, ridiculing Holofernes, who acts as Judas in the pageant of the Nine Worthies, exclaim:—
Biron. Saint George's half-cheek in a brooch.
Dumain. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.
Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth-drawer.
The fashion for enseignes lasted until about the second quarter of the seventeenth century. During this later period they were generally worn in the hats of persons of wealth and distinction, in the form of a cluster of precious stones[151] ([Pl. XXXIV, 3]); while the enseignes with figured compositions appear to have fallen into disuse. The remarkable letter addressed by James I to Charles and Buckingham in Spain, in 1623, deals chiefly with jewelled hat-brooches of this kind ([p. 300]). Hat-bands richly jewelled were likewise worn; and among the jewels sent to Spain for the use of the Prince was a magnificent hat-band "garnished with 20 diamonds set in buttons of gold in manner of Spanish work." It was made up of the following stones, representing every mode of cutting employed at the time: 8 four-square table diamonds, 2 six-square table diamonds, 2 eight-square table diamonds, 2 four-square table diamonds cut with facets, 2 large pointed diamonds, 1 fair heart diamond, and 3 triangle diamonds.[152]
AIGRETTES
At the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century an aigrette was often worn in the hat, a jewelled brooch being employed to hold it. The latter was sometimes in the form of a pipe or socket into which the stems of the feathers were inserted. A fine example of this class of ornament, discovered at Lauingen in the coffin of Otto Henry, Count Palatine of Neuburg (d. 1604), is now preserved with the rest of the jewels of the same family in the Bavarian National Museum at Munich. It is in the shape of a heart open-worked and enriched with enamel, and has in the centre the letters D.M.—initials of his wife Dorothea Maria—set with rubies. Behind is a tube for the reception of an aigrette of herons' feathers ([Pl. XXX, 3]).
PLATE XXX
jewelled hat-ornaments, (aigrettes, etc.)
late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries
Though never in general use, feathers with settings mounted with precious stones and attached by jewelled brooches were worn long before this date; and Charles the Bold's hat—chapeau montauban—(Lambecius, Bib. Caes. Vindobon., II, p. 516) was enriched with feathers of this description magnificently jewelled.
About the commencement of the seventeenth century the feather aigrette was often replaced by one of precious stones. A jewel of this form is in the Waddesdon Bequest. It is 3½ inches in height, and formed of five plumes—three jewelled with rubies and diamonds and the others enamelled white—rising from an open-worked ornament in the form of military trophies, enamelled and set with four diamonds. A design for an aigrette of almost exactly the same style may be seen among the engravings for jewellery by the Augsburg goldsmith Daniel Mignot. The engravings of Paul Birckenhultz (c. 1617) likewise contain designs for similar ornaments. These jewelled aigrettes were much in fashion in England at the time of James I, and a "feather jewel" or "jewel of gold in fashion of a feather, set with diamonds," is mentioned several times in the royal accounts. The finely executed drawings for jewellery in the Victoria and Albert Museum by Arnold Lulls, jeweller to James I, include four coloured designs for jewelled aigrettes (Pl. XXX, 1). They are provided with short, stout pins, and set with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, arranged in the most tasteful manner, and are evidently intended to be further enriched with enamel. Other jewelled aigrettes in favour in the seventeenth century were composed solely of precious stones. Reference will be made to these in a later chapter dealing with the ornaments of that period.
HAIR-PINS
Besides the enseigne worn occasionally by ladies, the jewelled aigrettes of more frequent use, and the gold circlets set with precious stones, more elaborate forms of head-decoration were employed. Though these were often entwined with ropes of pearls and sprinkled with precious stones, they belong rather to costume proper. There remain, however, hair-pins, of which we obtain a certain amount of information from the inventories, and from the few actual specimens that still remain.
Hair-pins, like other articles of Renaissance jewellery, are remarkable for their variety of design, particularly as far as the heads of the pins are concerned. In the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg are several hair-pins with heads variously ornamented, one of them being in the form of a small enamelled hand. The shaft of the pin is often flat, open-worked and enamelled; occasionally the head is attached to it by a ring and hangs loosely from it. A gold enamelled hair-pin is among the jewels of Princess Amalia Hedwig (d. 1607), the contents of whose coffin, opened in the eighteenth century with those of the Counts Palatine of Neuburg at Lauingen, are now in the Bavarian National Museum. This pin has a small open rosette hanging loosely from it set with five diamonds and five pendent pearls. Contemporary portraits show how these pins were worn, and in a portrait of a young woman by Peter Moreelse in the Rotterdam Gallery, just such a pin is seen thrust in under the close-fitting lace cap so that the pendent head rests upon the forehead.
In the inventories of the time hair-pins are termed bodkins; and among Queen Elizabeth's New Year's gifts are several of these richly decorated bodkins. Thus: "A bodkyn of golde, garnished at the ende with four smale diamondes and a smale rubye, with a crown of ophales, and a very smale perle pendant peare fashone." "A bodkin of golde, with a flower thearat, garnished with smale rubyes and ophals on one side." "A bodkinne of silver, with a little ostridg of gold, pendant, enamuled, and two waspes of golde lose enamuled." In the inventory of jewels of Anne, Duchess of Somerset, second wife of the Protector Somerset (1587), is "a bodkynne of golde, with clawes in the ende, inamyled blacke."
EARRINGS
The fashion of wearing the hair over the ears, which, as we have seen, completely banished earrings from among the ornaments of the Middle Ages, greatly checked their use during the sixteenth century. In Italian pictures one finds here and there some traces of them, but compared with the profusion of other ornaments, their almost complete absence is somewhat surprising. The most remarkable instance of their use is the beautiful portrait of a lady by Sodoma, or by Parmigianino, in the Städel Institute at Frankfort, where are seen elaborate earrings of open-work scroll pattern with three pendent pearls. They measure upwards of two and a half inches in length. The so-called Fornarina in the Tribuna of the Uffizi wears a small gold pendant in the form of an amphora attached to a simple ring; while in the portrait by Angelo Bronzino in the Pitti Gallery, supposed to be that of Bianca Cappello (1548-87), wife of Francesco de' Medici, the lobe of the ear is pierced twice, and the two rings placed in it support a pendant formed of two pearls mounted in gold, with three hanging pearls below.
Earring, from Portrait of a Lady by Sodoma (Frankfort Gallery).
In the second half of the sixteenth century, with the altered mode of wearing the hair, earrings, though still rare in pictures, appear to have come more into fashion, and the prints of Woeiriot, Collaert, Birckenhultz, and other engravers of the day, as well as a number of examples in the various museums, show the types then in use.
English portraits of the first half of the sixteenth century do not exhibit these ornaments, but when they appear later on, as in the numerous portraits of Queen Elizabeth, they are usually in the form of pear-shaped pearl drops. Mary Queen of Scots appears to have generally worn earrings, judging by the inventory of her jewels in 1561,[153] which contains a very large number, including the following: "Deux pendans doreille faictz en facon de croix de Hierusalem esmaillez de blanc—Deux petis pendans doreille garniz de deux petittes perles de facon de doubles ames—Deux petis pendans doreille dor emplis de senteure."
The use of earrings, curiously enough, was not confined to women, and we find men, even the sedatest, wearing them. "Women," says Philip Stubbes in his Anatomie of Abuses (1583), "are so far bewitched as they are not ashamed to make holes in their ears, whereat they hang rings, and other jewels of gold and precious stones; but this," he adds, "is not so much frequented among women as among men." This custom appears to have originated in Spain, where the use of earrings was pretty general among both sexes, and as the result of Spanish influence was introduced into France at the luxurious Court of Henry III. The fashion subsequently came to England, where it was generally affected by the courtiers of Elizabeth and James I, as is clear from contemporary male portraits, where an earring is worn, as a rule, in one ear only. Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, is seen in the National Portrait Gallery wearing a ruby earring; while the Duke of Buckingham was particularly noticeable for the splendour of his diamond earrings. Commenting on the degeneracy of his contemporaries, Holinshed in his Chronicle (1577) observes: "Some lusty courtiers also and gentlemen of courage do wear either rings of gold, stones, or pearl in their ears, whereby they imagine the workmanship of God to be not a little amended." In a splendour-loving time one might expect to find such ornaments among courtiers, but that earrings were worn also by men of action and men of parts is evident from the portraits of Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Earl of Southampton.
The use of earrings among men continued to the time of Charles I, and in Lenton's Young Gallant's Whirligigg (1629) a fop is described with—
Haire's curl'd, eares pearl'd, with Bristows[154] brave and bright, Bought for true Diamonds in his false sight.
King Charles himself followed the general fashion and hung a large pearl in his left ear. This he wore even on the scaffold, where he took it from his ear and gave it to a faithful follower. It is still preserved, and is now owned by the Duke of Portland. It is pear-shaped, about five-eighths of an inch long, and mounted with a gold top, and a hook to pass through the ear.
Earrings, together with similar luxuries, vanished at the time of the Protectorate; men are not seen wearing them after the Restoration, though they are still in use among certain classes on account of their supposed value as preservatives against affections of the eyes.
CHAPTER XXVI
RENAISSANCE NECKLACES, NECK-CHAINS, AND COLLARS
NECKLACES or neck-chains worn by both sexes are a prominent feature in Renaissance jewellery. Just as in primitive times the neck was encircled by a torque, so at this later period it was the custom to carry heavy chains of pure gold, which were worn in different ways, either round the throat, or else upon the shoulders and low down over the breast. Sometimes one long chain was wound several times round the neck so that the uppermost row closely encircled the throat. Not satisfied with one, women in particular occasionally wore as many as half a dozen chains of different design covering the body from neck to waist.
From the fifteenth until the middle of the seventeenth century neck-chains were a frequent adjunct to male costume, and allusion is made to them in Barclay's Ship of Fools (printed by Pynson in 1508):—
Some theyr neckes charged with colers, and chaynes
As golden withtthes: theyr fyngers ful of rynges:
Theyr neckes naked: almoste vnto the raynes;
Theyr sleues blasinge lyke to a Cranys wynges.
Men's necklaces, apart from the chains and collars of distinction belonging to particular orders or guilds, seem to have been mostly of pure gold, and in the reign of Henry VIII the fashion of wearing them was carried to a most unreasonable excess. Hall speaks of the "nombre of chaynes of golde and bauderickes both massy and grate" worn at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and of the "marveilous treasor of golde" thus displayed. References to the extraordinary dimensions of these chains show that they must have been extremely inconvenient to wear. Henry VIII's Book of Payments records the payment in 1511 of £199 to the goldsmith Roy for a chain of gold weighing no less than 98 ounces. This is actually surpassed in Elizabeth's time, when Her Majesty received as a New Year's gift in 1588 "one cheine of golde, weing one hundred threescore and one ounce." Queen Mary had a heavy chain of gold made by her jeweller, Robert Raynes, out of the angels received as New Year's gifts;[155] and the curious custom of converting bullion into chains is further exemplified in the case of Sir Thomas Gresham, the bulk of whose wealth on his death in 1579 was found to consist of gold chains.
Pictures without number exhibit these ponderous neck-ornaments, while contemporary wills teem with references to them. That they were very much worn in Shakespeare's time would be apparent had we no other authority than his frequent allusion to them, as for instance in the Comedy of Errors, where there is a great ado about a chain. Indeed, no gentleman was considered properly equipped unless he had his chain of gold upon his shoulders.
With regard to their form, it seems that chains which appear as though made of plaited wire, and were known in mediæval times, remained still in use. But the majority of chains are composed of rounded links of various designs. They are usually of great length, so as to encircle the neck and shoulders several times.
Extraordinarily common though such chains must have been, but few examples have survived, and the reason for this must be that, composed of pure metal, they went direct to the melting-pot as soon as they became unfashionable. Yet owing to peculiar circumstances some still exist. In the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg are preserved several examples dating from the first quarter of the seventeenth century. These formerly belonged to the Holtzendorff family, and were buried during the Thirty Years' War, at Pinnow in North Germany, where they were unearthed a few years ago.[156] Two gold chains dating from about the middle of the same century are preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. They were presented to Elias Ashmole: the one 29 inches long, formed of thirty-two open-work quatrefoil links, by Christian V, King of Denmark, and the other, of circular links, by the Elector of Brandenburg in 1680, on the publication of the History of the Order of the Garter. The custom of presenting chains of gold was as common then, it is to be observed, as in the most ancient times. John Williams, jeweller of James I, was paid sums amounting to upwards of £13,000 for chains of gold given by the King to divers ambassadors.
These heavy linked or twisted chains were worn principally by men, but not exclusively, as is clear from numerous early portraits—those, for instance, by the German painters Bernard Strigel and Lucas Cranach, whose ladies (as in the portrait by Cranach in the National Gallery) almost invariably have massive gold chains. Though generally composed of metal rings, men's chains, especially those worn by men of high rank, were occasionally composed of cylinders or plaques linked together and enriched with enamel and precious stones. Such jewelled collars were, however, chiefly reserved for women. Henry VIII's numerous portraits generally show him adorned with magnificent collars set with pearls and precious stones; and it is recorded that on the occasion of his attending St. Paul's at the proclamation of peace in 1515 he wore a collar thickly studded with the finest carbuncles, as large as walnuts. Amongst the numerous collars mentioned in his inventory of 1526 is a "carkayne of hearts, with a hand at each end, holding a device of a goodly balasse garnished with five pearls and three diamonds, and a hanging pearl."[157]
The jewelled neck-chain worn by women, and composed of strings of precious stones, "ropes of pearls", or of jewelled and enamelled sections, is often represented in pictures as being gathered in a festoon at the breast and hanging in loops at each side as low as the waist. A chain of gold of this character—one amongst many similar presented by the Earl of Leicester to Queen Elizabeth—was "made like a pair of beads, containing eight long pieces, garnished with small diamonds, and four score and one smaller pieces, fully garnished with like diamonds."
Besides the chains or collars worn round the neck and upon the shoulders, there were the actual necklets worn round the throat, and often only distinguishable from the collar proper by their length (Pl. XXXI, 1). These necklaces, or carcanets, which almost invariably had as a central ornament an elaborate pendent jewel, are figured in such profusion in sixteenth-century portraits, particularly by the painters of the German school, that it is needless to mention particular examples. In Henry VIII's time they were worn in great abundance. The King loaded his wives with sumptuous jewels, and encircled their throats—on which the axe was eventually to fall—with jewelled and enamelled necklaces. The "carkyonetts" of Queen Elizabeth, of which she received an immense number, were equally magnificent. A New Year's gift in 1587 was a "carkyonett of golde, like halfe moones, garnished with sparcks of rubyes and diamonds pendant, and one rowe of seede perles."[158]
The forms of the necklaces and jewelled neck-chains differ so much that the reader must be referred to the various collections of this country and the Continent. Occasionally necklaces of chain formation or of plaited wire are set with stones, but of more frequent occurrence are those where every single link shows a special development of a bijou kind. In the Renaissance necklace every link is for the most part treated as a symmetrical composition, either cartouche-shaped or of pendent form. Hence it happens that in collections, as Herr Luthmer suggests,[159] single links of this kind may occasionally be found incorrectly classified under the title of "pendants." Those in existence display a variety of very remarkable formations, for seldom are the links exactly alike: generally a large and a small motive are arranged alternately—a larger and more richly decorated central link being inserted into the middle of the chain for the purpose of supporting or introducing the rich pendent jewel. To this type belongs one of the most noteworthy necklaces in existence, which now forms part of the Adolphe Rothschild Bequest in the Louvre. It is of gold set with pearls and precious stones, and is composed of twenty-two open-work links and a pendant, all enamelled in relief, the eleven larger links and the pendant containing each in separate compositions a story from the history of the Passion. The groups of figures are of wonderful execution, and in spite of their minute proportions are singularly expressive, being worked in a delicate and at the same time most resolute manner. When exhibited by the Countess of Mount Charles at the Jewellery Exhibition at South Kensington in 1872, the jewel was thus referred to: "This superb specimen of Italian Cinquecento work has been attributed to Benvenuto Cellini, and is at least as good as anything extant known to be by his hand." This cautious observation need not disconcert one; for the jewel is too closely allied in style and workmanship to the jewellery of South Germany of the second half of the sixteenth century to permit of such attribution. Nevertheless it must certainly be reckoned among the most elaborate examples of Cinquecento jewellery that have come down to us.
The great display of necklaces and long neck-chains ceased about the middle of the seventeenth century. In common with other similar objects they entirely disappeared in England during the Protectorate; nor were they ever worn again in any greater profusion than they are at the present day.
Design for a pendant by Jacques Androuet Ducerceau.
CHAPTER XXVII
RENAISSANCE NECK-PENDANTS
THE necklaces, collars, or neck-chains which have just been spoken of as noticeable features in Renaissance decoration served the purpose of suspending a species of ornament even more peculiarly characteristic of the period—the pendant. This was hung either to the necklet, or to the neck-chain that fell upon the breast. Among all classes of Renaissance jewellery, and indeed of the jewellery of all time, this neck-pendant certainly deserves the first place, not only on account of the predominating part it played among the other ornaments of the period, but also on account of the great number of examples we possess of it, and the variety of forms which it exhibits.
Throughout the Middle Ages almost every pendant worn at the neck (pent-à-col) bore a religious signification, but towards the close of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century the pendant seems to have lost much of its religious character, and became mainly an object of decoration. That even in the sixteenth century it did not entirely serve a decorative purpose is shown by a number of portraits dating from the first half of the century, where the termination of the neck-chain is hidden beneath a square-cut bodice. What the object was which was thus concealed is uncertain. It was very possibly a reliquary, or perhaps a cross; for crosses form a very large proportion of Renaissance pendants existing at the present day.
Apart from crosses, the majority of Renaissance pendants represent a figured subject of some description, while compositions entirely of precious stones appear to be less common—at least in the second half of the sixteenth century, to which the greater number of these jewels belong. Holbein's designs for pendants, on the other hand, were composed, it may be remembered, mainly of precious stones. From this we may infer that jewels having as a central ornament a single precious stone, or a gem surrounded by stones, and a regular contour, generally antedate those with figured compositions within uneven or broken borders. This of course applies to jewels which exhibit distinctly a back and front, and not to those formed of a single figure in the round, which are often difficult to date, though extant examples belong mostly to the latter half of the century.
It is to be noticed that the majority of pendants are suspended by two, or sometimes three, richly jewelled and enamelled chains, connected above by a cartouche similarly enriched. While sixteenth-century pendants display on their front the art of the goldsmith-enameller in its full perfection, the reverse likewise exhibits artistic work in engraving as well as enamelling. It is likewise worthy of remark that Renaissance pendants are almost invariably enriched with pendent pearls.
Of the immense number of subjects represented on these jewels we have already spoken in the introduction to the jewellery of the period. For pendants formed of single figures executed in the round, the whole of ancient or mediæval imagery—with its figures of Pan or of wood-nymphs, centaurs, tritons, or mermen; nereids, mermaids or sirens; hippocamps, unicorns, dragons, and other creatures, real as well as fabulous, of the earth, air, or sea—was revived, or else transformed to suit the fancy of the Renaissance jeweller. The formation of many of these was frequently suggested by a monster pearl, unsuitable for ordinary jewellery on account of its baroque or misshapen form, introduced in a wonderfully skilful manner into the body or breast of a figure, which was completed in enamelled goldwork. In such adaptations the German jewellers, who seem to have revelled in technical difficulties, displayed extraordinary ingenuity.
Among groups of several figures employed as subjects for representation, generally within a frame of ornamental design, scenes from ancient mythology predominate, the Judgment of Paris being a very favourite theme. But Christian allegories are not excluded: besides the frequent representation of Charity with her two children or her symbol the pelican, we find Faith, Hope, and Fortitude; St. George and the Dragon or St. Michael are also frequently met with; while amongst scriptural subjects of the Old and New Testaments or the Apocrypha, the Annunciation is perhaps the most popular.
PLATE XXXI
german and french renaissance pendants
The majority of the pendants of this class show a rich and uneven outline broken by tendrils often enriched with small dots of enamel, by projecting wings of birds or amorini, by strapwork and other ornament. Occasionally a "Charity" or an "Annunciation" is placed in an architectural niche, but the architectural device is not infrequently limited to a horizontal beam formed of a row of table-cut stones and two obelisks of the same construction forming the ends to the right and left (Pl. XXXIII, 1). It is only in the smaller examples of pendants that we find the design lying flat on a plane. Generally the jewel is fashioned in relief by means of two, three, or even four superimposed planes formed of open-work plates arranged in such a manner that the lower parts are seen through openings in the upper. These are fastened together by rivets sometimes three-eighths of an inch long, and the upper field of the jewel, on which are groups of enamelled figures, is set with stones in very large pyramidal collets, so that the whole composition is increased to a considerable height. Collections contain frequent examples of this class of pendant (Pl. XXXII). One of the most elaborate, of Augsburg work dating from the end of the sixteenth century, is in the Adolphe Rothschild Bequest in the Louvre. In the centre is an enamelled group representing the Annunciation, within an architectural framework set with diamonds, rubies, and pendent pearls. The jewel, which is suspended by triple chains from an enamelled cartouche, measures in its total length 5¼ inches. It was formerly in the Debruge-Duménil Collection. Similarly large open-work pendants, enriched with enamels, precious stones, and pendent pearls, are shown attached by a ribbon to the left breast in three portraits dated 1609, representing the Princesses Elizabeth, Hedwig, and Dorothea of Brunswick, Nos. 458, 460, and 461 in the Hampton Court Gallery.
Of pendants containing groups of small enamelled figures there seems to have been an enormous production in Southern Germany towards the close of the sixteenth century, particularly in the workshops of Munich and Augsburg. These pieces, which are very charming, are greatly sought after by collectors, and are among the most highly prized of all objects of virtu at the present day. Their workmanship is extraordinarily elaborate; though not a few of them, it must be confessed, are overloaded with detail, and somewhat unsatisfactory in composition.
With the revival of the glyptic art, cameos begin to play a prominent part in jewellery. A considerable number of cameos in the great gem collections, set in exquisite jewelled and enamelled mounts, are provided with loops for use as pendants.[160] Numerous gems, splendidly mounted as pendants, are to be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris (Pl. XXXI, 6); and in the British Museum are a few fine examples from the Carlisle Collection. Of extant pendants having as a centre-piece a figured subject, either cut in cameo or of repoussé work enamelled, the majority show uneven contours, generally of broken strapwork, after the manner of the German ornamentists, though not a few of those of oval shape have frames with smooth outlines. Many, on the other hand, follow the cartouche design in form of shields with upturned edges. These figure chiefly in the designs of the French maîtres ornemanistes, Androuet Ducerceau and Woeiriot. The doubling of the frame characteristic of the French cartouches, and the broken contours of the German pendants, which allow of a variety of intertwinings and traversings, offer a favourite field for the display of the jeweller's art in the application of polychrome enamels.
PLATE XXXII
enamelled gold pendants set with pearls and precious stones
german, about 1600
(the property of lady rothschild)
The "nef," or model of a ship, was of frequent use as an article of table plate. Pendent jewels likewise take the form of a small ship completely equipped,[161] suspended by chains, and hung with pearls. In this style of jewel, which is perhaps of Venetian origin, the crescent-shaped caravel or carvel, open and without a deck, but built up high at the prow and stern, with forecastle and cabin, and large ship's lantern, is often adhered to; but the design is not infrequently somewhat conventional. Many of the best-known collections contain examples of these "nef" or "navette" pendants. Their probable Adriatic origin is evinced by the several specimens exhibited, together with jewels from the Greek Islands, in the Franks Bequest in the British Museum. The Victoria and Albert Museum contains a choice example from the Spitzer Collection. It carries three masts, five sails, a lantern, and a high poop and stern. The rigging is of twisted gold wire, and the hull covered with an imbricated pattern in translucent blue, red, and green, and opaque white enamels. A variety to this form is presented by a remarkable piece in the museum at Vienna. It represents a barque manned by two rowers; while at the prow and stern are mandoline players who entertain two passengers seated beneath the framework awning such as was in use on the gondolas of the time. The whole is enriched with polychrome enamels. The figures are in full relief, and the boat, hung by three chains, is further set with diamonds and rubies. We may estimate the extraordinary value attached to such objects at the present day by the fact that a jewel very similar to this last was sold at Messrs. Christie's Rooms in the autumn of 1903 for no less a sum than £6,500. The hull of this jewel is identical with that at Vienna, but figures of Antony and Cleopatra, finely executed, though somewhat out of proportion to the rest, here take the place of the couple beneath the awning; while instead of being hung by chains (as is suitable to this form of pendant) the jewel is backed by a composition of scroll- and strap-work, characteristic of German and Flemish work of the second half of the sixteenth century. A comparison with contemporary designs clearly associates these two objects with the well-known set of engravings for pendent jewels published by Hans Collaert at Antwerp in 1581 (Pl. XXXIII). Another version of this jewel is in the Bavarian National Museum, Munich. The figures are the same as on the Vienna jewel, but the vessel is in the form of a fish.
Just as the great gem cabinets preserve pendants whose jewel-work is confined to richly decorated frames, so there exist a considerable number of mounted medals, which must be looked for in collections of coins and medals, among which they are classed on account of the presumed preponderating importance of their centre-pieces. These pendent gold medals (Gnadenmedaillen), with beautiful jewelled and enamelled mounts, occasionally hung with pearls and suspended by chains from ornate cartouches, were much in favour in Germany in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and were given by noble personages, whose portraits were figured on them, as presents and as marks of special distinction. Many examples, as is to be expected, are to be found in the coin cabinets of Munich and Berlin; while others are preserved in the more important public and private collections of jewellery.
These medallions, as was natural, were frequently made in duplicate, and the Waddesdon Bequest, and the Salting and Pierpont Morgan collections each contain a jewel, dated 1612, of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria (1558-1620), in an open-worked border of enamelled scrolls interrupted by four shields of arms, and suspended by three chains, united above by an oval escutcheon with the arms of Austria on one side and the cross of the Teutonic order on the other. The Victoria and Albert Museum has an enamel-mounted medal of Albert VI, Duke of Bavaria (1584-1666), a facsimile of which, hung with a single instead of trilobed pearl, is in the Munich cabinet.
Many of the motives connected with pendants denote associations which appear inexplicable, until it is understood that no small number of them, like the pendent medals, were gifts from princes, the so-called "faveurs" granted in recognition of services rendered. Among the princely gifts we must class that large group of pendants which consist only of one letter or a monogram in an ornamental frame or in open-work, sometimes composed entirely of precious stones. Of these the Victoria and Albert Museum possesses a fine early example in form of a square tablet of gold set with pearls, bearing on one side two enamelled shields of arms, and on the other the initials DA, in a frame formed of bracket-shaped terminal figures and human masks. It is of German work of about the year 1530 (Pl. XXXI, 3). Distinct from these princely monograms are those employed for religious purposes, particularly the monograms of Christ and the Virgin.
PLATE XXXIII
pendent jewels by hans collaert, etc.
Probably the finest example of the numerous pendants in the form of a single figure, particularly of those whose formation is suggested by a large baroque pearl, is the triton or merman jewel in the possession of Lord Clanricarde. The figure, whose body is made of a single pearl, with head and arms of white enamel and tail of brilliant yellow, green, and blue, wields a jaw-bone in the right hand, and an enamelled satyr's mask as a shield in the left. This magnificent Italian jewel was brought from India by Lord Canning. Pendants of somewhat similar character, often representing a mermaid holding a comb in one hand and a mirror in the other, are to be found in the Vienna, Windsor, Waddesdon, and other collections. They are almost invariably of German workmanship. Amongst many other jewels of similar formation the most important is a pendant in the form of a dragon in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre. The modelling and general form of this jewel is very fine, and its enamel-work, chiefly of white and light blue, in the design of circles and chevrons, especially on the wings, is most admirable. It is Spanish work of the highest quality, and was bequeathed by Baron Davillier, who procured it in Spain (Frontispiece).
Of other animal forms are those of a lion, a dromedary, a dog (termed a talbot) (Pl. XXXIV, 2), and a fish; birds include, besides a dove (the symbol of the Holy Ghost), eagles, cocks, parrots, and pelicans. Fine examples of the two latter are at South Kensington from the Treasury at Saragossa: one is mounted with a large hyacinth in front[162] (Pl. XXXIV, 1), the other is represented plucking at a blood-red carbuncle set in her breast.
Among miscellaneous pendants worn in Renaissance times attached to the neck-chain mention must be made of whistles. These (like the "bo'sons pipe" of to-day) were formed, as has been shown (p. 190), of a pipe or tube, sometimes in the form of a pistol, through which the air is carried into a hole in a ball, thus producing the sound. Whistles of this kind were designed by Dürer and Brosamer, and they are shown suspended at the neck in the engraved portraits of William, Duke of Juliers, and of John of Leyden by Aldegrever, in the portrait of a man by Lucis Cranach the elder (1472-1553) in the Louvre, and in portraits of the Margrave Philibert of Baden (1549) by Hans Schöpfer the elder at Munich and Nuremberg. Silver whistles of somewhat similar construction, ornamented with a mermaid or siren, or with a lion or sea-horse, were frequently worn also as charms in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They are usually hung with little bells, possibly for the purpose of averting the evil eye—the "mal'occhio" or "jettatura" it is termed in Italy. Examples are preserved in the Cluny, Nuremberg, and South Kensington museums.
In Aldegrever's design for a whistle, of the year 1539, the lower part is formed of a case containing small articles for toilet purposes. Such articles, in the shape of toothpicks and ear-picks, often richly gemmed and enamelled, were very commonly worn hanging from a fine gold chain or thread about the neck. Elaborate toothpicks are occasionally seen in pictures, as in the Venetian portrait of a young man in the National Gallery of Ireland. Their owners are sometimes shown affectionately toying with them. Judging by the frequency with which they are met with in inventories, they must have been extremely popular. A few quotations may be given. Thus: Henry VIII (1530). "Two gold toothpicks with H and E—A gold toothpick and an ear-pick, with a chain; and two other toothpicks, one with a ruby and a pearl, and the other with a ruby and a diamond—Two gold whistles."[163] Queen Elizabeth amongst her New Year's gifts received the following:—1573-4: "Six smale tothe-picks of golde. Geven by Mrs. Snowe, one of them lost by her Majestie." 1574-5: "An eare-picke of golde enamuled, garnished with sparcks of rubyes, blue saphirs, and seede perle." 1576-7: "A tothe and eare-picke of golde, being a dolphin enamuled, with a perle pendaunte, 16 small rubyes being but sparcks, and 5 sparcks of dyamonds."[164] Most of the important collections of Cinquecento jewellery contain specimens of these magnificent toothpicks. The form is often that of a mermaid or merman. The body is constructed of a baroque pearl; the tail terminates in a point. Designs for a couple of jewels of this kind were published by Erasmus Hornick of Nuremberg in 1562. In the Cluny Museum (Wasset Bequest) is a silver-gilt pendant, an ear- and toothpick combined, one end being an ear-, the other a toothpick. It is ornamented in the centre with clasped hands and hung with a pearl, and is German work of the sixteenth century.
In addition to the museums already mentioned (namely, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Vienna Museum, the Rothschild and Davillier Bequests in the Louvre, and the coin or gem collections of London, Paris, Berlin, and Munich), numbers of pendants, in immense variety of form, are to be found in all the well-known collections. The Waddesdon Bequest in the British Museum contains, perhaps, the largest series; while the Wallace Collection, the Prussian Crown Treasury at Berlin, the Bavarian Crown Treasury at Munich, and the Green Vaults at Dresden, all possess a great number of examples.
Several English pendants of the Renaissance claim attention for their rare beauty and historical importance. Of the pendants of the time of Henry VIII we obtain a tolerably accurate idea from contemporary portraits, and from Holbein's inimitable series of drawings. The earliest existing example, which, so far as can be ascertained, dates from the Holbein period, is known as the Penruddock Jewel. It is believed to have been presented in 1544 by Queen Catherine Parr to Sir George Penruddock of Compton Chamberlayne, and Anne his wife. It is triangular in shape, and set with a large cabochon sapphire surrounded by rubies and diamonds in open-work enamel setting. This remarkable jewel is shown on a portrait of Sir George Penruddock by Lucas de Heere in possession of its owner, Mr. Charles Penruddock, at Compton Chamberlayne, Wiltshire.
The Penruddock Jewel.
The majority of English sixteenth-century pendants extant date from the Elizabethan period, and are almost all more or less associated with the Virgin Queen. The ingenuity displayed in devising curious forms for these ornaments can best be judged from the lists of the Queen's own jewels. A few of these may be mentioned: "A juell of golde, being a catt, and myce playing with her.—One greene frog, the back of emeraldes, smale and greate, and a pendaunte emeralde, and a smale cheyne of golde to hang by.—A juell of golde, being an anker." Another "being a dolfyn," another "two snakes wounde together," others take the form of a horse-shoe, a swan, and a rainbow.
The "nef" jewel, of which we have spoken, was also a favourite one. In the Queen's inventory are a number of entries of this class of pendant, and among them: "A jeuel of golde, being a shippe, sett with a table dyamonde, of fyve sparcks of dyamondes, and a smale perle pendaunte.—A juell, being a ship of mother-of-perle, garneshed with small rubys, and 3 small diamonds." One of the chief treasures among the Hunsdon heirlooms at Berkeley Castle is a pendant of this form, a present to Elizabeth from Sir Francis Drake, and given by her to Lord Hunsdon. It is supposed to represent the famous Golden Hind, the ship in which Drake sailed round the world. The hull, which is of ebony, is set with a table diamond; the masts and rigging of gold are enriched with blue, white, green, and black opaque enamels, and set with seed pearls. In the ship is a seated figure of Victory blowing a horn, and behind is a cherub crowning her with a wreath. The small boat suspended below is enamelled blue (Pl. XXXV, 2).
A jewel also associated with Sir Francis Drake, and perhaps the most important of all Elizabethan pendants, is preserved, with other relics of the great navigator, at Nutwell Court, Devon. It is set in front with a fine Renaissance cameo in Oriental sardonyx, representing two heads—a negro in the upper and dark layer, and a classical head in the light layer of the stone. Behind is a miniature by Hilliard of Elizabeth, dated 1575. The border, of most admirable work, is richly enamelled in red, yellow, blue, and green, interspersed with diamonds and rubies. Beneath is a cluster pendant of pearls, to which is attached a very fine drop pearl (Pl. XXXIV, 4). This magnificent jewel was presented to Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth in 1579, and in his portrait by Zucchero (now belonging, together with the jewel, to his descendant Sir F. Fuller-Eliott-Drake) he is represented wearing it suspended from the neck by a red and gold cord, over a silk scarf, also a present from the Queen.
The cluster of pearls, as on the Drake Jewel, was a favourite form of ornament for Renaissance pendants. In the National Portrait Gallery is a portrait of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk (father of Lady Jane Grey), wearing a George of the Order of the Garter, below which is hung a pearl cluster and a large pear-shaped pearl attached. A similar pendant, like a bunch of grapes, serves to enrich another fine jewel of this time—the Barbor Jewel in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the centre of this jewel is a beautifully cut cameo portrait in sardonyx of Queen Elizabeth in a frame of translucent blue and green on opaque white enamel, set alternately with rubies and table diamonds. According to a family tradition, Mr. William Barbor, who had been condemned to be burned at the stake in Smithfield for his religion, had this jewel made to commemorate his deliverance through the death of Queen Mary and the accession of Elizabeth (Pl. XXXV, 4).
The Museum at South Kensington exhibits another pendant of the same period, the property of Miss Wild. It is of gold, of open scrollwork, enamelled, and set with rubies and diamonds, and with pearl drops. It has in the centre a turquoise cameo of Queen Elizabeth. The sheen of the pearls with the rich red of the foiled rubies and the dark lustre of the diamonds in their old irregular setting, combine with the lightness and delicacy of the goldwork touched with coloured enamel to render this little pendant one of the most attractive objects of its kind in existence. In addition to its artistic beauty, the jewel is of interest from the tradition that it was given as a christening present by Queen Elizabeth to its first owner, by whose descendants it has been preserved to the present day.
PLATE XXXIV
renaissance pendants, etc.,
of gold, enamelled and jewelled
spanish (1-2) and english (3-6)
Amongst other examples in that important group of jewels which were apparently intended either as special rewards to naval officers or simply as complimentary presents from the Queen to Court favourites, the finest are the Phœnix Jewel in the British Museum, a jewel belonging to Mr. Pierpont Morgan, and one in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, Milan. The Phœnix Jewel, bequeathed to the British Museum by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753, has as a central ornament a gold bust of Queen Elizabeth cut from a gold medal known as the Phœnix Badge of the year 1574, bearing on the reverse the device of a phœnix amid flames. It is enclosed in an enamelled wreath set on both sides with red, white, and variegated roses symbolising the union of the Houses of York and Lancaster. The roses, of translucent red and opaque white enamel, and the leaves, of translucent green on engraved ground, are attached to stalks covered with lighter green opaque enamel (Pl. XXXV, 1). The workmanship of this jewel is extremely fine, and on a level in point of excellence with the Eliott-Drake pendant and with Mr. Pierpont Morgan's Armada Jewel.
Of the last-named—a splendid production of an English goldsmith of the Elizabethan period—it is impossible to speak with adequate praise. Like the Phœnix Jewel, it is modelled upon a contemporary medal, though in an entirely different style. Upon the front is a profile bust of Queen Elizabeth from the Personal or Garter badge of 1582, upon an enamelled ground of aventurine blue, inscribed with the royal title. The opposite side forms a locket containing a miniature of Elizabeth by Hilliard dated 1580, and covered with a lid enamelled with translucent colours—on the outside with the Ark and the motto saevas tranquilla per undas (as on the "Naval Award Medal" of 1588), and on the inside with the Tudor rose and a laudatory Latin motto—the same as appears round the reverse of the Phœnix Badge of 1574, which refers to Elizabeth with a regret "that virtue endued with so much beauty should not uninjured enjoy perpetual life." The jewel is bordered by strapwork à jour of opaque blue and white enamel set with table diamonds and rubies. This exquisite object, which is in the highest possible state of preservation, and retains its fine enamel entirely uninjured, was sold at Messrs. Christie's in July, 1902, for the large sum of £5,250 (Pl. XXXIV, 5, 6).
The third jewel of this class, also undoubtedly English, is in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum at Milan. It has in the centre a mother-of-pearl medallion with the Ark carved in low relief, of the same design as on the Morgan Jewel and the 1588 medal, surrounded by the like inscription—saevas tranqvila per vndas—in gold on white enamel, and encircled by a band of table-cut rubies. The edge is enamelled with translucent red and green, and opaque white enamel (Pl. XXXV, 3). The Ark floating tranquilly amid violent waves is emblematic of the fortunes of England, or possibly of Elizabeth, who, according to the legend per tot discrimina rerum which appears on the back of the jewel, had sailed triumphantly through many dangers. No account of this important object has previously been published, nor has its nationality up to the present been noticed, or at any rate recorded.
The front opens on a hinge, and shows that the pendant was intended as a miniature case—though the miniature is missing. In the times of Elizabeth and her successor miniature cases were among the most important of pendent jewels. Quite a number have survived, chiefly on account of the miniatures they enclose. Contemporary portraits show the manner in which they were worn. In the catalogue of Charles I's collections a miniature of Queen Elizabeth is thus described: "Queen Elizabeth ... very richly adorned with gold and pearls, and a picture-box hanging at her right breast." Such "picture boxes," with backs elaborately enamelled by the champlevé method, leaving only thin outlines of gold of scroll design, and hinged fronts of open-work, enamelled and set with precious stones, are among the presents which appear to have been frequently conferred as marks of recognition on favourite courtiers or subjects. It is impossible to enumerate all the various examples in public and private collections. The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses one of the best, and a beautiful specimen is preserved at Windsor Castle[165] (Pl. XXVIII, 5). A description of a third jewel of the kind, the "Lyte Jewel," will be given subsequently (p. 303).
PLATE XXXV
elizabethan jewellery
Besides the enamelled and jewelled pendants there are various medals (some of which have been alluded to) suspended by a ring or chain and worn as badges by those who were personally attached to the Queen; and to the time of James I belong numerous references to medals of gold with the "King's Majestie's phisnomy" on them, mostly the work of his goldsmith, John Williams, and presented to various foreigners in official positions.
Space does not permit of detailed description of the wonderful Lennox or Darnley Jewel at Windsor Castle, purchased by Queen Victoria at the sale of Horace Walpole's collection at Strawberry Hill in 1842 (Pl. XXVIII, 4). The jewel has been fully described by Mr. Tytler and Mr. Albert Way.[166]
It has been impossible here to convey an adequate idea of all the various specimens of sixteenth-century pendants that exist at the present day. Attention has been drawn to a few of the most striking examples which stand out above the rest, either by reason of the beauty of their design or the superlative excellence of their workmanship, or by reason of their unique historical interest. While indicating the great public collections where these things are preserved, it must be left to amateurs to discover and appreciate for themselves, as they are bound to do, what, owing to exigencies of space, we are precluded from referring to in detail.
CHAPTER XXVIII
RENAISSANCE RINGS, BRACELETS, AND BROOCHES
THE splendour-loving sixteenth century far surpassed the Middle Ages in the use of the finger ring. No other ornament of the Renaissance attained such richness and profusion. In sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits rings are represented in such quantities that the hands appear overburdened with them; while the number entered in the old inventories is astounding. Yet it is well to remember that the word bague, which we translate a ring, was a general term for all pendent jewels—though not infrequently a distinction in the lists is drawn between bague à mettre aux oreilles (an earring), bague à pendre (a pendant), and bague à mettre au doigt. The extraordinary abundance of finger rings in use at the time may best be judged by a list in the inventory of Henry VIII of the year 1530, which contains no less than 234.
Of the large number of Renaissance rings that have survived to the present day most are of a purely ornamental character; and though many others are of interest on account of their emblematic or historical associations, those which display artistic work require the chief consideration. Out of all the rings that simply served the purpose of decoration, there are very few whose nationality can be easily determined. If it is difficult in the case of pendants and similar ornaments to come to a decision with regard to the question of provenance, it is even more so where rings are concerned.
Pictures of the period, as has been said, represent persons with their hands heavily loaded with rings, which are worn upon all the fingers, the thumb included. Every finger-joint up to the very nail is covered with them, and they are worn, as by the ancient Romans, even upon the knuckles. The great projection of the rings' bezels would have rendered the use of gloves impossible, were it not, as we know from pictures, for the custom of placing the rings outside the gloves, and also for the somewhat ugly fashion of slitting the fingers of the gloves, in order that they might be worn with greater comfort, and allow the rings themselves to be displayed. In a portrait of a lady by Lucas Cranach in the National Gallery, rings are worn both over and beneath the gloves, every finger and the thumbs having two or three. The rings under the gloves appear on the top of the second knuckle of every finger, and are visible through the crevés made in the gloves at these points. In other pictures by this artist, such as that entitled "Judith" at Vienna, and in the works of his contemporaries in Germany, the same slashed gloves are to be seen. Men's gloves, too, like their doublets, were slashed, as is clear from the engraved portrait of Duke William of Juliers, by Aldegrever. Bishop Hall (Satires, III, iv) refers thus to the current fashion:—
Nor can good Myson wear on his left hond,
A signet ring of Bristol diamond,[167]
But he must cut his glove to show his pride,
That his trim jewel might be better spy'd.
The tendency of placing the stone in a very high bezel was a tradition from the Middle Ages, where a preference had always been shown for the stone being so set. The ornamental rings of the Renaissance followed a uniform outline as far as their bezels and settings were concerned. They contained, as a rule, one stone only, backed by a foil or paillon, and set in a box-like collet, square and pyramidal, and closed behind. The gold was rubbed over the setting edge of the stone, and the four side surfaces then decorated in a variety of ways by the application of enamel, and sometimes overlaid with an additional ornamentation in imitation of claws. The stone itself, usually table-cut, was frequently a ruby.
Triple rings set with pointed diamonds. Device of Cosimo de' Medici. (Figured in Botticelli's "Pallas" in the Pitti Gallery.)
One peculiar variety of ring, known from the early part of the fifteenth century, is deserving of note. Its design was founded upon the natural octahedrite shape of the diamond, and was distinguished by a very high bezel, which received one half of the octahedron and allowed the other to project upwards. Rings set thus with pointed diamonds were in high favour until the middle of the seventeenth century, and were employed for writing upon glass—a practice which appears to have been much in vogue. The most characteristic examples of the diamante in punta were those adopted by the Medici as their device. Three diamond rings interlaced were employed by Cosimo (d. 1464); Piero took one diamond ring held in the claw of a falcon; Lorenzo continued the device of the ring, in which he placed three feathers. The best-known representations of these three devices are figured in Paolo Giovio's Dialogo dell' imprese.
In addition to the case for the stone, the sides or "shoulders" of the ring which held it were the subject of special artistic development. They took the form of small figures, winged creature, masks, and other ornaments in relief and richly enamelled; while for smooth surfaces champlevé enamel was employed in a variety of designs. So extraordinarily elaborate is the work on some of these rings that it would almost seem as if they were produced rather as examples of the skill of the craftsman than as objects for actual use.
Several old portraits exhibit rings strung upon men's necklaces, or hung from a thin cord round the neck. A portrait by Mabuse, in the Berlin Gallery, shows a ring worn thus, and in two portraits by Lucas Cranach—one at Weimar, representing Johann Friedrich of Saxony attired as a bridegroom, and the other at Dresden, of the Elector Johann the Constant of Saxony (1526)—rings are hung similarly round the neck. Rings were also worn in the hat. A particularly striking example of this fashion is seen in the portrait of Bernhard III, Margrave of Baden, 1515, by Hans Baldung Grien, in the Pinakothek, Munich. Around his cap is fixed a thick wire-shaped band of gold, with a strip of cloth wound spirally round it. The latter serves to fix at regular intervals four gold rings, three of them set with cabochon stones and the fourth with a pointed diamond. A similar kind of decoration is alluded to in Gabriel Harvey's Letter Book, 1574 (Camden Society, 1884, p. 145), where a servant is mentioned carrying to a maiden an enamelled posy ring which his master had worn sewn upon his hat.
The rings worn thus were in many cases betrothal or engagement rings; but those that served this purpose generally assumed special forms, and were among the most ingenious productions of the time. They were composed of twin or double hoops, and known as gimmel rings. The outer side of the two hoops was convex and elaborately ornamented, while the inner side was flat and often bore some inscription. The two hoops were wrought so exactly alike, that, together with the stones, they appeared to be one ring, yet could be separated, and the one hung from the other. Their bezels were occasionally formed of clasped hands. Ordinary one-hoop rings also bore the same design and were known as "fede" rings. Another kind of betrothal or engagement ring was the "posy" or "poesie" ring, generally of simple form, with a verse, a name, or a motto engraved inside it. The posy ring, suitably inscribed, was also used as a wedding-ring. The simple posy ring belongs, however, chiefly to the seventeenth century. The elaborate betrothal ring seems to have been employed at this time as a wedding-ring as well. It was reserved for modern times to give the wedding-ring its smooth, convenient, but artistically unimportant form. Widely distributed among the North German peasantry are certain peculiar wedding-rings, which, as a rule, contain a couple of the heart-shaped milk-teeth of the young roe-buck, with a small lock from which hang two keys—a symbol which perhaps not inaptly indicates the union of two pure hearts. Dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but wholly different from the Renaissance form of ring, and very large and elaborate, are the Jewish wedding-rings, which were used only at the ceremony and then preserved by the family. They are composed of a broad band adorned with filigree (probably in keeping with some ancient Oriental tradition) arranged in bosses and rosettes and enriched with light blue, light green, and other enamel. In place of a bezel there is often the model of a building with high gabled roofs and enamelled tile, pierced by windows, and having movable weathercocks on the apex; an inscription in Hebrew characters on the shank contains the motto "Good star."
PLATE XXXVI
renaissance and later rings
It was the custom to arrange finger rings upon a rod when not in use or when exposed for exhibition in the jeweller's shop, and in paintings it is no uncommon thing to see a line of rings of various patterns run on what appears to be a roll of parchment; as in the annexed illustration—a cut from a Herbal published at Frankfort in 1536. Rings arranged thus may be seen in Ghirlandaio's portrait of Costanza de' Medici, belonging to Mr. Salting; in the "Legend of St. Godeberta" by Petrus Christus; in Gerard David's portrait of a goldsmith at Vienna; in the "Banker and his Wife" by Quentin Matsys in the Louvre, and in similar pictures where a jeweller or a banker is represented.
Rings on a roll of parchment. From Kreuterbuch (Frankfort, 1536).
In Henry VIII's inventory of 1527 we find: "Upon a finger-stall, seven rings, one a ruby, another an emerald, and a turquoise, another a table diamond, another a triangular diamond, another a rocky diamond"; also in 1530: "A roll with thirty-nine Paris rings, with small stones." In the Duke of Newcastle's comedy The Country Captain (1649) mention is made of an extravagant person "who makes his fingers like jewellers' cards to set rings upon." In the Pinakothek, Munich, is a most interesting picture by Paris Bordone representing a jeweller with a quantity of his treasures lying on a table before him. Every item is painted with extreme care. Twelve massive finger rings, arranged in three rows of four, are displayed in an oblong ring-box, just in the same manner as one might expect to find them in a jeweller's shop of the present day. A somewhat similar picture by Lorenzo Lotto, in the Kaufmann Collection in Berlin, represents a jeweller holding in his left hand a box full of rings and in his right a single specimen.
By far the most attractive of the fine engravings of jewellery by Pierre Woeiriot of Lorraine is his beautiful set of rings published in 1561 under the title of Livre d'aneaux d'orfévrerie. M. Foulc, of Paris, is generally credited with the possession of the only complete set of these engravings. A perfect specimen of the work is, however, preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, to which it was bequeathed by the well-known antiquary Francis Douce in 1834. It comprises forty plates, each containing one or more rings to the number of ninety-six, and furnishes striking examples of the taste and inventive genius then bestowed on these minute objects. Nevertheless, engravings can convey but small idea of the colour effect, and the wonderful charm that the actual rings possess. In order to fully appreciate them, one must visit the three great English collections of them now accessible to the public: the South Kensington Collection, containing the greater part of that formed by Edmund Waterton; the Drury Fortnum Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; and above all, the collection in the British Museum, which includes the splendid series bequeathed by Sir A. W. Franks, in which were absorbed the Braybrooke, Londesborough, and some minor cabinets, together with the best from the Soden Smith Collection, as well as the choicest from the Pichon and from many foreign sales.
BRACELETS
The bracelet during this period plays a scarcely more prominent part than it did in the Middle Ages, and probably owing to the same reason; for in Renaissance times the fashion of leaving the arms bare was not in favour, and the long sleeves that fell over the hand were retained. A few examples presented by pictures lead to the supposition that bracelets consisted of beads of amber or jet separated by balls of gold, or of rows of cameos. Catarina Cornaro in her portrait by Titian in the Uffizi wears a bracelet upon her wrist over the sleeve, while the portrait of a lady by Cranach in the National Gallery shows that the sleeves were occasionally slashed at the wrists to exhibit the bracelets beneath them, just as were the fingers of gloves for the purpose of displaying rings.
Inventories supply a certain amount of information concerning bracelets. Henry VIII in 1530 possessed seventeen, including one of "Paris work, with jacynths; and one with eight diamonds, eight rubies, fourteen pearls, and a diamond rose." Elizabeth received a large number of bracelets amongst her New Year's gifts. In the inventory of Mary Stuart's jewels are "Une paire de brasseletz garniz de cornaline lappines et agate et entredeux de doubles—Une aultre paire de brasseletz damatiste—Ung bracelet fait a facon de serpent." Others are formed, as were necklaces, of beads of filigree enclosing perfumes: "Deux braceletz dor percez a jour pleins de parfum—Une aultre paire dor a jour empliz de parfum."
References to bracelets by writers of the period show that they were not infrequently worn as love tokens. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's Cupid's Revenge:—
Given ear-rings we will wear
Bracelets of our lovers' hair,
Which they on our arms shall twist
With our names carv'd on our wrist.
Also in Barnfield's Affectionate Shepherd (1594):—
I would put amber bracelets on thy wrist,
Crownlets of pearls about thy naked arms.
Contemporary designs prove that bracelets followed the same elaborate forms as other articles of jewellery, as may be seen from the engraved designs of Ducerceau, and the Livre de Bijouterie of René Boyvin of Angers (1530-1598).
One of the most interesting bracelets—as far as actual specimens are concerned—is preserved at Berkeley Castle amongst the heirlooms bequeathed by George Carey, Lord Hunsdon, who died in 1603. It is of crystal and gold, 3¾ inches in diameter. The crystal, a complete circlet overlaid with open-work gold, is encrusted all round with rubies, and has at intervals four clusters of rubies around a sapphire (Pl. XXXV, 5). It is somewhat difficult to arrive at a decision as to the origin of this remarkable object. It seems to bear traces of Oriental influence in the setting of the stones, though the goldwork is of different quality from what one would expect to find in Indian work. If, like the "nef" jewel at Berkeley, this armlet is to be associated with Sir Francis Drake, it may well have been obtained by him as part of some Spanish spoil, in like manner to the "crystal bracelet set in gold" procured by Sir Matthew Morgan at the capture of Cadiz in 1596—Cadiz being then the staple town for all the trades of the Levant and of the Indies.[168]
Bracelets formed of cameos are met with sometimes on portraits. The Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris preserves a pair of bracelets (Nos. 624 and 625) formed each of seven oval shell cameos representing figures of animals, enclosed in gold mounting enriched with blue enamel, and hinged together by a double chain ornamented with rosettes enamelled green. On the under side of the larger cameos which form the clasps are two interlacing C's within a wreath of palm and olive, enamelled green, and a barred S in blue enamel at each angle. These bracelets, of which the cameos as well as the mountings are of fine sixteenth-century work, have been traditionally associated with Diana of Poitiers. But the interlaced C's, according to M. Babelon, are in all probability the initials of some lady of the family of Harlay, from whom the bracelets were acquired by Louis XIV (Pl. XXXVII, 3, 4).
PLATE XXXVII
renaissance bracelets
Bracelets, like necklaces, were not infrequently composed entirely of gold, with interwoven links, like mail-chains. A chain bracelet of this style, formed of circular fluted links, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Its clasp is enriched with a floral pattern in translucent champlevé enamel (Pl. XXXVII, 1). Three similar bracelets forming part of the Holtzendorff treasure from Pinnow (Ucker-Mark, N. Germany) are in the Germanic Museum, Nuremberg. They are composed of circular links, and have flat clasps like the bracelet just mentioned, ornamented with coats-of-arms in enamel. One of them bears the date 1612.
BROOCHES
One of the most important of ornaments throughout the Middle Ages was the brooch; but towards the end of the fifteenth century the mode of wearing garments changed, and the côtehardi having replaced the mantle, brooches disappeared little by little, till in Renaissance times they were rarely employed, except as ornaments for the hat. It is true that sixteenth-century inventories contain an immense number of owches and brooches—Henry VIII had no less than 324—but nearly all these, the larger ones especially, were worn as enseignes upon the hat; while the smaller were employed not as dress fasteners, but simply as ornaments sewn or pinned at regular intervals upon the front of the dress or the borders of the sleeves. A single elaborate jewelled brooch is sometimes seen in pictures attached to the upper part of the sleeve. We see it thus on the figure of Arithmetic in Pinturicchio's famous fresco in the Appartamento Borgia of the Vatican, and later in English pictures, notably the well-known painting in Sherborne Castle, Dorset, representing Queen Elizabeth's procession in litter to Blackfriars in 1600, where the ladies of her retinue have jewels fastened to the sleeves of their right arms.
The garments of this period were not fastened by means of brooches, but were closed with buttons or points, or with hooks and eyes. Sleeves were often held on by buttons to which the sleeve-loops or points were tied, while other portions of the clothing, especially if of leather and cumbersome to button, were secured with loops or hooks and eyes. The slashings of the dress were sometimes closed by buttons or pompoms formed of stones surrounded by pearls. Similar button-like ornaments, jewelled and richly enamelled, of which examples exist, were worn in rows all over the dress, but their delicate form and often irregular shape exclude the supposition that they were used as actual buttons. Of ornaments of this kind Mary Queen of Scots possessed a large number: thus—"Quatre vingtz bouttons dor esmaillez de blanc et noir garniz de chacune une perle." Others mentioned in her inventory are "à rose garniz de chacun trois perles"; others again are "percez à jour esmaillez de noir."
These individual jewelled ornaments, which it was the practice to sew on the dress at regular intervals by way of trimming, may be treated as distinct from ornamentation which formed part of the actual costume, such as masses of pearls and precious stones, with which dresses were literally loaded. Individual jewels often took the form of the monogram, crest, or device of the owner, in pure gold richly decorated. A curious instance of this custom has already been alluded to in connection with what occurred during the masque given by Henry VIII at Westminster. The fashion for wearing ornaments in the form of jewelled initials was still in vogue on the quilted dresses of the time of James I. Anne of Denmark is represented in her portraits wearing them both on her ruff and in her hair, and a "jewel, in form of an A and two CC, sett with diamonds" and others of similar kind are to be found in the lists of jewels supplied to the Queen by George Heriot.
Except occasionally for buttons, the chief means employed for fastening the garments was by aigulets or aglets. These ornamental loops or eyelets, formed of cords terminating with goldsmith's work, were movable and were changed from one dress to another according to pleasure. They are seen in pictures hanging not only from slashes and various parts of the garments, but also from the cap; and Henry VIII is described as wearing a cap ornamented with gold enamelled tags. His daughter, the Princess Mary, was supplied in 1542 by her jeweller, Mabell, with two dozen pairs of aglets. Mary Stuart had a number, such as: "Soixante cinq esguillettes dor facon de cheuilles sans esmail," "Soixante une esguillettes dor et de perle esmaillez de rouge," and "Quatre vingtz dixhuict esguillette dor esmaillez de blanc et noir." Queen Elizabeth possessed several sets, of different colours and patterns—some gold enamelled white, some blue, others purple, and some enriched with pearls and precious stones. These jewelled aglets are now extremely rare, and are not represented in any public collection.
Design of a bracelet by Jacques Androuet Ducerceau.
CHAPTER XXIX
RENAISSANCE GIRDLES AND GIRDLE PENDANTS
(MIRRORS, BOOKS, WATCHES, SCENT-CASES, AND POMANDERS)
THE girdle is an important ornament in the dress of the Renaissance. From the beginning of the sixteenth century it differs considerably from the mediæval pattern already discussed. In place of the stiff hoop about the hips, it was worn loosely across the body from above the right hip down towards the left thigh, where the upper garment was passed over it in a light fold. At this point was the clasp, from which hung numerous small articles necessary to the active housewife. Another style of wearing it, which appears to have been adopted for more sumptuous dress, was one where it more firmly encircled the body, and from a clasp in front, hung down in a long end, terminating in a special ornamental appendage—a scent-case or pomander.
The common material was leather or stuff, such as was employed for men's girdles. The long and narrow thong of leather, termed courroye, was worn by all classes. Rows of such girdles are figured in the background of Jost Amman's well-known woodcut of the ceinturier in his workshop, of the year 1594.
The majority of Renaissance girdles, confined solely to female attire, were made entirely of silver or silver-gilt, and even of silvered or gilded bronze. They took the form of flat chains composed of links, generally with solid pieces in the shape of oblong plaques, of cast or chased work, introduced at regular intervals. The solid parts, particularly those that formed the clasps, were occasionally enriched with enamels, precious stones, or engraved gems. The majority of collections contain specimens of such girdles; but simpler kinds, composed entirely of ring-shaped links, which, judging from numerous Flemish, Dutch, and German portraits, must have been in very general use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are much less frequently met with. A good example of such, a chain in silver-gilt, of German work of the second half of the sixteenth century, is preserved in the Musée du Cinquantenaire at Brussels. It is formed of rounded grooved links. At one end is a rosette-shaped girdle plate set with a white crystal, and having a hook behind to catch into any link of the chain. The other end terminates in a pear-shaped pomander 3½ inches long, and divided for the reception of different cosmetics into two parts, united by a screw from below.
A considerable number of girdles of leather or strips of material are found mounted after the mediæval style with buttons or studs, and instead of clasps, have buckles at one end, and at the other the pendants or chapes common in earlier times.
It is not unusual to meet with girdles of Flemish or German work which, though dating from the latter part of the seventeenth century, are ornamented with Gothic patterns. The buckle and pendant (mordant), deeply pierced with open-work tracery of flamboyant design, are generally united by only a short thong, and are so overcharged with ornament that it is doubtful if they could have been of any practical use. Such objects appear in reality to be but specimens of their work submitted by girdlers who were desirous of obtaining admission to the Girdlers' Company. They serve to show how long-lived were Gothic traditions among the guilds. Examples in silver or bronze gilt are to be found in the Germanic Museum, Nuremberg, the Victoria and Albert Museum (No. 2304-'55), the Waddesdon Bequest (No. 226), dated 1680, the Wallace Collection (No. 783), dated 1709, and in many other public collections (Pl. XXXVIII, 3).
A number of articles, both useful and ornamental, were suspended from the girdle. For practical purposes the housewife carried at her side, besides a knife, such objects as small scissors in a case, a purse, and also her keys. Cases or étuis for knives were attached either by silken cords or by chains. When cords were employed the cover of the étui was furnished with loops on each side through which the cords slid. Open quiver-like sheaths for knives hung by chains were often worn, in order to display the rich decoration of the knife-heads.
PLATE XXXVIII
renaissance girdles
The Italianate costume, such as is found in the type of "Vanity" in emblem books of the age, and which made its way everywhere, favoured the addition of many other accessories to the girdles, such as fans, gloves, looking-glasses, books, watches, scent-cases, and pomanders. Mirrors, besides being worn from the neck, formed, as did miniature-cases, a frequent pendant from the girdle. These were either in a frame of ivory or goldsmith's work, or inserted in the fan. Stubbes, the censor of the follies of his day, speaks of the looking-glasses which ladies carried with them "wheresoever they go." Etienne (Stephanus) Delaune has left eight engraved designs for hand mirrors of great beauty. Their handles terminate with small rings for attachment by a chain to the girdle. In the Louvre is an interesting pendent mirror-case, or rather back of a mirror, formed of an oval plaque of glass encrusted with designs in enamel on gold (émail en résille sur verre),[169] bearing the inscription "Grace dedans, le lis-ha."
Small books, mainly devotional, were also worn at the girdle. It appears to have been a common practice for ladies to carry such books, and in Lyly's Euphues mention is made of "the English damoselles who have theyr bookes tyed to their gyrdles." Queen Elizabeth had several. Amongst the "juelles given to her Majestie at Newyere's-tyde," 1582, was "a litle boke of golde enamuled, garnished and furnished with smale diamondes and rubyes, with claspes, and all hanging at a chayne of golde." The inventory of the jewels of the Duchess of Somerset, widow of the Protector, in 1587, likewise contains "a booke of golde inamyled blacke." Two drawings for small pendent books intended to be executed in niello or black enamel appear amongst Holbein's designs for jewellery in the British Museum; and the Earl of Romney possesses a small manuscript Prayer Book in binding of enamelled gold of the same style.
The most magnificent book-cover in existence, provided with loops for hanging by a chain to the girdle, is one preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is of enamelled, repoussé gold, and has been ascribed to Cellini. Of less beauty, though of great interest as an example of English work, is the gold binding of a pendent Prayer Book in the British Museum. The subjects on the sides, raised and enamelled, are the Brazen Serpent, and the Judgment of Solomon, with English inscriptions around. It is said to be the work of George Heriot of Edinburgh;[170] and there is a tradition that it was worn by Queen Elizabeth. Whatever associations this object may have had with Elizabeth, there is better authority for such with regard to the small book of prayers, the property of Lord Fitzhardinge, and one of the Hunsdon heirlooms. This very interesting English jewel, measuring 2¼ by 2 inches, is of gold, inlaid with black enamel, with a rosette of white enamel at each corner. The centre of one cover is decorated with translucent red and green enamel, that of the other with a shell cameo. It contains the last prayer of King Edward VI in MS. written on vellum. The title runs: "The Prayer of Kynge Edward the VI which he made the vj of Julij, 1553, and the vij yere of his raigne, iij howres before his dethe, to him selfe, his eyes being closed, and thinkinge none had herd him, the xvj yere of his age." The book was worn by Queen Elizabeth at her girdle, and came into the Berkeley family through her cousin, Lord Hunsdon (Pl. XXXV, 7).
The Earl of Leicester, it is recorded, presented Queen Elizabeth on New Year's Day, 1581, with a long gold chain set with diamonds and "hanging thereat a rounde clocke fullie garnished with dyamonodes, and an appendante of diamondes hanging thearat." Though occasionally worn thus suspended from the neck-chain, watches appear to have been more frequently carried at the girdle—a position somewhat similar to that which they subsequently occupied upon the chatelaine.
The honour of the invention of portable timepieces is probably due to Peter Henlein, of Nuremberg, in the last quarter of the fifteenth century, but it was not till a century later that they came into anything like general use. The cases, which received the same beautiful enrichment in the way of enamel-work and precious stones as was bestowed on other personal ornaments of the time, were made à jour to emit the sound of the ticking and striking, and the lid was pierced with an aperture over each hour, through which the position of the hand might be seen.
The makers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries endeavoured to vary as much as possible both the figure of the machine and the material in which it was placed. Not only square, oval, octagonal, and cruciform watches occur, but some in such fanciful shapes as death's-heads, books, shells, acorns, tulips, pears, etc; while rock crystal (to render the works visible) and other stones were often converted into cases. Oval watches, known as "Nuremberg eggs", are usually reckoned among the earliest, but this title was not given to watches till some time after their invention, and as a matter of fact, according to Dr. Rée (Nürnberg, p. 172), all egg-watches that have been preserved belong to the seventeenth century. In Hollar's set of plates of the Four Seasons, dated 1641, the lady representing Summer has on her left side depending from her girdle an object of this shape, apparently a watch.
The most important pendent ornament to the girdle, from the present point of view, is the pomander, the early history of which has already been alluded to. Throughout the sixteenth, and until about the middle of the century following, the pomander formed an almost invariable adjunct to the girdle, and was occasionally, in the case of men, hung to the long and heavy chains worn at that period round the neck.[171]
Most of the pendants still termed pomanders were, as has been already noted, in reality cases for scents or different cosmetics; but from their fruit-like shape, though often innocent of the original pomander ball, they have retained the title, but solely, it would seem, in our own language[172] (Pl. XXXI, 7).
LATER AND MODERN JEWELLERY
[CHAPTER XXX]
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY (GENERAL)
THROUGH the whole jewellery of the late Renaissance there runs a gradual and profound change of taste. Slowly and by imperceptible stages the earlier style, with its minute enamelled figures in high relief, gives place to a desire for sparkling diamonds, and a pleasure in the glitter of faceted stones. In the sixteenth century, diamonds, rubies, and other stones played a comparatively insignificant part in jewellery, and were prized mainly for their decorative value, but during the course of the seventeenth century a more prominent rôle was gradually conceded to precious stones. Used singly at first, in table-cut form, to give a centre of interest or a note of colour, they came finally to be arranged in juxtaposition and long rows. A complete change was brought about in the whole character of jewellery by the prominence thus given to the precious stone—a position it has retained ever since.
From the commencement of the seventeenth century Germany began to lose the position which, during the greater part of the century previous, she had occupied as a jewel-producing centre; while the Thirty Years' War, by handicapping her industries, caused the jewellers to seek employment elsewhere. It was mainly from France that the new ideas in the form of ornaments emanated.
The French are fortunate in possessing separate words to distinguish different kinds of jewellery: bijouterie, a general term applied to all jewellery formed of gold, enamels, and precious stones; and joaillerie, used for jewellery composed of stones along with a minimum of metal-work. By the revolution of taste in the later days of the Renaissance the joaillier gradually superseded the bijoutier; while the two crafts of the silversmith and the jeweller replaced the ancient craft of the goldsmith.
Changes in the mode of wearing clothes, and in the materials employed for them, had an enormous influence on jewellery. In place of the velvet and brocade that prevailed during the Renaissance, damask came to be worn, together with an extravagant taste for lace and ribbons. The wearing of the silken stuffs that began to be issued from the factories of Lyons, and of the lace that formed their accompaniment, necessitated the use of ornaments more in keeping with these materials; with the result that the jewellery of the period assumed an open and lace-like character, suitable also for the display of precious stones.
At first coloured stones were used—the ruby, sapphire, and the emerald; but soon the diamond held sole possession of the field. In Renaissance ornaments this latter gem played only a secondary part, and was employed solely for the sake of contrast, but it now appeared as the chief object in view, and formed the ornament by itself, all other parts of the jewel, the setting, and possible addition of other stones, being wholly subordinate to it.
For the first general employment of the diamond in jewellery one must look back to the fifteenth century, to the invention of the art of cutting that stone, which is generally credited, in spite of Laborde's opinion to the contrary, to Louis de Berghem of Bruges in the year 1475. From that date until the beginning of the seventeenth century every diamond, as is seen both by jewels and their designs, was one of two forms: either the "point," a four-sided pyramid produced by polishing the faces of the native octahedral crystal of diamond and making them exactly true and regular; or the "table," in which the point of the crystal is reduced to a square or oblong plane, the opposite extremity being also in plane form, but of smaller extent, with sloping faceted edges. This simple cutting did so little to augment the brilliance of the diamond that the jewellers of the sixteenth century had to depend on the tinctura or foiling of the stone, in which art Cellini in his treatise, with his characteristic appreciation of his own merits, tells us that he particularly excelled.
The change of taste in the seventeenth century may be attributed to the opening up of the diamond fields of Golconda on the southern borders of the State of Hyderabad, at the beginning of that century, and to the enterprise of the French travellers, Tavernier, Chardin, and others, who, during their frequent voyages to Persia and India, dealt largely in precious stones. These travellers succeeded in establishing new commercial relations, which led to the introduction into Europe of abundance of precious stones and particularly diamonds; while the narratives of their journeys, furnishing more exact knowledge of the quality and value of the products of the East, attracted towards precious stones a new interest.
Owing to the abundance of material imported from the East, the market for precious stones assumed an entirely different aspect; while the quantity and beauty of the material thus at their disposal spurred on the stone-cutters towards the improvement of their technique, until at the end of the century they arrived at the true cutting of the diamond. Besides the "point," which was but rarely used, the table-cut diamond alone was employed until the commencement of the seventeenth century. About that time there came into use the "rose," a half-crystal, flat at the base and with a convex top covered with a number of small facets. Stones faceted in this manner were at first mostly small and unimportant and cut very irregularly into four or six facets.
Between the years 1641 and 1643, Cardinal Mazarin, a great lover of the diamond, is said to have encouraged the promotion of experiments by the Dutch lapidaries which led to the true "rose" cutting. Anyhow, a more systematic method of faceting in sixteen facets—the taille en seize—began to be employed about that time. This process, though it left much to be desired, was an immense improvement, and set forth the qualities of the stone in a way that had not been possible by the forms previously in use. "Roses," together with "tables," as the designs of Gilles Légaré and his contemporaries show, lasted until the invention of the "brilliant" at the commencement of the eighteenth century by the Venetian, Vincenzo Peruzzi, though rose cutting was popular for some time after, and is still used for certain stones.
The "rose" leaped into fashion at its first appearance, and the taste for diamonds and other precious stones seems to have dominated under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, when they became the principal objects in jewellery. Gold was worked into the form of garlands, flowers, and all sorts of designs for the purpose of mounting precious stones and setting off their beauty. The enormous increase of luxury in this direction was entirely in keeping with the whole conception of an absolute monarchy as developed by Louis XIV, who made it the duty of the grandees of France and Spain to wear their whole property, in the form of glittering gems, and to carry the value of lands and forests upon their own and their wives' apparel when they appeared before the eyes of their sovereign.
Though actual examples of the seventeenth-century jewellery are rare, at any rate in public collections, we can become acquainted with its characteristics by the numerous prints bequeathed by the goldsmiths and draughtsmen of the time. These prints, like those of the sixteenth century, were not invariably the work of their designers, since it was no uncommon practice for the master-goldsmith to have his designs multiplied for use in his own workshop, and for general circulation, by placing them in the hands of an engraver. As a rule the nationalities of existing jewels may be in some measure determined by means of the designs from which they were executed. But it is often difficult to make clear distinctions in this manner, owing to the continual artistic interchange which brought the fashions of one place to another, and caused the methods and ideas of the craftsmen to become common property. The bi-lingual inscriptions which one finds on the frontispieces of many of the pattern-books or sets of designs then published, prove that they were intended for international use.
The first attempts to base the composition of the ornament exclusively upon the effect of stones arranged in definite forms, without granting the setting of the plastic metal any independent part, are found in some of the prints of Daniel Mignot, of the year 1590. Mignot, probably of French extraction, was a goldsmith of Augsburg, where between the years 1590 and 1616 he produced a number of highly important designs for jewellery, which form a link between the old and the newer styles. While following the artists of the late sixteenth century in the representation of figure designs in cartouche-shaped ornaments formed of flat strapwork curves characteristic of the older school, he presents engravings of pendants, earrings, and aigrettes, in which the stones are set in juxtaposition.
PLATE XXXIX
engraved designs for jewellery by daniel mignot
That the transition to the newer forms was slow, is shown in the works of the goldsmith-engraver of Amsterdam, whose models for pendants, signed with the initials P. R. K., and dated 1609 and 1617, are formed of elaborate open scrollwork of tendril design, almost destitute of stones. Exhibiting features more in keeping with those of Mignot are the designs of Paul Birckenhultz of Frankfort-on-the-Main (1617). They are of fine quality, and take the form of aigrettes and earrings set with precious stones and elaborate oval pendants terminating with pearls and ornamented with scroll ornaments intended for execution in enamel (Pl. XL, 4). Birckenhultz is the last of the German school of designers to model his work on the productions of the sixteenth-century masters.
Henceforth one must look for designs chiefly to France, where an entirely new type of ornament for jewellery, such as is found in no other art production of the time, was brought into existence by endeavours to associate leaf patterns with a number of stones. Its characteristic is the use of a sort of pea-pod or husk ornament, termed Schotenornamentik in German, and known generally by the French name of genre cosse de pois (pea-pod style). In the designs of the time this formal ornament is largely employed for elaborate aigrettes; but owing to the jewels executed from such designs having been set with stones, the result has been that change of fashion has suffered scarcely a jewelled example to survive. As a consequence, the objects existing at the present day chiefly represent enamelled miniature-cases and pendants. The number and variety of engraved designs for this kind of ornament in the form of jewelled bouquets or palmettes, chiefly for aigrettes, dating from the first half of the seventeenth century is surprising, considering that it remained a comparatively short time in use. One of the chief advocates of this style is Pierre Marchant, who worked in Paris about 1623. His rare designs for aigrettes, and wreaths for the borders of pendants, are most graceful, and show a form of leaf ornament which is extremely happily adapted for materials in which the precious stone had to play a prominent part (p. 306). Another Frenchman who employed it is Pierre Labarre (1630), goldsmith to Louis XIV, who, together with a well-known jeweller, Julien Defontaine, had apartments in the Louvre. Amongst other French designers were Jacques Caillard (1627), Baltasar Lemersier (1626-1630), Claude Rivard (1592-1650), François Lefebure (1635-1661), and Gédéon Légaré (1615-1676), to whom as "orfévre-esmailleur," together with Pierre Bain, Louis XIV in 1671, on the suggestion of Colbert, granted quarters in the Louvre. Designs of the same nature were executed in Strasburg by P. Symony (1621) and Hans Mosbach (1626), and in Holland by Jacques Honervogt (1625). The foregrounds or bases of nearly all these engravings are remarkable for the landscapes and for the quaint and vigorous genre figures in the style of the painter-engraver, Jacques Callot, that enliven them.
Of all the goldsmiths of the time the best known is Gilles Légaré of Chaumont-en-Bassigny, who was jeweller to Louis XIV, and worked in Paris about 1663. His series of designs, entitled Livre des Ouvrages d'Orfévrerie, is perhaps the most interesting of the kind produced during the seventeenth century. These fine compositions, when formed of precious stones, show knots and interlacings for clasps, pendants, and earrings, in which diamonds are fully displayed in rose-cut forms. As models for objects not composed entirely of stones, we find seals, rings, bracelets and chains decorated with ribbons and bows mingled with monograms, and emblems, such as death's-heads. Together with these appear tasteful arrangements for enamel-work in the form of natural flowers of great charm and delicacy. To these last reference will be made later. Contemporary with Légaré was the painter and engraver Balthazar Moncornet, who worked at Rouen and Paris. His book of designs, of which he was probably the inventor as well as engraver, entitled Livre nouveau de toutes sortes d'ouvrages d'orfévries, was published about 1670[173]. The jewels, in the form of pendants, earrings, and brooches, are composed of stones set in various ways; the last plate is a miniature portrait of Louis XIV set as a brooch. All his designs are accompanied by garlands of natural flowers.
PLATE XL
designs for jewellery by gilles légaré and paul birckenhultz
Complete as was the change which was brought about owing to the prominence given to the precious stone, it must not be supposed that the enameller's art was by any means neglected. Though it cannot be compared with that in the best productions of the Renaissance, the enamel-work applied to seventeenth-century jewellery is, nevertheless, worthy of close attention.
Enamel executed by the champlevé method was much employed. The technical process known as champlevé was performed in two ways. By one method the surface of the gold was simply incised with designs, and the grooves thus made filled with enamel. By another method only thin lines of the metal were reserved to form the design, and the remainder of the field cut out to receive the enamel. This latter system resembles in appearance the well-known cloisonné; but the metal strips that form the partitions between the enamel, instead of being inserted, are a solid part of the metal base. Commonly employed on jewellery from the middle of the sixteenth century, it remained in general favour, together with the simpler form of champlevé, till about the third decade of the seventeenth century, when it gave place to enamel-work of an entirely different kind.
For jewellery intended to be carried out by this champlevé method, or on rare occasions to be covered with translucent enamels, we have at our service again a number of dated designs. These engravings, known as Schwarzornamente or niello ornaments, are in the nature of silhouettes. The patterns, reserved in white upon a black ground, are composed of curves of flat and broken strapwork. The designs are occasionally for complete jewels, but most of them take the form of very small motives intended as patterns for the shoulders of finger rings, or for the borders, frames, or other details of jewels. Some engraved plates are made up entirely of such motives; on other plates they appear as details, either within a complete design or upon the field outside it. Germany and the Netherlands furnish the earliest examples of these. Several dating from the latter part of the sixteenth century are by "monogrammists," who signed their engravings with their initials, and whose names are mostly unknown—such as the German master A. C. of the year 1598. Among recognised engravers in this style are the following:—Of the German school: Arnold Jörg (1586-1596), Corvinianus Saur (1590-1597), the rare Hans Hensel of Sagan (1599), Daniel Hailler (1604), Jonas Bentzen (1615), and Daniel Mignot (1590) and P. Symony (1621), both of whom placed these motives on the field of their plates. Of the Netherlandish school is the well-known Michel Le Blon, called Blondus, goldsmith at the Court of Queen Christina of Sweden, who was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1587 and died at Amsterdam in 1656. His designs in silhouette, the earliest of which, in the British Museum, is dated 1605,[174] were in great demand, and appear not only on knife-handles, but on oval and octagonal box-shaped pendants—presumably watch-cases. Also of the same school are: the rare master, Hans van Ghemert (1585), Hans de Bull (1590), the monogrammist P. R. K. (1609), and Guillaume de la Quewellerie of Amsterdam (1611-1635). In addition there is Giovanni Battista Costantini of Rome, who published his Ornementi per lavorare Giorje in 1622 and 1625.
PLATE XLI
patterns for jewellery and enamelled jewels from similar designs
The French goldsmith-engravers, who produced designs in the "silhouette" manner intended for jewels that were to be enamelled by the champlevé method, include Jehan Vovert (1602), an anonymous engraver A. D. (1608), Jacques Hurtu (1614-1619), Stephanus Carteron of Châtillon (1615), Pierre Nolin (1620), and Jean Toutin (1619) and his son Henri (1628).
The most important of these is the goldsmith and enameller Jean Toutin of Châteaudun, whose plates—six in number, dated 1618 and 1619—are filled with charming motives for watch-cases or lockets, to be carried out in enamel. They are ornamented with patterns reserved in white on black ground in the form of trailing leaves and tendrils, partly in the "pea-pod" style, and accompanied by lively genre figures in various attitudes. Perhaps the most attractive of these plates is that which represents a jeweller—probably Toutin himself—firing a jewel which he holds in the furnace by a pair of long tongs, while above is figured a model of the actual jewel—an octagonal box-like pendant (p. 289).
Toutin, who appears to have been an experimenter in enamels, is entitled to distinction as the discoverer of a new process of using them. The process consisted in covering a plate of gold or copper with an opaque monochromatic enamel, on which designs were painted with colours, opaque and fusible, and of greater variety than had previously been employed. This method of enamel painting, extensively used for jewellery, proved to be peculiarly suitable to the representation of natural flowers which came into high favour about the same time.
The employment of naturalistic flower designs, as displayed on the margins of manuscripts, was one of the features of late Gothic art. The same tendency with regard to flowers was manifested on the enamelled jewellery of the fifteenth century, the most striking example of which is the wonderful necklace seen on the Flemish portrait of Maria Baroncelli in the Uffizi Gallery. Renaissance ornaments on the whole did not favour naturalistic floral patterns, though flowers enamelled in full relief are occasionally found, as on the border of the Phœnix Jewel in the British Museum.
The general return in the early part of the seventeenth century to flower designs for the decoration of jewellery is associated with a curious phase in the social history of the time that accompanied the deep interest then taken in flowers and horticulture. Among flowers, of which the Dutch have ever been enthusiastically fond, and never tired of growing and of painting, the most prominent position was occupied by the tulip. From about the year 1634 the cultivation of the tulip became a perfect craze in Holland, and "Tulipomania" like a violent epidemic seized upon all classes of the community. Gambling of an almost unparalleled nature was carried on in the bulbs, and the flower became fashionable everywhere. In the bouquets which the enamellers arranged with great taste, and painted with extraordinary skill, the tulip is always prominent.
This and many other flowers, and occasionally fruits, were painted in the same manner as a picture, on an enamel ground of uniform colour—generally white, and sometimes pale blue, yellow, or black. Small plaques enamelled and painted thus are popularly known by the name of "Louis Treize" enamels, though the majority of them were produced after Louis XIII's death in 1643.
About 1640 it became the custom occasionally to model the design in relief with a paste of white enamel, which was afterwards painted with vitreous colours according to nature. Towards the middle of the century the background of the flowers was pierced and cut away, so that every single flower, exquisitely modelled and coloured, stood out by itself. In addition to tulips of every variety, and hyacinths, sunflowers, and roses, all kinds of lilies were in favour, especially the tiger-lily, the "crown imperial," and different species of fritillaries, whose beautifully spotted or chequered blossoms were rendered in their natural colours with striking fidelity. Flowers executed in this realistic style for jewellery were arranged chiefly in garlands and festoons, in the manner of the wreaths painted by Jan Brueghel round several of Rubens' pictures, the flower pieces of such Dutch and Flemish painters as Jan de Heem, Van den Hecke, Daniel Seghers, and Van Thielen, and the wood carvings of Grinling Gibbons (himself Dutch by birth), which display the same remarkable realism.
Among the goldsmiths and draughtsmen of the time who have left designs for jewels in painted enamel are the Germans Heinrich Raab and Johann Paulus Hauer, both goldsmiths of Nuremberg. Their engravings, with natural flower ornamentation very finely designed and executed, were published about 1650. They comprise crosses, étuis, scissor, watch, and scent cases, and pendants—star- and bow-shaped, and set each with a pendent pearl. Work in the same direction by the artists of the French school is of great importance. Gédéon Légaré, though he practised the pea-pod style, is the first to show a decided preference for natural flowers in his engravings, which date from about 1640. He is followed by three famous masters of flower ornament—Balthazar Moncornet, Gilles Légaré, and Jean Vauquer. Vauquer worked at Blois between 1670 and 1700, and like many other engravers of jewellers' designs, was a jeweller and enamel painter by profession. He was a pupil of Morlière of Orleans, who also worked at Blois. His fine plates of flowers and ornamental foliage, engraved after his own designs and entitled Livre de fleurs propres pour orfévres et graveurs, were published in 1680.[175] Vauquer was an enamel painter of pre-eminent ability, and one of the greatest exponents of the day of the art of representing natural flowers.
Of the designs of Moncornet (c. 1670) and Gilles Légaré (c. 1663) for jewelled ornaments we have already spoken. Moncornet, a great lover of flowers, accompanied his jewels by charming garlands. With him and Vauquer and Légaré must be associated the renowned enamel painter Jean Petitot (1607-1691), who was first an enameller of jewellery. So highly skilled was he as a painter of flower designs and foliage on rings and other ornaments, that on going over to England in 1635 he entered at once into the service of Charles I, where he brought to perfection his famous enamelled portraits.
Several actual examples have survived of the enamel-work of Gilles Légaré, whose designs—the best-known of this time—reveal a charming feeling for natural flower ornaments. His chef d'œuvre is generally considered to be the garland of flowers painted in enamel in open-work relief that surrounds a miniature by Petitot of the Countess d'Olonne in the collection of Major Holford at Dorchester House. This splendid piece, on which the tints of the flowers are rendered with striking fidelity, was formerly in the collection of a great French connoisseur of the eighteenth century, P. J. Mariette. At his death it passed into the possession of Horace Walpole, who counted it as one of his special treasures. It joined the Dorchester House collection after the Strawberry Hill sale in 1842. If this magnificent enamel-work be by the hand of Légaré, and we may take Mariette's word for it that it is,[176] this clever craftsman must have worked for Petitot; for another very fine example of the same kind of work, a wreath of enamelled flowers finely modelled and painted, surrounds a miniature by Petitot in the possession of the Earl of Dartrey.
To sum up the characteristic styles of seventeenth-century ornament which we have endeavoured to describe, the first feature is the general preference for precious stones, and especially diamonds, and the use of the "pea-pod" ornament for displaying them. From this style, practised by Marchant and many others, we pass, secondly, to the "Schwarzornamente" or "silhouette" designs of Le Blon and Toutin employed for champlevé enamel. Thirdly comes the development of naturalistic flower designs, and the application of these to the painted "Louis Treize" enamel evolved by Toutin, and perfected by Petitot, Vauquer, and Légaré.
Jean Toutin in his workshop, firing an enamelled jewel.
CHAPTER XXXI
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY JEWELLERY (continued)
ENGLAND, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
THE jewels of the seventeenth century, as has been observed, are comparatively rare in public collections. Unlike those of the Cinquecento, which find a more appropriate place in the museum or collector's cabinet, they are admirably adapted for personal use at the present day; but until the change of taste of the last few years in favour of old work, these attractive objects, owing to their being set with precious stones of intrinsic value, suffered cruelly at the hands of modern jewellers in the destructive process of resetting. Partly for this reason it is less easy than it was with the jewellery of the century previous to notify extant examples of all species of ornaments. Their main features, already described, lie in a preference for precious stones, and for a style of ornament which, at first formal, evolves into naturalistic flower designs in painted enamel.
Widespread luxury accompanied the large importation of precious stones. Ladies made each new fête a pretext for greater extravagance and greater efforts to outshine their neighbours; and the ornament in which they seem above all to have delighted for the best display of their wealth of jewellery was the aigrette. This ornament, of which some mention has been made (p. 281), generally took the form of a bouquet of flowers on movable stalks, composed of clusters of precious stones in enamelled gold, accompanied sometimes by a jewelled knot, and was fixed in the hair on all occasions of ceremony. A large number of these bouquets are mentioned in the inventory of the French crown jewels of 1618. In default of actual examples we must rely on the designs which the jewellers of the day published for them, and also on contemporary portraits, which further illustrate a passing mode for plaiting strings of pearls through the hair.
PLATE XLII
seventeenth-century enamelled pendants
Of earrings, on the other hand, a considerable number of examples have survived. French and English portraits show at first only a large pear-shaped pearl in each ear. In the second half of the century more elaborate earrings came into use. Spain, where these ornaments have always been popular, produced at the time a number of portraits exhibiting earrings of open-work set with coloured stones. They are in the form of a rosette or bow-shaped ornament hung with movable pendants. The engravings of Rivard (1646), Lefebure (1647), and Gilles Légaré (1663) include designs for earrings; those of the last-named being such voluminous jewels, hung with triple briolettes, pendeloques, or pearls, that they might easily be mistaken for neck pendants. The majority of earrings of this period, now existing, are of Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian origin. The general type of earring then in use is well shown in Rembrandt's portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels (about 1652), in the Louvre, where it takes the form of an elaborate pendant terminating with a big pearl drop.
Necklaces of light open-work design are set with diamonds or coloured stones. These seldom have a special pendant; they were, in fact, fast disappearing to make room for rows of pearls. Jewelled pendants, often consisting of two or more mobile parts, were frequently attached to a velvet band that closely encircled the throat. More important pendants of this period are those which take the forms of mounted engraved gems or enamelled portraits, or else of miniature cases or lockets beautifully enamelled.
The finest series of mounted gems is that in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. Some of the mounts are executed in the "pea pod" style in open-work; others are ornamented with champlevé enamel, after the niello designs in the silhouette manner; others again are of natural flower designs in painted enamel. There is a noteworthy example at Paris of the pea-pod style—a cameo (No. 791) of Louis XIII as an infant. It is in an open-work frame of opaque enamel—black, dark green, and white—of about 1605, which bears a very close resemblance to one of the published designs of Pierre Marchant. In the Gem Room of the British Museum is a still finer example, and one of the most splendid jewels from the famous Marlborough Collection. It is of open-work, enamelled white and green: the husks or pods, set each with a small diamond, are in green, and the little pea ornaments issuing therefrom are in white enamel (Pl. XLIV, 17). The work dates from the first years of the seventeenth century. The gem it serves to enrich, a fine onyx cameo of Lucius Verus, is slightly earlier. The choicest example of painted enamel of flower design in open relief is certainly the mounting or frame of a magnificent pendant (No. 961) in the Bibliothèque Nationale, set with a cameo of Lucrezia de' Medici, wife of Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. This frame, quite unmatched for its taste and skill, is formed of a garland of flowers, open-worked, and enamelled in the utmost delicacy with white, pale yellow, and light green enamel, heightened with reddish touches (Pl. XLIII, 6). Among other jewels of the same style, of which there are quite a number, one may mention the setting of an antique Roman cameo (Pl. XLIV, 15), and the reverse of the onyx "George" of Charles II (Pl. XXVIII, 1) both English work, at Windsor Castle[177]. Besides the two beautiful examples of his work already noticed (p. 288), it is usual to associate with Gilles Légaré the frame of birds and flowers, enamelled black and white, that surrounds Petitot's portrait of Louis XIV in the Jones Collection at South Kensington. The designs of Vauquer, also, seem to have been followed in many similar kinds of enamelled jewels.
PLATE XLIII
seventeenth century enamelled miniature cases,
lockets, etc.
The pendent miniature-cases or lockets of the seventeenth century are of great interest. The best example of those enriched with champlevé enamel is the Lyte Jewel (p. 303). The "pea-pod" style is well shown on the back of a miniature-case containing a female portrait by Peter Oliver (1601-1647) in the Dyce Collection at South Kensington (Pl. XLIII, 2). It is enamelled en plein with translucent green on a ground of matted gold, with the pea-pod pattern in white, after an engraved design by the French ornamentist Pierre Firens (1605-1625). This same style of ornament is seen on a miniature-case émaillé en résille sur verre[178] belonging to Mr. Pierpont Morgan. Enamel-work after the silhouette engravings of the same period is represented by one of its principal exponents, Jean Toutin of Châteaudun (1618), on the front and back of a miniature-case (Plate XLIII, 1) in the possession of Mr. Pierpont Morgan, ornamented with designs en genre cosse de pois reserved in gold on a ground of black enamel. Small plaques of "Louis Treize" enamel painted in natural colours on a monochrome ground were frequently employed for miniature-cases. A considerable number of these, of both French and German (Augsburg) work, exist. English work is rarer: an example, upon the cover of a miniature of Oliver Cromwell, painted with roses and leaves in natural colours on a white ground, is preserved in the University Galleries, Oxford. Enamelled flower designs modelled in relief, sometimes on open-work ground, in the manner of Vauquer and Légaré, are also found on lockets. An exquisite little example, inscribed "O.C. 1653," belongs to Mr. Max Rosenheim. It contains an enamelled miniature of Oliver Cromwell.
Like the aigrette, an important jewel worn at this time was a breast ornament, termed a Sévigné, after the celebrated lady of that name. This ornament took the form of a bow or rosette of open-work, of foliated design, generally of silver, set with small diamond splinters. As the century advanced the work set with small stones and diamond sparks in substantial mounts was replaced by open-work jewels, known as "lazos" jewels, set with large flat stones, and ornaments formed of several pieces—an upper part of tied bow or knot shape and hung with pendants—all set with rose-cut stones. Much of this work, intended for the display of diamonds and various coloured stones in imitation of flowers, hails from Spain. It is admirably shown in Spanish portraits—those, for example, by Velasquez, Coello, etc; in the large series of Habsburg portraits preserved in the castle of Schönbrunn, in Austria; and in portraits of the Medici family by the painter Sustermans (1597-1681) in the Uffizi and Pitti galleries. It is here worthy of note that still in the seventeenth century we find elaborate ornamentation applied to the back of jewels—a notable feature in almost all jewellery of the finest craftsmanship. A plain surface on this part of the jewel was generally avoided by a charming use of the graver, or by means of small panels of painted enamel.
Bracelets set with precious stones are generally of open-work of the same style as the necklaces. Of those executed in enamel there is a good French example at South Kensington (Plate XXXVII, 2). It is formed of six medallions, each containing a crowned cypher alternating with true-lover's knots. It may usefully be compared with Gilles Légaré's designs for bracelets and chains on Plate 8 of his Livre des Ouvrages d'Orfévrerie.
PLATE XLIV
rings, slides and pendants
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries
The finger rings of the early seventeenth century, as far as one can judge from pictures, did not differ essentially from the late sixteenth-century types; in fact many of the ornamental rings usually ascribed to the sixteenth century really date from the first half of the seventeenth. The majority of small niello designs engraved at this period were patterns for the shoulders of rings, intended to be executed in enamel by the champlevé process (Pl. XLI). Henri, son of Jean Toutin, furnishes a couple of engravings for rings, of the year 1628, of which the whole outer surface of the hoop is covered with designs reserved in white on a black ground. De la Quewellerie of Amsterdam, 1635, has also left the designs for a finger ring in the same style. The love for "bouquets d'orfévrerie"—flower designs in coloured stones—finds expression, towards the end of the century, in the giardinetti ring, the bezel of which is formed like a nosegay, a basket of flowers, or a bunch of flowers springing from a vase. These floral designs are of charming execution, and their coloured stones produce an extremely pleasing effect. Many of these rings are Italian, but there are several English examples at South Kensington (Pl. XXXVI, 9, 10).
Painted enamels in flower patterns are found not only on the shoulders of rings, but covering the entire outer surface. Occasionally flowers enamelled à jour occur, the hoop of the ring being hollow. Lord Falkland possesses a good example of one of these rings encircled with coloured flowers (Pl. XLIV, 8). The hollow space is filled with hair. Within the hoop is the posy Difficulty sweetens enjoyment. Mottoes or posies of this kind were occasionally engraved on mediæval rings and on those of the sixteenth century, but the majority of the large number of rings on which such mottoes occur belong to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Unlike the example just mentioned, these rings, with the motto engraved inside them, usually have plain hoops, and were used as engagement, and sometimes as wedding rings. The mottoes generally rhyme, but are not remarkable for poetic skill, and they are found constantly repeated. Numbers of the verses employed for the purpose are given in Jones's Finger-Ring Lore, and in an article published by Sir John Evans in Longman's Magazine (1892). A few examples will suffice: As God decreed so we agreed; God above increase our love; This take for my sake; The love is true I owe you; In thee my choice I do rejoice. Posy rings, like mourning rings, to be referred to later, are almost exclusively English. As regards the ordinary ornamental ring of the period, it is to be observed that the diamond, which came so much to the front at this time, found a prominent place on it. Towards the close of the century, though enamel-work is still visible, the purpose of the ring, as at the present day, seems to have been nothing more than for displaying the diamond on the finger, so far as one may judge from some of Légaré's designs (Pl. XL, 2).
The girdle in the seventeenth century was still an important ornament for ladies. The great portrait painters of the Low Countries present ladies wearing massive linked chains terminating in elaborate pomanders. Not infrequently the lady is shown, as in a picture by Gerard Douffet at Munich, holding the pomander in her hand. A fine pomander is seen in a portrait of a Flemish lady by Cornelis de Vos in the Wallace Collection, and one of extraordinary beauty is worn by a Dutch lady in a splendid picture by Frans Hals in the Cassel Gallery. Amongst the various seventeenth-century girdles to be found in public collections, without doubt the most remarkable are two examples, one in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the other in the Wallace Collection. They represent the species of enamel-work known as émail en résille sur verre, which was employed during the latter part of the sixteenth and the early seventeenth century for miniature and mirror cases—of which specimens in the Morgan Collection and the Louvre have already been noticed—and for the dials of watches. The girdle at South Kensington, of French work of the early seventeenth century, is formed of twenty-one oblong and slightly convex plates linked together by rosettes. These plates, of silver, are filled with glass paste, which is backed with coloured foils and inlaid with minute designs in translucent enamel on gold, representing hunting and other country scenes. The chain in the Wallace Collection, which might possibly have been worn as a neck-chain, is almost identical in subject and design, save that the oblong links number eighteen, while the rosettes uniting them are enamelled and set with garnets.
The jewel which best represents the various kinds of decoration in the way of engraving and enamel-work applied to seventeenth-century ornaments is the watch. From the early part of the century the round form, more or less flat, which has been preserved from that time to the present day, began to be generally adopted for watches. All the different species of work employed on miniature-cases are found on watch dial-plates and cases. The interesting cosse de pois ornament is represented in the British Museum on the dial-plate of a watch by D. Bouquet of London, of about 1630-1640. It is executed by the rare process just described—the pattern being inlaid on gold upon a ground of green glass or enamel. Another watch, by Vautier of Blois, has the centre of the dial enriched with translucent enamel in gold cloisons on opaque white. Among watches with richly decorated cases there is in the same collection another by Bouquet, beautifully enamelled with flowers in relief, of various colours and kinds, on a black ground encrusted with small diamonds. Besides the names already mentioned, the best-known enamellers of watch-cases from about 1680 to 1700 were the brothers Huault, or Huaud, of Geneva, who worked also at Berlin.
No more examples need be given of the different species of enamel applied to seventeenth-century jewellery. Enough has been said to demonstrate the importance and attractiveness of the comparatively little-known enamel-work of this time.
During the greater part of the seventeenth century the watch was simply hung by a chain to the girdle, as we see it on the two portraits (about 1645) of the wife of John Tradescant the younger in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The elaborate chatelaines which attached the watch to women's girdles, and the chains which hung from the fob-pocket of men, belong rather to the eighteenth century; but they were already in use, and from them were suspended that most attractive article of jewellery, the seal, which was then beginning to take the place of the signet ring. Evelyn, in his Mundus Muliebris, or Voyage to Marryland (1690), gives a rhyming catalogue of a lady's toilet, and alludes to the chatelaine:—
To which a bunch of onyxes,
And many a golden seal there dangles,
Mysterious cyphers, and new fangles.
The designs of Légaré contain several charming pendent seals having their shanks or handles finely worked with monograms and other patterns (Pl. XL). Seals, however, together with the chatelaine and the rest of its accompaniments, will be spoken of later.
There remain various pieces of jewellery, such as buckles, clasps, or brooches, which were sprinkled on different parts of the dress. Like the sévigné or breast ornament, they often take the form of a tied bow, and find a place on the arms and shoulders, and in rows down the front of the bodice and the skirt. In the latter part of the century jewelled buckles replaced the rosette of ribbons on the shoe. Thus again Evelyn speaks of:—
Diamond buckles too,
For garters, and as rich for shoo
A manteau girdle, ruby buckle,
And brilliant diamond rings for knuckle.
. . . . . . . . . .
A saphire bodkin for the hair,
Or sparkling facet diamonds there:
Then turquois, ruby, emrauld rings
For fingers, and such petty things;
As diamond pendants for the ears,
Must needs be had, or two pearl pears,
Pearl neck-lace, large and oriental,
And diamond, and of amber pale.
ENGLAND, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
In England in the time of James I, the love of personal ornament, among men as well as women, was even more widespread than before. King James, and also his Queen, who herself possessed a highly extravagant taste for jewellery, set a public example by their patronage of the jewellers; while the nobility outbid one another in lavish expenditure. John Chamberlain, an entertaining correspondent of the day, writes thus in 1608 to a friend unable to attend a masque: "Whatsoever the devise may be, and what success they may have in their dancing, yet you should be sure to have seen great riches in jewels, when one lady, and that under a baroness, is said to be furnished for better than a hundred thousand pounds; and the lady Arabella goes beyond her, and the Queen must not come behind."
Contemporary chroniclers have left no descriptions that show precisely how the King's own person reflected the fashions in jewellery of his day, yet we know that he possessed an almost childish admiration for "bravery," as it then was termed, particularly such as was intended for the decoration of those about his person. A very curious instance of the King's interest in these matters is to be found in the elaborate instructions he issued concerning the despatch of a large consignment of jewels for the use of the Prince of Wales, and his favourite, Buckingham, on their memorable journey to Spain in 1623. In the spring of that year orders were given to several officers of State, and with them the jeweller Heriot, to repair to the Tower and make a selection of the finest jewels there—some fit for a woman, and others for the Prince to wear. Among them a "jewel called the Three Brothers, five or six faire jewels to be worn in men's hats, same to be of £6,000 or £7,000 value, and none under; the five pendent diamonds that were the Queen's, whether they remain upon a string or be made up upon a feather. If none of the Targett fashion for hats, the jewels to be broke up to make them."[179]
To his son and favourite the King then addresses a letter, in which he tells them that he had been choosing "the jewells I am to send you, whereof my Babie is to present some to his Mistresse, and some of the best hee is to wear himselfe, and the next best hee will lend to my bastard brat [Buckingham] to wear." On their removal from the Tower the jewels are carefully inventoried, and Heriot is set to work to refashion them. After a fortnight's work he promises that they will be finished in a few days. So, on the 18th of March, "the jewels," we learn, "have been delivered." "Mr. Herriot is gone to assist in packing them, and has sat up day and night to get them completed."[180]
The King then writes that he is sending for his "Babie's owin wearing ... the Three Brethren,[181] that you knowe full well, but newlie sette, and the Mirroure of Frawnce, the fellowe of the Portugall Dyamont, quhiche I wolde wishe you to weare alone in your hatte with a litle blakke feather." To his "sweete Gosseppe" he sends "a fair table dyamonde." "I have hung," he says, "a faire peare pearle to it for wearing in thy hatte or quhair thow pleasis."[182]
As the result of extensive transactions both with the Crown and the nobility the jewellers of the day seem to have reaped a rich harvest; and they attained to positions of eminence by adding banking to their more ancient art of working in the precious metals. Of the royal jewellers, George Heriot of Edinburgh—rendered immortal by Sir Walter Scott as "Jingling Geordie"—the founder of Heriot's Hospital, comes first to mind. Heriot received in 1597 a life appointment as jeweller to Queen Anne of Denmark, and in 1601 James made him his own jeweller. He followed the King to London, and in 1603, together with William Herrick and John Spilman, was appointed jeweller to the King, Queen, and Prince, at a yearly salary of £50. Immense sums of money were paid him both as interest on loans and for the jewels supplied to their Majesties, of which long lists have been preserved. Sir John Spilman, a German by birth and one of the chief jewellers of Queen Elizabeth, executed great quantities of jewellery at the royal commands; but Sir William Herrick seems to have obtained an even larger share of the royal patronage. Queen Anne of Denmark, who spent an enormous amount on personal ornaments, received £36,000 worth from him alone. "Queen Anne," writes a contemporary shortly after her death, "hath left a world of brave jewels behind; and although one Piers, an outlandish man, hath run away with many, she hath left all to the Prince [Charles] and none to the Queen of Bohemia [her daughter Elizabeth]." In fact, so many of her jewels were embezzled that scarcely a vestige remained, though Herrick produced the models of them and swore to their delivery.[183] The poet Robert Herrick, Sir William Herrick's nephew, was a jeweller-apprentice to his uncle for several years, and his early training seems to have left a strong impression on him, for his poems throughout betray a love and appreciation for jewels. Among other jewellers whose names occur in the State Papers, the following may be mentioned: Philip Jacobson, Arnold Lulls, John Acton, and John Williams—a maker of gold neck-chains and pendent medals.
As far as the actual productions of the Jacobean jewellers are concerned we meet with comparatively few examples; this want, however, is supplied, to a certain extent, by means of a beautiful set of contemporary drawings for jewellery preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum—the work of Arnold Lulls, a jeweller whose name occurs several times in the royal accounts. In conjunction with Sir William Herrick, Lulls supplied the King in 1605, as New Year's gifts for the Royal Family, with jewels to the amount of £3,000. For a certain jewel of diamonds, with pearls pendent, and two dozen buttons supplied by him and Jacobson, and bestowed by His Majesty on the Queen at the Princess Mary's christening the same year, Lulls was paid £1,550.[184]
Lulls' designs, drawn in water-colours in a parchment book, number altogether forty-one. The majority, set with large table-cut stones and hung with huge pear-shaped drops, are for pendent ornaments, for wearing either on the neck-chain, or as earrings, or else upon the hat. Among the drawings are two designs for a "rope of round pearls, great and orient"—forty-seven in number—given to the Queen, and several designs for the above-mentioned diamond and pearl ornament given her in 1605; two drawings for Georges of the Order of the Garter given to Prince Henry; and designs for a large balas ruby with pearl pendant mentioned in an inventory of the Prince's jewels.[185] The remaining drawings include four of jewelled aigrettes set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires (Plate XXX, 1). These remarkable contemporary illustrations of English jewellery reveal the change then beginning to take place in the character of personal ornaments. Yet, though precious stones are much in evidence, in almost every case their settings are coloured, while the design of each jewel is completed with charming scrollwork enriched with polychrome enamels.
The finest Jacobean jewel in existence is the famous miniature-case known as the Lyte Jewel, now in the Waddesdon Bequest in the British Museum. Miniature-cases of gold elaborately enamelled, with hinged fronts often set with jewels, were as much in vogue as in Elizabeth's time; and records show that many precious "picture cases" of the kind were made for James I as presents to personal friends or to ambassadors. The cover of the Lyte Jewel is of open-work, filled with the letter R, with diamonds on the outside and brilliant enamel within. The back is a white enamelled plate with a design in fine gold lines and ruby enamel, the edge being enamelled alternately ruby colour and sapphire-blue. Within is a portrait of James I ascribed to Isaac Oliver. The first owner of the jewel was Mr. Thomas Lyte. This gentleman drew up a long pedigree of King James I's ancestry and presented it to the King, who was so much pleased with it that he rewarded Mr. Lyte with "his picture in gold, set with diamonds, with gracious thanks." The jewel passed from the Lyte family some generations ago into the hands of the Duke of Hamilton. At the dispersal of the Hamilton Palace collection it was bought for the sum of £2,835 by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, who bequeathed it with his other art treasures to the British Museum. A contemporary portrait of Thomas Lyte, dated 1611, in the possession of Sir Henry Maxwell Lyte shows him wearing it suspended from a brown ribbon round his neck. The jewel is the same, save that the drop at the bottom, now a single pearl, was originally trilobed. This exquisite jewel was probably the work of one of the court jewellers mentioned above. The design on the back, which corresponds in style with engravings of Daniel Mignot and the other earlier designers in the "silhouette" manner, exemplifies the influence exercised by the ornamentists on all the jewellery of the period (Pl. XLI).
Throughout the reign of Charles I ornaments in the same style as those portrayed in Lulls' drawings appear to have remained in use. All jewellery was largely influenced by the pattern-books issued from the goldsmith-engravers' shops of Germany, France and Flanders. Several jewellers themselves came over, as did the well-known Michel Le Blon, in the early part of the reign. In 1635 the famous goldsmith-enamellers Petitot and Bordier likewise visited England, and doubtless made their influence felt on the enamelled jewellery of the time. The period, on the whole, though it terminated disastrously for all the sumptuary arts, seems to have been a prolific one in the production of jewellery. The chief business was shared by the court jewellers—James Heriot (half-brother of George Heriot), Philip Jacobson, Thomas Simpson, John Acton, and William Terrey. Though he showered commissions on these jewellers, the King had commenced early in his reign the dispersal of the immense hoards of jewellery brought together by his predecessors; and by selling and pawning raised large sums of money, to make good the deficiencies caused by the rupture with Parliament. Subsequently, during the Civil War, to relieve his personal necessities, numbers of jewels were sold at home, and many more pawned and sent over to the dealers at Amsterdam, who broke them up for the intrinsic value of their gold and precious stones; while the remainder were put under the hammer by a commission appointed after the King's death to dispose of the works of art in the royal collection.
PLATE XLV
page from the ledger of sir francis child, jeweller to william iii
The fact that all classes during the struggle parted with their valuables to assist their respective champions has rendered jewellery extremely rare. Women, and even little children, voluntarily sent their necklaces and brooches "for the King"; while Cromwell was assisted in the same manner.
Great luxury in jewellery appears to have been associated with the Court of Charles II. The King himself bestowed magnificent presents on his mistresses. Amongst his jewellers was "that prince of goldsmiths," Sir Robert Vyner, who made the crown jewels. Later on King Charles had as court jeweller the celebrated French traveller and gem merchant Sir John Chardin, who settled in London with an immense collection of precious stones acquired in the East. Another eminent jeweller of the time was the banker Alderman Edward Backwell, whose old books, still preserved, are full of interesting accounts for jewels supplied during the Commonwealth and the reign of Charles II. The religious troubles which had led Chardin to quit France induced a number of other French jewellers, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, to establish themselves in England. These foreign jewellers, like the army of craftsmen in every field that at all times swarmed into England, soon accustomed themselves to their environment and became as English as the English themselves. English work has ever had its own distinctive mark, for whatever the native craftsmen themselves borrowed they speedily made their own.
The chief jeweller of the latter part of the century was Sir Francis Child—one of the founders of the great banking house that still bears his name. He was appointed court jeweller to William III in 1689, and supplied the King with a great quantity of jewellery. Much of this was intended as presents to ambassadors; for jewellery, it appears, played a very prominent part in the diplomatic affairs of the day. Even the most trifling negotiation cost the Exchequer an enormous amount in presents of this kind, while foreign envoys were likewise obliged to disburse large sums for the same purpose. Lists of these gifts and of other jewels are preserved in the ledgers of this ancient firm of goldsmith-bankers, and have been published by Mr. F. G. Hilton Price in The Marygold by Temple Bar. A set of drawings for jewels of about the year 1674 from Sir Francis Child's ledger, with particulars concerning them in the great goldsmith's own handwriting, is here reproduced (Pl. XLV).
Design for a pendent miniature-frame by Pierre Marchant.
CHAPTER XXXII
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY
THE jewellery that came into fashion towards the close of the seventeenth century and flourished during the greater part of the eighteenth follows the style known as "rococo." Rococo ornament with its assemblage of rich fantastic scrolls and crimped conventional shellwork wrought into irregular and indescribable forms, though overcharged and inorganic, yet possesses certain beauty and artistic quality. Like most objects in this style, rococo jewellery has a real decorative charm. But the title of baroque or rococo is really less adapted to jewellery than to other art productions of the time, for jewellery itself never indulged in the same extravagant use of this form of ornament.
Except for slight changes in design, eighteenth-century jewellery, as far as its general form is concerned, does not at first display any marked variation from that of the previous century. A charming but somewhat superficial sentimentality expressed by means of pastoral subjects results in ornaments on which tokens of friendship are represented in all manner of forms. The naturalistic tendency in ornament is still strong, but is less striking than it was before, since feather, ribbon, and other conventional designs make their appearance, mingled with flowers and leaves. These rococo jewels, on account of the setting and arrangement of the precious stones which entirely govern their composition, are in their way masterpieces both technically and artistically. Unlike the earlier jewels, one cannot help regarding them rather more as accessories to costume than as independent works of art.
The general character of the jewellery of the period with which we are now dealing may best be judged by a notable series of original designs in colour for such objects executed by the Santini family of Florence, and now preserved in the Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum. This remarkable collection comprises upwards of 382 separate designs, which are mostly constructed in a manner best calculated to show off the brilliant character and size of the stones and pearls, on which their effect mainly depends. A large proportion of the drawings take the form of what at this period constituted a parure, or set of jewels, composed of three items of similar design—a bow-shaped breast ornament hung with a cross, and a pair of earrings en suite. In place of the breast ornament is sometimes a V-shaped corsage in imitation of hooks and eyes or braidwork, set with various precious stones. The whole work shows that in the eighteenth century the stone cutter and stone setter had practically supplanted the artist in precious metals. In the metal-work of the settings—in most cases a matter of minor consideration—gold is employed for coloured stones and silver for diamonds.
The general tendency is towards the rococo, but this type of ornament is here by no means strongly marked. In other directions, however, it is more apparent, and already in the seventeenth century we meet with traces of it in engraved designs for jewellery. The best work of this kind is that of Friedrich Jacob Morisson, a draughtsman and jeweller who worked at Vienna from about 1693 to 1697. He was one of the most popular jewellers of the day, and his plates, which are rich in motives for ornaments in precious stones and fine metal-work, found a wide circulation. They comprise aigrettes, earrings, brooches, pendants, bracelets, rings, étuis, and seals. Other Germans who have left designs in the same style are F. H. Bemmel (1700) of Nuremberg, D. Baumann (1695), Johann Heel (1637-1709), and J. F. Leopold (1700)—all of Augsburg.
French designers led European taste in jewellery as in furniture, and published a number of important designs. The most remarkable are those of the master-goldsmith Jean Bourguet of Paris, whose models for earrings, pendants, and clasps, dated 1712 and 1723, are set with large faceted stones, and have their backs chased or enamelled with flower designs. His Livre de Taille d'Épargne with designs for enamel-work published as models for jewellers' apprentices, contains amongst other patterns a series of twelve rings set with large faceted stones; beside each ring is a design for the enamel decoration of its shoulder: "Petits morceaux" he calls them, "de taille d'épargne facile à coppier." Contemporary with Bourguet was Pierre Bourdon, of Coulommiers en Brie, who worked at Paris. His designs, dated 1703, are for seals, scent cases, and watch covers of rococo work, and pendent medallions and miniature frames set with precious stones. Among other Parisian designers are the master-goldsmiths Briceau (1709), and Mondon (c. 1730-1760) whose Livre de Pierreries, Pour la Parure des Dames contains patterns for earrings, brooches, and aigrettes set with brilliants, and for enamelled and jewelled watches. Of Italian designs for jewellery set with precious stones in the rococo style we may note those of G. B. Grondoni of Genoa, who worked at Brussels about 1715, Carlo Ciampoli (1710), and D. M. Albini, whose Disegni moderni di gioiglieri were published in 1744.
The publication in London of several series of designs proves that England was not far behind the Continent in the production of high-class personal ornaments. Among the most important pattern-books for jewellery, are those of Simon Gribelin, who was born in Paris in 1662, and worked chiefly in London, where he died in 1733. His work includes A book of seuerall Ornaments inuented and ingraued by S. Gribelin, 1682, and A Book of Ornaments usefull to Jewellers, etc., 1697. These were republished in 1704. Gribelin's productions were followed by those of J. B. Herbst, who issued in 1708 A book of severall ornaments fit for Juweler, made by J. B. Herbst, and in 1710 A Book of Severall Juwelers work, ... Sold by Mr. Eymaker, Juweler in Earls Court drury lane London. The patterns are chiefly for seals, and for breast ornaments and clasps set with rose-cut stones in rococo settings. About the same time similar pattern-books were published by J. Smith and Thomas Bowles. In 1736 appeared A book of jeweller's work design'd by Thomas Flach in London, engraved by J. Fessey. It contains designs for buckles, seals, watch-keys, a chatelaine with a watch and another with an étui, pendants and bow-shaped breast ornaments hung with drop pearls. In 1762 J. Guien published in London a Livre de jouailleries—A book of Ornaments for Jewellers, containing various designs in precious stones in the manner of Morisson and Grondoni.
An isolated phenomenon in the midst of the universal love for precious stones that then dominated the productions of the jewellers, there stands out Johann Melchior Dinglinger, who carried the traditions of the sixteenth century far into the eighteenth. Born at Biberach, near Ulm, in 1665, Dinglinger worked first at Augsburg, and, having visited Italy, was summoned to Dresden in 1702 by Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, where he lived until his death in 1731. During these thirty years, aided by his brother Georg Friedrich (d. 1720) and his son Johann Melchior (1702-1762), he was employed as court jeweller to the Elector, whom he assisted in planning and arranging the Grüne Gewölbe at Dresden, which marvellous assemblage of precious objects contains the best examples of his work. All the processes of the Cinquecento craftsmen, of whose technique he possessed a fine knowledge, were employed by Dinglinger with wonderful care and exactitude—though his productions naturally betray in design the period of their execution. He exercised considerable influence on his contemporaries, more especially with regard to the revival of the art of enamelling in the second half of the century, when jewellery made a notable advance in the time of Louis XVI.
A change in style was first experienced on the arrival in power of Madame de Pompadour, who led the way in that coquettish return to simple conditions of life which showed itself in the pastorals of the Louis Quinze epoch. It resulted in a preference for simple gold; this metal, coloured by alloys such as platinum and silver, and popular under the name of à quatre couleurs, being at most only set off by enamel painting. This later rococo period, as far as its technique is concerned, is one which has never been equalled either before or since.
An event of importance in the history of jewellery, as of art generally, was the discovery in 1755 of the city of Pompeii, succeeding that in 1713 of Herculaneum, buried for centuries beneath the ashes of Vesuvius. The journeys of artists to Italy and to Naples, and the interest aroused thereby in ancient art, a weariness with the mannerism of rococo ornament, and the whim of fashion, gradually transformed jewellery like other decorative arts, and resulted in the classicism of the style of Louis XVI. Antique forms as they then were known showed themselves in a very charming manner in well-balanced jewels, where different coloured gold took the form of classical motives in the midst of ribbons, garlands, and the pastoral subjects dear to the previous epoch. Enamel returned into fashion, and accomplished its chief triumph with painting en plein in fine transparent tones over guilloché gold. In conjunction with the art of gem setting and cutting, and metal chasing, this species of enamel produced effects which were all the more surprising, seeing that it was often confined to the smallest of spaces.
Among the first craftsmen who created, or followed the fashion, was the jeweller Lempereur. Some of his designs were published by his pupil Pouget the younger in 1762 and 1764, in a treatise entitled Traité des pierres précieuses et de la manière de les employer en Parure, the plates of which, mostly coloured, and representing models of jewellery of all kinds set with precious stones, were engraved by Mlle. Raimbau. Another pupil of Lempereur, August Duflos, published in 1760 a similar work entitled Recueil de Dessins de Joaillerie. Other French designers of jewellery at this time were: Maria, a jeweller of Paris, who issued about 1765 an important series of plates, thirty-five in number, of pendants, brooches, clasps, chatelaines, aigrettes, seals, rings, and buckles; P. Moreau (1740-1780) and J. B. Fay (1780-1790), both of Paris; and L. Van den Cruycen (1770) of Brussels.
In 1770 was published in London by T. D. Saint A new book of designs for jewellers' work containing eleven plates of ornaments of various kinds in the style of Pouget and Duflos. One of the last English jewellers of the old school was George Michael Moser (1707-1783), one of the founders of the Academy—like Fuseli, a Swiss by birth, and a native of Schaffhausen. He was originally a gold chaser—"the first in the kingdom," so Sir Joshua Reynolds described him; but when that mode of decorating jewellery was put aside in favour of enamels, he turned his attention to enamel compositions of emblematical figures, much in vogue for the costly watch-cases of the day, for chatelaines, necklaces, bracelets, and other personal ornaments. He succeeded so well in this class of work that the Queen patronised him, and he executed a considerable number of commissions for the King.
Another eminent jeweller, who was likewise a painter and enameller, was Augustus Toussaint. He worked principally with his father, a noted jeweller of Denmark Street, Soho, and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1775 to 1778, sending in both miniatures and enamels. He died between 1790 and 1800. Several of the fine open-work jewelled frames which held the choice miniatures of the day, were made in the workshop of Toussaint the elder, and on his death his son Augustus is said not only to have retained for his own use all the examples of these frames which were in stock, but to have continued to supply a few fellow-artists, with whom he was on terms of intimacy, with the celebrated Toussaint frames.[186]
The excess of ornamentation and the desire for jewellery formed of precious stones had, since the seventeenth century, favoured the use of imitations. Rock crystal or quartz had long been employed to imitate diamonds. Forgeries and imitations which were intended to pass as precious stones will be spoken of in another place. But at this time even people of great wealth wore imitation jewels, such as certainly would not be worn by persons in a corresponding position nowadays. These made no profession of being real stones. They were recognised as imitations. The credit of the production of the first satisfactory substitute for the diamond is due to a German—Stras or Strass by name—who about 1758 established himself at Paris on the Quai des Orfévres, where he met with great success as a vendor of paste imitations of diamonds, which still bear his name. Competitors were not slow in making their appearance, and one Chéron also gave his name for a considerable time to the false diamonds that issued from his workshop. So large and flourishing did the industry in imitations become that in 1767 a corporation of joailliers-faussetiers was established in Paris.
Imitation pearls were likewise very largely worn; even ladies of high position did not disdain to wear them—"Un collier de perles fausses" occurs in the inventory of the jewels of Madame de Chamillart made on her death in 1731. False pearls first appeared in Paris about the time of Henry IV, the production of one named Jaquin, whose descendants carried on a large business in them in Paris till the middle of the eighteenth century. "So well have pearls been imitated," writes Pouget the younger, in 1762, "that most of those of fine Orient have found their way back from Europe to Asia, and are so rare in France that nowadays one scarcely sees any good specimens."
Productions such as these were rendered necessary to satisfy the luxury which from the nobility had extended over the whole middle classes, and also on account of the strained condition of French finance. Étienne de Silhouette, Controller of Finance, endeavoured to cut down expenses, and issued in 1759 an invitation to the wealthy to bring in their jewels to be converted into cash for the benefit of the Treasury. Such attempts at economy, though rewarded only by ridicule, so that portraits henceforth executed in the commonest manner were à la Silhouette, yet met with this result, as Pouget observes, that since the time of M. de Silhouette marcasite had become very much the fashion in France. In Switzerland, too, since it was forbidden to wear diamonds, ladies, he tells us, wore no other ornaments than marcasite, and spent a good deal of care and money in the setting of it. The mineral known as marcasite, a word which was spelled in many ways, is a crystallised form of iron pyrites cut in facets like rose diamonds, and highly polished. It was used for a number of ornaments. Steel, likewise cut in facets, was similarly employed.
Steel jewellery appears to have been invented in England, and from Birmingham, the centre of its manufacture, found its way all over Europe, reaching France by way of Holland. It was carried out largely by Boulton and Watt and other firms of Birmingham, Sheffield, and Wolverhampton. This steel jewellery, which was in high favour in the latter half of the eighteenth, continued to be worn until the second quarter of the nineteenth century, when it finally went out of fashion. Even after that, cut steel was still made at Birmingham, and the firm of Hipkins, one of the most prominent, continued for many years to supply the Court of Spain with buttons and buckles ornamented with it (Pl. LI, 1, 2). Steel was largely employed as mounts for the fictile cameos of Wedgwood, Tassie, Adams, and Turner, which were in considerable demand for rings, brooches and buttons. Mountings for these were also made in silver or Sheffield plate, principally the work of Thomas Law & Co., of Sheffield. In the latter part of the century England occupied a unique position with regard to the production of objects of this kind, which were eagerly sought for throughout the whole of the Continent.
Another characteristic of the changed condition of the times was the use in jewellery, together with strass, false pearls, and marcasite, of various substitutes for gold. The best-known of these substitutes was "pinchbeck," so called after its inventor, Christopher Pinchbeck (d. 1732), a clock and watch maker, of Fleet Street. This pinchbeck gold was an alloy of copper and zinc. When fused together the metals assumed the colour of fine gold, and preserved for a time a bright and unoxidised surface, though in some cases objects thus fashioned received a washing of gold. Pinchbeck was much used for cheaper jewellery of all kinds. The larger articles made of this metal were chatelaines, snuff-boxes, and étuis, while watch-cases, miniature-frames, buckles, clasps, and so forth, are to be found for the most part ornamented in relief and carefully chased. These several articles to which pinchbeck was suited, went in those days by the name of "toys". The term "Toyman" was employed by Pinchbeck himself, but the title had, of course, no reference to what are now known as toys. In France and Germany a metal composition like gold, in imitation of pinchbeck, called Similor or "goldshine," was produced, first by Renty, of Lille, about 1729, and subsequently improved by Leblanc, of Paris. But the name of the English inventor of the metal was well known in France, where it was retained in such forms as "pinsebeck" or "pinsbeck."
The head-ornament—the aigrette—was still an important jewel in the eighteenth century. Generally a kind of delicately formed bouquet of precious stone in very light setting, it continued long in fashion, together with strings of pearls among the hair. For a while the aigrette was set aside for bows, small birds, etc., made of precious stones mounted upon vibrating spiral wires which were then attached to the hair-pin. These went under the name of "wasps" or "butterflies." In the days of Marie Antoinette they were supplemented by hair-pins and aigrettes set entirely with diamonds, which about 1770 had almost entirely superseded coloured stones. Many designs for these head-ornaments were published by Pouget the younger and Duflos, the latter of whom complains in the preface to his work of the tendency shown in his day to do away with the admixture of coloured stones with diamonds; a proof that up to this date, in spite of the general preference for the diamond, taste had not yet learned to do without colour effect in jewellery.
PLATE XLVI
eighteenth century jewellery,
french and english
Earrings, as has been noticed in reference to the Santini designs, were in particular favour at this period. The majority were composed of large faceted stones or of pearls, formed girandole fashion—that is to say, of a large circular stone above, with three briolettes or pear-shaped pendants below. A pair of earrings of this form, said to have belonged to Madame du Barry, are in possession of Lady Monckton. They are set each with four sapphire pastes of very fine quality; the three drop-pendants being separated from the upper stone by open spray-work of silver set with white pastes (Pl. XLVI, 5, 6). Similarly elaborate pendent earrings in seven sections composed of brilliants are seen in an original mezzotint portrait of Queen Charlotte by Thomas Frye (c. 1760). Drop-shaped pendants, mostly diamonds, were then very highly esteemed. Marie Antoinette had a pair of diamond earrings with stones of this form hanging from a perpendicular line of large brilliants. The designs of Ciampoli, Mondon, Guien, Pouget, Van den Cruycen, and Fay, all contain varieties of earrings, mostly girandole fashion.
For necklaces the engravings of these same designers supply many patterns. Like the carcan of the fifteenth century, they are often in the form of a band about an inch in width, composed of precious stones—rubies, emeralds, pearls, and diamonds—in open-work, or attached to velvet. They are generally constructed so as to reach only half-way round the neck, the back part being a band of black velvet. Portraits of the time frequently exhibit ropes of pearls, and finally rows of large diamonds, like the renowned collier of Marie Antoinette composed by the Court jewellers Boehmer and Bossange. Numerous circumstances connected with it, too lengthy to relate here, gave to the affaire of the diamond necklace a world-wide celebrity, making it one of the chief events of the century. Though historically one of the world's most famous pieces of jewellery, the necklace itself, described in quaint but vivid language by Carlyle in his Miscellanies, calls for no special comment, being on the whole of comparatively small artistic importance. Its value—£90,000, a great sum for those days—lay in the size and quality of the brilliants and pendeloques of which it was composed.
A favourite point of adornment in female attire was still the breast, where, in the first part of the century, jewelled ornaments, or sévignés, in the form of bows and rosettes, hung with pendants and set with table-cut stones or rose diamonds, continued to be worn. Generally they assumed the girandole shape hung with pear-shaped pendants. About 1770 a large bunch of flowers, or a bouquet-shaped ornament formed of precious stones, was worn in the breast. For the latter the jeweller Lempereur enjoyed a great reputation. Upon the stiff bodice, which came into fashion at the end of the seventeenth century, scope was afforded for a goodly use of ornament, and soon we find the corsage literally covered with jewels, in a manner similar to that in which the ladies of the Renaissance almost completely covered the upper part of their dresses with pendent chain-ornaments. At the time, however, of which we now speak the ornaments are single pieces mounted upon the dress and arranged symmetrically in the form of a jewelled "stomacher" or devant de corsage. The Santini drawings contain many examples of this kind of open framework composed of precious stones; and several interesting designs for the same are figured on Plates 16, 17, and 18 of Maria's Livre de Dessins de Jouaillerie et de Bijouterie. At this period also, when luxury reached its climax, even the panier or tucked-up upper skirt had the whole of its exaggerated dimensions sprinkled with pieces of jewellery, so that of this time again it may be said that the ladies of the Court displayed the whole of their wealth, and often enough of their credit too, upon a single dress.
Fashion endeavoured to fill a corresponding part in gentlemen's attire by adorning coat and waistcoat with buttons of artistic workmanship. To match the beautiful embroidered garments of the time, buttons were sewn with bugles, steel beads, or spangles; and many have survived which may be reckoned as real articles of jewellery. Every material and mode of decoration was applied to them. Occasionally we find buttons set with diamonds and other precious stones, but more often paste, or with odd natural stones such as agates, carnelians, marcasite, blood-stones, lapis-lazuli, or buttons of tortoise-shell, or of compositions such as Wedgwood ware, in frames of cut steel. Translucent blue glass or enamel, mounted or set with pearls, diamonds or pastes, and chased and coloured gold, were all fashionable. On the whole, cut steel was the most popular. A Birmingham craftsman by name of Heeley, who worked for Wedgwood about 1780, is recorded is being especially skilful at this class of work; while in France a certain Dauffe had almost a monopoly in the production of steel objects. Certainly some of the open-work steel buttons of the time—English as well as French—are jewels of a very high order.
Bracelets were mostly formed of bands of velvet with oval clasps. The clasp was decorated in a variety of ways, and was very frequently fitted with a painted or enamelled miniature. The practice of wearing miniatures in this way seems to have been a common one, judging by the numerous advertisements inserted in the London Public Advertiser about the middle of the century by "ingenious artists," willing on "reasonable terms to paint elegant portraits in miniature for bracelets, rings, etc." Madame de Chamillart had amongst other jewels "Un petit portrait en mignature en forme de bracelet garny de quatre diamants, monté en or." In fact, according to Fontenay, the terms bracelet and boîte à portrait had for a time practically the same meaning.[187] Cameos were sometimes employed as bracelet clasps, but not to the same extent as they were subsequently under the Empire. In the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris are two portrait cameos in sardonyx (Nos. 788 and 927) which served as the clasps of the bracelets of Madame de Pompadour, and were bequeathed by her to Louis XV in 1764. The work of the celebrated gem-engraver Jacques Guay, the one represents Henri IV, and the other, which is signed, Louis XV. The mounting of each, an admirable example of French jewel-work of the time, is formed of a circlet of emeralds arranged in the manner of a laurel wreath, and tied at intervals by cords of rose diamonds terminating above and below in knots. Among other decorations for bracelets, mention may be made of the celebrated enamels produced at Battersea between 1750 and 1775, very many of which, oval in shape, were set in gold frames so as to be easily mounted in bracelets. The productions of the rival establishment at Bilston, in Staffordshire, were similarly employed, and, like the former, were frequently worn as buttons.
PLATE XLVII
eighteenth-century necklaces, etc.
The finger ring in the eighteenth century was a particularly favourite jewel. That considerable attention was paid at the time to the design and decoration of the ring, may be judged from Bourguet's designs, which contain patterns for enamel-work intended for its enrichment. The beauty of the sentiments displayed on the rings of the time is nowhere more charmingly expressed than on an English wedding-ring at South Kensington, which is formed of two hands in white enamel, holding between the thumbs and first fingers a rose diamond in the shape of a heart set in silver and surmounted with a jewelled coronet. It bears the date 1706 (Pl. XXXVI, 3). Other rings of similar style have the bezel formed of two precious stones in the form of hearts united by a knot. Rings which served simply as souvenirs of affection were very popular. In addition to the plain gold ring engraved with a posy or motto, were rings containing a like sentiment read by means of the first letters of the stones with which they are set.
The most typical ring of the period is perhaps the marquise ring, which dates from the second half of the century. The bezel, which is oblong, and either oval or octagonal, is often of such size that it covers the whole joint of the finger. It is formed of a plaque of transparent blue glass on matted gold, surrounded with diamonds, and set either with a single diamond, or with several arranged at regular intervals, sometimes in the form of a bouquet. Often instead of diamonds are pastes and even marcasite. Of other varieties of rings of the time it is necessary only to mention those set with Wedgwood cameos, or with stones such as moss-agates, and a form of agate somewhat similar, but of lighter colour, called the mocha stone. Mourning and memorial rings, of which this period was so prolific, will be spoken of subsequently.
An ornament that showed a peculiarly wide development throughout the eighteenth century was the shoe-buckle. Various kinds of buckles are recorded in the Caution to the Public, issued in 1733, in connection with his famous ware, by Edward, the son of Christopher Pinchbeck. They include the following: buckles for ladies' breasts, stock-buckles, shoe-buckles, knee-buckles, girdle-buckles. Of these the most important was the buckle worn on the shoes of every one—man woman, and child—attached to the latchet or strap passing over the instep. It assumed all sorts of forms and was made and enriched with every conceivable material. It is interesting to observe that in spite of the immense number produced, hardly any two pairs of buckles are precisely alike—this is shown in the case of the collection of Sir S. Ponsonby Fane, which contains upwards of four hundred specimens. Towards the last years of the century buckles began to be supplanted by shoe strings. During this period of transition many attempts were made to foster their use.[188] On tickets to public entertainments at the time one occasionally finds a notice that "Gentlemen cannot be admitted with shoe strings." The latter, however, won the day, and about the year 1800 shoe-buckles disappeared from use.
The chatelaine was perhaps the most characteristic of all eighteenth-century ornaments. It was exceedingly popular, and formed, it may be observed, a very favourite object of the time for a wedding present. It usually consisted of a shield with a stout hook, suspended from which were several chains united by another plate or shield which carried the watch. Besides this were two or more chains for holding the watch-key or seals. Extraordinary skill was exercised in the elaboration of chatelaines. The plaques, hinged or united by chains, withstood the incursion of the precious stone that dominated all other forms of jewellery, and afforded peculiar opportunities for the display of the art of the goldsmith in chased and repoussé metal-work enriched with exquisite enamels. The jeweller's whole artistic skill was thus exhibited, not only upon the shields, but upon the solid links of the chains and upon the various breloques hung therefrom. The chief of the latter was of course the watch. Its dial-plate was enriched with enamel, and chased and coloured gold: even the hands when made of gold showed a high degree of skilled workmanship within a very small space. The principal ornamental part was, however, the outer case; and it may be maintained that there was not any species of work connected with the goldsmith's art that was not displayed in its finest form upon watch-cases, more especially in the time of Louis XVI.
PLATE XLVIII
eighteenth-century chatelaines
Beside the watch was hung the watch-key and seals, and all sorts of ornamental knick-knacks, as étuis and such-like. The elaborate chatelaine upon which nearly every conceivable kind of trinket could be attached, is the "equipage" thus described by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in her fourth Town Eclogue:—
Behold this equipage by Mathers wrought
With fifty guineas (a great pen'orth!) bought!
See on the tooth-pick Mars and Cupid strive,
And both the struggling figures seem to live.
Upon the bottom see the Queen's bright face;
A myrtle foliage round the thimble case;
Jove, Jove himself does on the scissars shine,
The metal and the workmanship divine.
While women carried elaborate chatelaines, men hung from the watch in the fob-pocket bunches of seals which dangled beneath their embroidered waistcoats. Thus in Monsieur à la Mode, published about 1753, we read of—
A repeater by Graham, which the hours reveals;
Almost overbalanced with nick-nacks and seals.
It was the seal above all which experienced particular artistic development. Ever since the sixteenth century the seal had been worn in addition to the signet ring. Though hung perhaps like a pomander from a chain at the neck or from the girdle, the seal seems to have been but rarely displayed on the person until the general introduction in the early seventeenth century of the watch, to which for more than a couple of centuries it was a regular accompaniment. The majority of seventeenth-century seals are of silver with the arms engraved in the metal; others of steel are on swivels and have three faces; others, again, of gold set with stones engraved with heraldic devices, have finely worked shanks, occasionally enriched with delicate enamel-work. The gold seals of the eighteenth century, which are among the best examples extant of rococo jewellery, are of open-work in the form of scroll and shell patterns, of admirable design and workmanship. It is out of the question to attempt a description of the numerous attractive forms these pendent seals assumed, or the peculiar interest they possess from an heraldic point of view.
About the year 1772 fashionable men carried a watch in each fob-pocket, from which hung bunches of seals and chains. From the custom set in England of introducing masculine fashions into dress, ladies likewise wore two watches, one on each side, together with rattling breloques, seals, and other appendages. In addition to the real watch with beautifully enamelled back which adorned the left side, they wore on the right what was called a fausse montre or false watch. These false watches were, however, often little less costly than the genuine article, being made of gold and silver, with jewelled and enamelled backs. The front had either an imitation dial-plate, some fanciful device, or a pin-cushion. For those of less ample means the fausse montre was made of gilt metal or even of coloured foils.
CHAPTER XXXIII
NINETEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY
THE MODERN REVIVAL
JEWELLERY of the nineteenth century presents a very variegated picture both as regards material and technique, as well as in the display of every conceivable style. It is not so much a particular character of its own that has marked the jewellery of each epoch of the century, as a peculiar form of reproduction or rather reconstruction of older styles of art, based for the most part on false traditions. The whole period was an eclectic one, and the majority of its productions—the result of nothing less than aimless hesitation and fruitless endeavour to revive the forms of the past—display at least doubtful taste. Throughout the greater part of the time France led the fashion, and every one of the political changes she underwent left its mark on her artistic productions.
After the desolate epoch of the Revolution, under which the whole standard of jewellery was measurably lowered, a revival of something approaching luxury was experienced under the Directory. This was succeeded about the year 1800, owing to the stimulating dominance of the First Consul, by circumstances of real luxury. The period dating from Napoleon's accession to the Imperial Dignity four years later, till about 1814, was one of considerable importance in the history of jewellery.
The severe and academic influence of the leading and most popular artist of the day, the painter David, and of his pupils, with their extravagant taste for the antique, was universally felt. Yet while the antique celebrated its triumph in all directions, the Empire failed to shake itself entirely free from eighteenth-century styles. As far indeed as jewellery was concerned, the classical revival cannot be said to have been altogether unhappy; for its ornaments are not without a certain charm. Like all else, they breathed the spirit of the past, and are not less formal and rigid than the other art productions of the period.
It was under the short-lived reign of the associated kings, termed the Directory, that the taste for the antique first became thoroughly dominant. Jewellery of all kinds assumed classical forms. The few individuals who were fortunate enough to procure them wore ancient Greek and Roman jewels; the rest had to be content with facsimiles of objects discovered at Pompeii, or simple copies adapted from representations on early vase paintings, sculptures, or engraved gems.
So exaggerated became the enthusiasm for the antique that, following the lead of Madame Tallien and Madame Récamier, the fashionables of the period adopted in its entirety, without regard for differences of climate, what they deemed to be classical costume, and appeared on public promenades in Paris with unstockinged feet in sandals that allowed them to exhibit jewels upon their toes.
PLATE XLIX
empire head-ornaments
The affected classicism of the Republic and First Empire stimulated the use of engraved gems. Far from cameos and the less decorative intaglios being considered out of place with fine precious stones, they often occupied positions of honour, surrounded and mounted occasionally with important diamonds. In the majority of cases, however, they were used alone and were made up into special ornaments by themselves. Antiques were worn when procurable, but the greater number of gems were of modern manufacture, carefully studied both as regards technique and style from ancient examples. Somewhat later, small mosaics, on which were figured classical subjects or buildings of ancient Rome, were also employed. These, together with cameos, generally on shell, were produced in quantities, particularly in Italy, where cameo cutters and mosaic workers still carry on a somewhat languishing trade in ornaments of this nature, Venice, Florence, and Rome sharing in the industry of mosaic jewellery; Rome, Naples, and the whole of Southern Italy in that of cameos. The production of both kinds of objects is now in a sterilised condition. They have entirely lost their earlier qualities, for the reason that they find but little favour and have ceased to be worn by the upper classes. Except during the height of the First Empire the fashion for engraved gems never took a very thorough hold. Ladies have seldom a taste for archæology. If a few, in accordance with the current idea, affected a sober and refined style of ornament, the majority soon wearied of the burden of cameos in the necklace and bracelet, and preferred sparkling stones to the delicate cutting of the gem. The general and instinctive preference for brilliant jewels did more than anything to kill the attempted employment of antique forms and designs.
As regards technique, the metal-work of the early nineteenth century generally displayed considerable poverty of material. The gold, if not pinchbeck imitation, was usually thin, light, and of low quality, with simple designs in the form of clusters of grapes. Borders of leaves and flowers in the antique style were stamped and chased sometimes in open-work, with small rose-shaped ornaments applied. Granulated, beaded, and purled work was much employed, and the surface of the metal was often matted. Artistic effect in chased work was produced by the use of ornamental inlays, or rather overlays, of coloured gold.
Actual jewel-work and settings, as a rule, displayed good quality of workmanship. The general tendency lay in the direction of the coloured stones popular in ancient times—the topaz, peridot, aquamarine, and amethyst; together with precious stones, such as emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, and with pearls. The latter were generally reserved only for the most sumptuous ornaments, but were occasionally used in conjunction with jewels of less value. The stones most commonly used were carnelians, moss-agates, turquoises, garnets, pink and yellow topazes, as well as coral, mingled together. Wedgwood ware and its imitations, popular in the latter years of the eighteenth century, continued for some time to meet with favour, while paste jewellery was also worn to some extent.
On every species of jewellery the taste for the antique was clearly visible. Ornaments for the head took the form of frontlets and diadems, hair-combs, hair-pins, triple chains, and strings of pearls. Earrings were in general use, together with necklaces, brooches, bracelets, rings, and girdles. The chief head-ornaments were wide metal combs, fixed in the hair in such a manner as to be visible from the front. The general form of the Empire comb, with its upright rows of pearls or coral, is well known, since a number of examples exist. At the same time frontlets or tours de tête were worn on the upper part of the forehead and over the hair. These, enriched with pearls, cameos, or precious stones, took the form of broad bands or coronets. Another ornament, which did not, however, come into fashion till about 1820, was the ferronnière—a band round the head, with a jewel in the middle of the forehead. It was generally a fine gold chain, but might be made of velvet ribbon or silken cord, or strings of beads. The origin of its title has been given in connection with Italian jewellery of the fifteenth century. Cameos and moss-agates entered largely into the composition of necklaces as well as the various coloured stones mentioned above. Cameos often assumed considerable proportions. They were occasionally set with precious stones, and were linked together with fine chains. Bracelets were much worn, three on each arm: one on the upper part of the arm, a second just above the elbow, and a third upon the wrist. They were usually composed of a number of small chains, or even a band of velvet; while the clasp was formed by a cameo, or else an amethyst, peridot, or topaz set in stamped and pierced gold. Girdles for the most part were fashioned in the same manner as bracelets, with a large cameo on the clasp.
PLATE L
early nineteenth-century jewellery
The pictures in the gallery at Versailles afford perhaps the best idea of ornaments in the Empire style; since jewellery is more clearly represented on French portraits than on any others of the time. Among the most striking of such portraits are those of Marie Pauline, Princess Borghese, by Lefèvre, of Caroline Buonaparte, Queen of Naples, by Madame Vigée-Lebrun, and of Madame Mère, by Gérard. The first has a high comb and bandeau, earrings, and girdle, all decorated with cameos, the second a parure of pearls and cameos, and the third a head-ornament mounted with a single large cameo. The coronation of Napoleon in 1804 furnished the painter David with the subject of a picture unrivalled in its kind—"Le Sacre de Napoleon ier à Notre-Dame," which is exhibited in the Louvre. This grandiose production, besides being a truly epic rendering of a great historical event, serves as a valuable document in the history of jewellery, in that it represents jewellery of the most magnificent kind carried by Josephine, the princesses, and the ladies of honour. The Empress is shown wearing comb and diadem of precious stones, brilliant earrings, and a bracelet on the wrist formed of two rows of jewels united with a cameo. Her suite have, besides, necklaces and girdles mounted in several cases with cameos. Josephine herself possessed a perfect passion for engraved gems, and she actually induced Napoleon to have a number of antique cameos and intaglios removed from the gem collection in the Royal Library and made up into a complete parure of jewellery for her own use.
A German speciality of the expiring Empire was the cast-iron jewellery, brought into favour largely on account of the prevailing scarcity of gold and silver. A foundry for its production was first set up in 1804 at Berlin, where articles of great fineness were cast in sand moulds. In the year 1813, the time of the rising against the Napoleonic usurpation, more than eleven thousand pieces of iron jewellery were turned out, and among them five thousand crosses of the new order of the Iron Cross. In that year appeared the well-known iron rings. During the War of Liberation, when every man joined the Prussian regiments to fight against the French, the patriotic ladies who remained behind laid at the Altar of the Fatherland their valuable jewels, which were melted down for the benefit of the national war-chest. For the articles thus surrendered they received in exchange from the Government iron finger rings bearing the words "Eingetauscht zum Wohle des Vaterlandes," or the famous inscription "Gold gab ich für Eisen." In addition to crosses and rings, other jewels, such as diadems, necklaces, brooches, and bracelets, were executed in cast iron, open-worked and in relief (Pl. LI, 8). Complete parures comprising a comb, necklace, earrings, and bracelets are not infrequently met with, and the name of the manufacturer, such as "Geiss, Berlin," etc., is sometimes found stamped on them. Most of the work is in the antique taste, and is occasionally adorned with classical heads in the manner of Wedgwood and Tassie. Considering the material and method of production, the fineness and lace-like delicacy of this iron jewellery is little less than marvellous.
PLATE LI
buckles and necklaces
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
Another kind of nineteenth-century ornament, particularly popular in the first half of the century, was hair jewellery. It was favoured possibly in some cases less by inclination than by that necessity which had originally led the way for the use of iron and other less valuable materials. Finger rings, bracelets, necklaces, and watch-chains were plaited of the hair of the departed, brooches and medallions mounted with it, and even ornamental landscapes constructed of strands of human hair. Hair was worn as a gift of affection from the living; but it was chiefly employed for mourning or memorial jewellery. It will be referred to again when mourning jewellery is dealt with.
We enter about the year 1830 into the Romantic period—the days of the heroines of Balzac, the days when Byron and Ossian were à la mode, the days of a fancy chivalry and mediæval sentimentality, of Sir Walter Scott, and above all of the Gothic revival. Gothic motives, rampant in architecture, make their appearance also on bookbindings, furniture, and other things, and influence jewellery to a certain degree. Among the leaders of the movement so far as it affected jewellery were the goldsmiths Froment Meurice, and Robin, whose productions, executed in accordance with the Romantic taste, assumed the form of armoured knights, on foot, or fully equipped on horseback, lords and ladies in mediæval costume, and jewels which took the shape of compositions of a similar "elegant" nature.
At this period cameos were still worn, but seldom of strictly classical character. Sentimental hair jewellery likewise continued, as did the iron jewellery. The latter, however, no longer displayed classical forms, but debased Gothic designs. Chains of various kinds were in considerable favour. They were usually looped up at intervals with circular or oblong plaques of thin and coloured gold set with small turquoises and garnets. With the development of machinery appeared thin goldwork, ornamented with stamped and pressed designs. Work of this kind, characteristic of its first decades, extended far into the nineteenth century.
As far as men's jewellery is concerned there is little or nothing to chronicle. Strangely enough, the masculine delight in splendid jewels that had existed up to the end of the eighteenth century, came all at once to an end, along with that older world on the ruins of which Napoleon rose. Almost all that remained to them was the bunch of seals, often of considerable size, that hung by a silken cord from the fob. It is true that occasionally beaux and macaronis actually wore earrings. But these were not employed solely as ornaments, but largely as the result of a fanciful idea, still prevalent in certain quarters, of the value of such objects against diseases of the eye.
Fashion next, about the middle of the century, harked back to rococo, and imitated the style of Louis XV. It was rococo of a kind, but lay as far from the eighteenth century as did Romantic Gothic from the Gothic of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Design for the most part was deplorably bad, defects in this direction being passed off under a glitter of stones.
Instead of the close setting which had so long satisfied the jeweller, open setting for precious stones became universal. Countless old and valuable ornaments perished. The diamonds and other precious stones were picked out of them and transferred to newer settings, and the beautiful old metal-work was ruthlessly melted down. Many fine jewels during the course of the nineteenth century have likewise been spoiled and reduced in value by their owners attempting to adapt them to a prevailing fashion. Vast is the number of family treasures that have undergone the fate of remounting. It is to be hoped that the new-born interest in the beautiful work of earlier craftsmen may help to save what is left from the same sort of destruction that the ancient churches of our land have undergone as the result of ill-judged "restoration."
THE MODERN REVIVAL
Long prior to the developments that have taken place in recent years, attention had been attracted to the artistic qualities of gold and an impetus given to the manipulation of the simple material. It was early in the "sixties" that notice was first drawn to the gold jewellery then being executed in Rome, and the discoveries that had been effected in the working of the wrought metal by the firm of Castellani.
The head of this famous family was the goldsmith Fortunato Pio Castellani, one of the best-known jewellers and dealers of his day. In 1814, at an early age, he started a business in Rome, which he developed about 1826 on the lines of the antique work. The process of production of the old granulated gold jewellery of the ancient Etruscans—that in which the surface is covered with minute grains of gold set with absolute regularity—had long been a puzzle and problem to jewellers. Castellani was deeply interested in the lost art, and searched Italy through to find some survival of it. At last in St. Angelo in Vado, a village of the Apennines, in the corner of the Umbrian Marches, he found a caste of local goldsmiths who had preserved it in what seemed to be an unbroken tradition. He transported some of them to Rome, and together with his sons Alessandro and Augusto succeeded in imitating the tiny golden grains of the Etruscans and soldering them on to the surface of jewels. The work he accomplished in this direction has become famous all the world over.
In 1851 Fortunato retired, and on his death in 1865 his property was divided—Augusto retaining the business, Alessandro setting himself up as a collector and dealer. Augusto, born 1829, carried on the traditions of his father's atelier, and was afterwards promoted to the Directorship of the Capitoline Museum.
Alessandro, the elder brother, was perhaps one of the most striking personalities of his age. Born in 1824, he first assisted his father; but his political opinions, which led him to take an active part in the revolutionary movement in Rome in 1848, and implicated him in the conspiracy of 1852, resulted in his imprisonment in the Castle of St. Angelo; but successfully feigning madness, he was liberated and sent out of the Pontifical States. He then proceeded to travel about exploiting the productions of the Casa Castellani. Gradually he devoted himself to archæological pursuits. His knowledge of these matters was profound, and he became the finest expert of his day. He was continually collecting, and dealt largely, his chief customers being the museums of Europe and America. The finest of the antique jewellery in the British Museum was purchased from him in 1872-1873. A few years before, in 1867, his unrivalled series of peasant ornaments, gathered together from all parts of Italy, was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, which also made large purchases at the sale that took place after his death in 1883.
The art of filigree and granulation practised by Castellani was carried to still greater perfection by another Italian, Carlo Giuliano, who was largely indebted to the discoveries of his compatriot. Examples of his work, with that of Castellani, are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Since his death, his business house in London has been continued by his sons.
Another Italian who has surpassed both Castellani and Giuliano in the reproduction of the antique is Melillo of Naples. His jewellery, though "copied closely from ancient models, has a certain modern cachet" and is in fact "a translation of the most refined ancient art into modern language."
An eminent English jeweller, whose name is worthy of record, was Robert Phillips of London, who died in 1881. He also came under the influence of Castellani. At the same time he was responsible for the production of some of the most original work executed in England during the Victorian era.
A forerunner in France of the modern movement in artistic jewellery, and one entitled to a high place in the history of the art, was the goldsmith Lucien Falize (b. 1838), who was a partner with M. Bapst, crown jeweller of the Second Empire. He succeeded Bapst as official goldsmith to the French Government, and died in 1897. Another great French jeweller was Eugène Fontenay, author of the important history of jewellery, who died in 1885.
Side by side with the improvement in taste which during the last few years has prompted people to preserve old jewellery, and a genuine love for its peculiar and indefinable attractions which has induced them to collect it, the present age has witnessed a truly remarkable revival in the artistic production of articles of personal ornament. The general awakening that has taken place in the industrial arts has nowhere made its influence more strongly felt than in respect to jewellery. Owing to the example set by the highest artistic spirits, which has affected even the ordinary productions of commerce, there has arisen a new school of jewellery, the residue of which, when the chaff of eccentricity on the one hand and coarse workmanship on the other is winnowed from it, consists in works which combine the charm and sense of appropriateness requisite to objects of personal adornment with qualities that mark them as individual works of art.
The ornaments of the past reveal an elemental truth of art which it may be to the ultimate advantage of the decorative artificer of modern times to study and to imitate. They show, particularly in their most refined periods, that the simplest materials and the simplest modes of decoration can be associated with beauty of form and purity of design, and that the value of a personal ornament does not consist solely in the commercial cost of the materials, but rather in the artistic quality of its treatment. In the revival of the arts in the latter part of the nineteenth century the artistic styles of the past began to be carefully studied, and for the first time were brought together and exhibited as models. They have undoubtedly exercised a profound influence both on design and technique. It is well at the same time to remember that personal ornaments, as indeed all productions of former times, which are thus shown in museums, must not be reckoned with from one standpoint only. The intention of their public display is to afford material for instruction, investigation, and inspiration, for the craftsman, the student, and the "man in the street." Their function in this respect is not only to produce artists and craftsmen, or even connoisseurs, but to inspire the lay public with a love of beauty, and to induce a divine discontent with the ugliness with which it is surrounded.
Though it is very well to use and reproduce the forms and motives of the past, an indefinite persistence in that attitude is liable to be construed as a confession of æsthetic sterility. But while empty revivals and false adaptations are to be rejected, the reckless race after originality, resulting in the eccentricity which is so rife in modern art, should especially be avoided. It is the desire for originality instead of a modest devotion to fine workmanship, "a love for the outrageous and the bizarre, and a lack of proportion, both in form and in choice of material," that has ruined much of the jewellery produced under the Nouveau Art movement.
If colour and form produced by a study of harmony and a limited appeal to nature could be united to elaboration and minuteness of finish, with symmetrical arrangements freed from purely mechanical detail of ornament; if more insight could be obtained into the spirit which produced those splendid fragments that have survived from the past, there would be a gradual return to a style of work wherein the inherent preciousness of material might be accompanied by a fuller appreciation of its artistic possibilities, and a way opened to the restoration of the art of the goldsmith to the honourable place it once held.
Apart from matters of design the new movement has resulted in great changes in the artistic aspect of jewellery. In distinction to the tendency hitherto prevalent which bids the metal mounting of jewellery to be rendered almost invisible, the working of gold and silver has once again become a matter of some moment. A second change, due to the study of old models, has been the revival of enamelling—an art which offers many an opportunity for the exercise of the craftsman's taste and skill, and has once again resumed its proper position as handmaid to the goldsmith. A third change has been the wider choice and employment of stones. Till recent years only those stones that are reckoned as fine—the diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire—have been allowed a place in jewellery. Though their commercial value can never be set aside, precious stones are now valued, as they were in Renaissance times, for the sake of their decorative properties. The taste for colour effects in jewellery has resulted in the adoption of certain gems not very precious, yet sufficiently rare, while the artistic value of broken colour in gems is beginning to be appreciated in purely commercial productions. There is now a welcome tendency to use such stones as the aquamarine, peridot, zircon, topaz, tourmaline, chrysoprase, and others of beautiful colour and high decorative value. For a precious stone, as has been truly said, "is not beautiful because it is large, or costly, or extraordinary, but because of its colour, or its position in some decorative scheme."
The present master of the jeweller's art is René Lalique of Paris, universally recognised as the greatest of modern artists in this class of the fine handicrafts. He possesses a perfect mastery over materials of all sorts, even of such as ivory, horn, and mother-of-pearl, and above all enamel, especially that in open settings. To his wonderful dexterity of technique he unites a fertile imagination and infinite resource of design in the direction of naturalistic forms, as flowers, winged insects, and human figures.
The style of Lalique, freed entirely as it is from the forms of tradition, is carried out by several artists of individual talent, such as Lucien Gaillard, Gaston Laffitte, Georges Fouquet, Comte du Suau de la Croix, Vever, René Foy, and Louis Bonny. It has, in addition, hosts of imitators, whose productions are wrought with rare skill, but display, nevertheless, singular disregard of appropriateness and utility, and are further marred in many cases by eccentricities of design.
Much original, if not always very attractive, work has been produced also in Germany and Austria since the full expansion of the Nouveau Art movement about the year 1897. Among the first in Germany to display activity in the design and production of jewellery in the new style have been the artists Hirzel and Möhring, and Piloty of Munich. Van der Velde, Olbrich, and Schaper and J. H. Werner of Berlin have all obtained a reputation for their work in this direction. The movement has been fostered with success in the leading art schools, under the superintendence of Gnauth at Nuremberg, Hammer and Göss at Karlsruhe, Graff at Stuttgart and Dresden, and Luthmer at Frankfort. The chief centres in Germany for the production of jewellery are Pforzheim, Hanau, and Gmünd. The leading craftsmen of Pforzheim are Zerrenden, Fahrner, Friessler, and Stoffler; while Gmünd possesses the well-known jeweller Hermann Bauer.
PLATE LII
modern french jewellery
Among the leaders of the new art movement in Austria are the sculptor Gurschner, Dietrich, Prutscher, and Franz Hauptmann; while Elsa Unger, Anna Wagner, and Eugenie Munk have carried out distinctive work on the same lines. Belgium has produced some able craftsmen in the persons of Paul Dubois the sculptor, Ph. Wolfers, and Van Strydonck. The modern school of Denmark possesses the artists Slott-Möller, Bindesböll, Magnussen, and Bollin.
England, the pioneer of the latter-day renaissance of the decorative arts, can boast of a number of craftsmen of distinction in artistic jewellery. Among the leaders of the movement whose style and individuality have secured them recognition are Mr. H. Wilson, Mr. Henry H. Cunynghame, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Dawson, Mr. C. R. Ashbee, Mr. Harold Stabler, Mr. Edgar Simpson, Mr. Alexander Fisher, Mrs. Bethune, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gaskin, Mrs. Newman, Mrs. Traquair, Mrs. Hadaway, Mr. and Mrs. Partridge, and Mr. F. S. Robinson. One may also name H.H. Princess Louise Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein, and H.H. the Ranee of Sarawak, in addition to a number of others whose work has figured in exhibitions such as those held by the Arts and Crafts Society. The name of Mr. A. Lazenby Liberty, who has done much to foster new design in England, likewise deserves mention.
Messrs. Tiffany of New York have shown how artistic design may be combined with fine and rare gems—the natural instinct for which will have to be gratified so long as jewellery is worn. A number of other firms both in England and France have in recent years displayed remarkable advance in this direction, also, as in the case of Messrs. Boucheron, in a skilful combination of coloured stones, as well as in a reserved use of enamel.
A hopeful sign for the future of this refined art is the thoroughness with which it is taught in schools of art throughout the country, and the eagerness and success with which it is practised also by a number of gifted amateurs. The work produced, though far behind that of continental craftsmen in point of execution, avoids many of the extravagances of the "new art," and exhibits, for the most part, taste and reserve in design, and adaptability to ultimate uses.
CHAPTER XXXIV
PEASANT JEWELLERY
UNTIL the middle of the nineteenth century the peasants and natives of every country district of Europe wore modest gold and silver jewellery, of small pecuniary value, but of great artistic interest. A few years ago peasant jewellery was seldom sought for, and comparatively unknown; and collectors, better informed in other respects, did not think of saving it from the melting-pot. It is now, however, beginning to attract some of the attention it deserves.
This old peasant jewellery has at the present day nearly all passed out of the hands of its original owners. The chief cause of its disappearance has been increased facilities for travelling, which resulted in jewellery fashioned wholesale in industrial centres being distributed to the remotest rural districts. The demands of the modern collector, and improvements in present-day taste among certain of the cultured classes, which have led to the adoption of old articles of jewellery for personal use, have also contributed to the disappearance of peasant jewellery in recent years. The wiles of the dealer have induced peasants to yield up heirlooms, which, handed down for generations, have escaped the fate of the jewels of the wealthy and more fashionable. The great museums of art and industry springing up everywhere, especially in Germany, have all obtained a generous share of the spoil, and have preserved it from what, until lately, would have been inevitable destruction.
So completely in most parts has this old jewellery gone out of use among the peasantry, that hardly a trace remains of a once flourishing industry carried on by local craftsmen working on traditional lines, and untrammelled by the artistic fashion of the moment. Machines driven by steam power have crushed out of existence skill to make things by hand, and the cold and monotonous production of the artisan has taken the place of the old work, whose peculiarly attractive character is due to its expressing the fresh ideas and inspiration of the artist.
The French peasant jewel par excellence is the cross. It is suspended from the neck by a velvet ribbon, and varies in form according to localities. Its size is often in proportion to the social condition of the wearer. Sometimes it attains considerable dimensions. Fixed upon the velvet ribbon, and drawing it together just above the cross is a slide or coulant, in the form of a bow, rosette, or heart, and of the same style as the cross itself. In many provinces of France, such as Savoy, gold is reserved exclusively for married women—custom having it that all their jewels should be of that metal. Silver, on the other hand, is often employed solely for girls' jewellery, possibly because it is considered the natural symbol of virginal purity, just as in ancient times it was consecrated to the virgin goddess, Diana.
PLATE LIII
spanish, portuguese, flemish and french
peasant jewellery, etc.
The most interesting and perhaps the best-known French peasant jewellery is that of Normandy and the Auvergne. The chief Norman jewel is the cross. The most usual form is that which occurs in the districts round St. Lô and Caen. It is of silver, formed of five high bosses, four round and one pear-shaped, each set with a large foiled rock crystal (commonly known as Diamant, Caillou, or Pierre d' Alençon) cut and faceted in the brilliant shape, and further ornamented with sprays set with small crystals in rose form. The lower limb of the cross, briolette or pear-shaped, is hinged, so as to render it less liable to get bent or broken in wear (Pl. LIII, 4). The spaces between the limbs are sometimes completely filled up with branched open-work set with small crystals. In the more northerly parts of France the cross is formed simply of large bosses set with crystals; but round about Rouen we meet with an abundance of spray-work. Other crosses of considerable size are formed of thin plates of pierced gold. The shape of the cross is indicated simply by crystal bosses, but its form is almost lost in the outline of the jewel. A favourite subject for representation on Rouennais jewellery is the Saint Esprit or Holy Dove. Employed as a breast-ornament or pendant, the Dove is either in gold or silver, mounted with crystals, or coloured pastes set close together. It is suspended from an ornament of open knot design, with a rosette-shaped slide above. In its beak is a branch, spray, or bunch of grapes, generally of coloured pastes. Peasant jewellery ceased to be worn in Normandy about 1840, when native costume was given up.
While Normandy relies chiefly on crystal quartz for its jewellery, the Auvergne can boast of a variety of gems, such as garnets, opals, spinels, and zircons, which are of frequent occurrence in the volcanic rock of Central France. The jewellery of Puy is mounted with cabochon stones in large high settings. Open-work circular pendants have a central boss with eight similar settings around. The Saint Esprit is also a popular jewel, but in these parts the form of the Dove is not completely carried out, the jewel being composed merely of five pear-shaped bosses to indicate the wings, body, head, and tail of the bird.
It is to be observed that the patterns of the jewels here alluded to are not entirely original inventions of the peasantry. As a matter of fact, they are often from precisely the same models as the jewellery in use in the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, and are very similar in style to the large series of original designs in the National Art Library, South Kensington, executed about that time by the Santini family of Florence. Their technique is also traditional. This is shown by the presence on many of the peasant jewels of Southern France, as well as of other districts, of the painted enamel which came in about 1640, and continued in use for upwards of a century. While fashion has shifted scores of times since those days, types and styles of jewellery then set remained unchanged in these quarters until the great industrial revolution of the nineteenth century and the strange and universal decline of taste that accompanied it.
Holland is one of the few countries that have retained their peasant jewellery. Not only is it displayed in abundance on festal occasions, such as weddings, but it is worn in everyday life by the well-to-do natives of the country districts. Much jewellery is employed in Zeeland. The country belles wear jutting out on either side of the lace cap curious corkscrew-like ornaments of gold, silver, or gilt metal, on which they hang pendants sometimes tipped with pearls. In the land of Goes a square gold ornament is pinned close to the face inside the lace halo that surrounds the head. Coral necklaces are worn, and jet ones for mourning. Boys have earrings and gold and silver buttons near the throat. The head-ornaments of North Holland and Utrecht consist of a broad thin band of gold or silver which encircles the skull and terminates at each end with the above-mentioned spiral ornaments. These bands are covered by a white muslin cap or by a cap decorated with coloured designs. The women of Gelderland display costly caps of gold beaten out to fit each individual head. In Overyssel the lace cap terminates with gold ornaments, and the coral necklace has clasps of gold filigree. Men and boys wear flat silver buttons on the coat and gold at the collar. At the waist is a pair of large hammered discs of silver. The natives of the fertile country of Friesland possess vast stores of jewellery, generally of gold set with diamonds.
Very attractive peasant ornaments are still in use in Belgium. Long pendent crosses are worn, with earrings to match. They are of open-work floral and scroll designs, and are mounted with small rosettes set with rose diamonds—silver rosettes being applied to gold ornaments, gold to silver ones. The slide or coulant above the cross here forms part of the pendant, and is not, as in France, attached by the ribbon worn with it. The heart (Sacré Cœur) is not worn above the cross, as in France, but is used as a distinct ornament, as a rule in silver only. These open-work heart pendants, commonly found between Antwerp and Malines, and rarely elsewhere, have an opening in the centre hung with a movable setting, and a hinged crown-shaped ornament above. Instead of a crown is sometimes a flèche, two quivers and a bow—a love token. Flemish jewels, unlike the French, are set entirely with rose diamonds.
The peasant jewellery of Norway and Sweden is mainly of silver filigree. Precious stones do not take an important place in it. When used they are more often than not false, and are only sparingly applied for the sake of their colour. Particularly characteristic of almost all the ornaments of these parts are numerous small concave or saucer-like pieces of metal, highly polished, or small flat rings. They are suspended by links, particularly from the large circular buckle which is the chief article of jewellery. Most ornaments are circular in plan. Besides being executed in filigree, many of them are embossed or else cast—a style of work admirably displayed on the huge silver-gilt crowns worn by Scandinavian brides.
The peasant ornaments of Germany present many varieties of design. Silver filigree of various kinds is employed for almost all of them. In the northern districts amber beads are naturally the commonest form of necklace, while hollow balls of silver are also worn strung together. Large flat hair-pins are used, the expanded heads of which are ornamented with raised filigree. Swiss and Tyrolese peasant jewellery is largely composed of garnets or garnet-coloured glass set in silver filigree.
So numerous are the different types of Italian peasant jewels that it is impossible to mention them all. Every small district, nay, every township, seems to have possessed ornaments that differed in some detail from those of its neighbours. Many of them display reminiscences of the antique. Their manufacture follows—or did till quite recent years—the old methods; the natives of certain out-of-the-way districts in Umbria still working in very much the same manner as the ancient Etruscans. All ornaments are somewhat voluminous. The head is uncovered, and presents an extensive field for hair-ornaments. The Lombards have all sorts of hair-pins, often a couple of dozen, stuck in nimbus fashion, and through them crosswise is passed another pin with an oval head at each end. Earrings are likewise of considerable dimensions, but light in spite of their size. Their surfaces are very frequently set with seed pearls. The finest existing collection of Italian peasant jewellery is that in the Victoria and Albert Museum, purchased from Signor Castellani in 1867. Of great beauty is the jewellery of the shores of the Adriatic, and that of the Greek Islands, probably made by descendants of the Venetian goldsmiths, and commonly known by the title of "Adriatic" jewellery (Pl. LIV). It is of thin gold, on which are shallow cells filled with opaque enamels. Crescent-shaped earrings are formed of pendent parts hung with double pearls. Dating from the seventeenth century are elaborate and delicate pendants in the shape of fully rigged ships enriched with painted enamel and hung with clusters of pearls. Beautiful work of a similar nature was also produced in Sicily.
PLATE LIV
"adriatic" jewellery
Hungarian and Spanish peasant ornaments have already been alluded to. In both these countries we find the native filigree enamel in sixteenth-century work, and painted enamel in that of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Spanish jewellery frequently takes the form of pendent reliquaries. It is usually of stout silver filigree, bearing traces of Moorish design. The Moorish style is also felt on Portuguese jewellery, which displays in addition a certain amount of what appears to be Indian influence. It is composed of gold filigree of very fine workmanship. Earrings and neck-chains are of such proportions that they reach respectively to the shoulders and the waist. In addition to the cross, star, heart, and crescent-shaped pendants are worn. A favourite form is one resembling an inverted artichoke. Openings are left in its surface, and within these spaces and on the edges of the jewel are hung little trembling pendants (Pl. LIII, 2). Portuguese jewellery of the eighteenth century, largely set with crystal, is admirably represented in the Museum of Fine Arts at Lisbon.
CHAPTER XXXV
JEWELLERY IN PICTURES
ONE aspect of the present subject, more attractive perhaps than any other, is that which concerns the representation of personal ornaments in pictures. Scarcely as yet have pictures been fully appreciated from the point of view of their utility to antiquaries or the light they throw upon matters of historical inquiry. The important part which from the fifteenth century onwards they have played in connection with the subject of jewellery is sufficiently attested by the number of times they have already been referred to during the course of the present inquiry.
The truth, reality, and accuracy of the artists' work has eminently contributed to the value of these pictures. A sympathetic way of seeing things and reproducing them and a fine feeling for naturalistic detail is characteristic of all the work of the painters of early times, when a strength of realism made its wholesome influence universally felt. Such works, while they display the grandeur and magnificence of former ages and point out the fashions and customs of our ancestors, show in detail not only the bright splendour of patterned draperies in many materials, but also the shimmer of goldsmith's work in the form of a variety of actual ornaments, now for the most part entirely lost. In this way they set before us details unnoticed by chroniclers, and convey clearer ideas than can be attained by reading the most elaborate descriptive inventories.
The special capability of the early painters for representing articles of jewellery need merely be alluded to again, seeing the close connection already shown, that always existed between them and the goldsmiths, in whose workshops most of them passed their apprenticeship. Every jewelled ornament figured in their works is, in fact, designed with the full knowledge of a goldsmith versed in his craft.
The artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are notorious for the extreme and elaborate minuteness of their painting of jewels. In the portraits of the time careful accuracy in depicting ornaments was the duty, and evidently the delight, of the painter. In every early picture the various details of costume and jewellery are rendered with scrupulous care and refinement. Though placed in the most prominent and decorative positions, jewellery was never, in the best works, allowed to intrude or to occupy an exaggerated place in the composition. For however minutely defined these accessories may be, they are so fused into the general design that they are only apparent if one takes the trouble to look for them.
In addition to recognised masterpieces, there exists a vast number of pictures obviously not by the first masters, which, though of only moderate quality, do not actually offend by their inferiority. These equally well serve to illustrate details of jewellery and dress. In a picture of the first order such details, of importance in themselves, sink into insignificance beside the splendid qualities of a work of art: in less important pictures the ornamental accessories are all in all. It would be of great value to students if all public collections that possess costumes and ornaments could bring together—as has been done with marked success in the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg—series of portraits specially chosen to illustrate these details, such portraits, like the actual articles of dress and jewellery, being, of course, old ones, not modern copies.
We may state, in general, that jewels figured in portraits are to be relied upon as being the actual objects possessed by the persons represented. All the early painters displayed, as has been said, a special love for jewel forms. They not only took their beautiful models as they found them, but being themselves mostly masters of the jeweller's craft, they devoted much attention to the adornment and the arrangement of the jewels of their models. It may be urged that painters are apt to indulge their fancy by decorating their sitters with jewels they do not possess, introduced to improve the colour or arrangement of the picture, or introduced in accordance with orders, like those of the good Mrs. Primrose, who expressly desired the painter of her portrait to put in as many jewels as he could for the money, and "not to be too frugal of his diamonds in her stomacher and hair."
It is unlikely, on the contrary, that any of the early painters departed from their usual methods of truth, reality, and accuracy; or, considering the elaborate detail with which they depicted jewellery, that they ever specially invented it for the portrait in which it occurs. It is much more probable that they worked from what they saw: for masters of painting have in all ages worked from models in preference to carrying out their own designs. An instance may be cited of the care which painters paid to the ornaments of their sitters. Preserved in the Archivio di Casa Gerini at Florence are certain unpublished documents[189] of the years 1579 to 1584 relating to the artist Alessandro Allori, in which is a list of the clothes and jewels that had been lent him from the wardrobe of the Grand Duchess, Bianca Cappello, when he was painting her portrait.
One or two of the peculiarities of artists in representing jewellery are worthy of being mentioned. It is to be observed that the presence or absence of gilding on jewellery often serves to distinguish between German and Flemish paintings. Holbein almost always employed gold upon golden objects; but in the works of Mabuse, so rich in elaborate detail, paint alone suffices to produce the effect. The artists of those days possessed a marvellous facility for imitating the brilliance of gold by colour alone.
In examining the jewellery of sixteenth and seventeenth century portraits numbers of what appear to be black stones are frequently to be seen. These were evidently intended to represent diamonds. From early times, when the custom existed of improving, as it was considered, the colour of all stones by the use of foils, diamonds—the old stones of Golconda and Brazil, different in colour and quality from the diamonds of to-day—were usually backed with a black varnish composed of lamp-black and oil of mastic. This tinctura, or colouring of the diamond, which is alluded to by Cellini, would account for the intense and clear blacks and whites used by the artists of the time in depicting that precious stone.
In the work of some of the finest painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so masterly is the handling, that in the contemplation of broad effects one may fail to notice how much detail the artists were able to combine with such breadth. In fact the detail they displayed is hardly less precise than that of the earlier painters. Mr. Davies[190] has some interesting remarks to make on the different modes of depicting jewellery adopted by first-class painters—by the one who paints it in detail and the other who treats it with freedom. "The first paints you, touch by touch, his chains, his bracelets, his tiara, link by link, and gem by gem, with precision so great that if you called in a fairly capable goldsmith, of little or no intelligence, he would use them as a pattern and produce you an exact facsimile. The second obtains his result by summarized knowledge, letting his line lose itself and find itself again, a flash on a link, a sparkle on a gem suggesting all to the eye with a completeness which is fully as complete as the literal word for word translation of the other man. Call in a really intelligent goldsmith to this work and he would find it quite as easy as, or even easier than, the other to understand and reproduce from, but it would not do to make a tracing from, nor give as a pattern to one of his unintelligent apprentices."
Very attractive and valuable guides to the jewellery of the early period are the early Flemish-Burgundian paintings (p. 90), and those of the Italian masters of the fifteenth century (p. 167). The most fertile of sixteenth-century pictures for the present purpose are the German (p. 189), as may be judged from Herr Luthmer's Goldschmuck der Renaissance, in which are reproduced in colours a number of specimens of jewellery figured in contemporary pictures. In the second half of the sixteenth century and the early part of the seventeenth, the painters of the Low Countries especially excelled in the delineation of jewel forms. Among these artists are Sir Antonio More, Peter Pourbus, Lucas de Heere, Zucchero, Marc Gheeraerts, D. Mytens, Van Somer, and Janssens. By these and by numerous followers of Holbein, many pictures were painted, and exist in England at the present day. The technique of the great Dutch and Flemish painters of the seventeenth century, even of such as Frans Hals, was not incompatible, as Mr. Davies has shown, with the clear representation of personal ornaments.
The majority of pictures of the early part of the eighteenth century offer but slight indication of the jewellery of the time. The conventional style of portraiture which then found favour did not allow such individual characteristics as personal ornaments to obtain a place in the portrait. In the canons for painters laid down by C. A. Du Fresnoy of Paris, entitled De arte graphica, which ruled artists of the first half of the eighteenth century, it was particularly enjoined that "portraits should not be overladen with gold and jewels." "The portrait painters," as Reynolds expressed it in speaking of his predecessors as far back as Lely and Kneller, "had a set of postures (and ornaments too) which they applied to all persons indiscriminately."
Seeing the reliance that may be placed on the jewellery figured in the portraits of earlier times, it is not unnatural to expect such detail to be of considerable service in art criticism. In the identification of a portrait much may rest on the identification of its jewels: for "a portrait," as Mr. Andrew Lang says, "with the jewels actually owned by the subject, if not 'the rose' (for it may be a copy of a lost original) has certainly been 'near the rose.'" But critics seldom think of examining the numerous extant royal and noble inventories and other documents such as wills containing lists of jewels, and of comparing the jewels described in them with those displayed in portraits.
This method, neglected as a rule in criticism, has been employed by Mr. Lang with conspicuous success in his Portraits and jewels of Mary Stuart, and has served to identify the remarkable portrait of the Scottish Queen in the possession of Lord Leven and Melville. Interesting as it is when the jewels depicted in the portraits are identical with those described in their owners' inventories, it is even more so when the actual jewels thus represented have survived to the present day, such as is the case with the Penruddock Jewel shown in Lucas de Heere's portrait of Sir George Penruddock; the Drake Jewel in Zucchero's portrait of Sir Francis Drake; the Lyte Jewel in the portrait of Mr. Thomas Lyte; the earring of Charles I belonging to the Duke of Portland, shown in Van Dyck's portraits; and the earrings of Henrietta Maria in Lord Clifford's possession, shown in portraits of her painted by the same artist.
CHAPTER XXXVI
FRAUDS AND FORGERIES
OWING to the important position that jewellery occupies in the domain of virtu, it is natural that it should receive particular attention at the hands of the fraudulent. On the question of frauds of jewellery we have to distinguish between forgeries—articles professing to be genuine ancient works of art—and counterfeits—imitations of real objects. Long before the forger, as we define him, set to work on the field of jewellery, there existed the business of the imitator of precious stones and precious metals—one of counterfeit rather than of forgery.
The production of false gems dates from the time that precious stones first came to be generally worn as personal ornaments. The manufacture of imitations, intended in many cases to pass as real stones, was an important branch of the art of the famous glassworkers of antiquity. These glass gems, or pastes as they are termed, were largely set in rings to meet the tastes of the poorer classes; and are referred to by Pliny as the "glass gems from the rings of the multitude." Would-be smart individuals, also, are frequently satirised by Martial for wearing in their rings glass pastes which they attempted to pass off as real stones. At the same time coloured foils were placed as the backing to transparent stones, and were employed to give a full hue to inferior-coloured stones.
Besides being employed for jewellery, precious stones were made use of by the mediæval embroiderers to increase the effect of the coloured materials and gold thread in the decoration of their robes. But when we bear in mind the accurate descriptions given by Theophilus in his Diversarum Artium Schedula of the process of making false gems, it is only reasonable to assume that many of the so-called jewels were not in fact real gems, but imitations. Certain it is that in mediæval times the counterfeiting of precious stones was very largely carried on, while many accounts are preserved in early records of fines and other punishments inflicted on dishonest traders in gems who attempted to dispose of spurious stones, usually set in finger rings. In England and France during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it was customary for the jewellers' guild of each town to have a rule prohibiting its members from setting paste gems in real gold or real gems in plated metal; from mounting Scottish pearls with those of the East; or mingling coloured glass, or false, with precious stones. As in earlier periods, a crystal or a colourless paste was made to imitate a coloured stone by backing it with a foil. At South Kensington an example exists, set in a gold ring of sixteenth-century German work (No. 1206-'03), of a white crystal, which is cut en cabochon and backed with a red foil, and bears a striking resemblance to a carbuncle (Pl. XXIII, 17).
Many books on precious stones, both old and new, give receipts for the manufacture of imitation gems, made of flint glass and coloured with oxides according to the originals they are intended to counterfeit. Apart from these are false gems produced with really fraudulent intent. Since imitation stones cannot resist the file, it is the practice, besides backing a crystal with coloured foil, to back a thin layer of genuine stone—intended to resist the test when examined for hardness—with a layer of glass coloured as required. Another process of fabrication consists of placing a layer of glass between two layers of true stone. The place of the join in the "triplet" is hidden by the collet of the setting, and the deceit can only be detected by unsetting the stone and soaking it in chloroform. Another means employed for changing and improving the colours of stones is by heat, for the colour of nearly all gems is affected by heating.
Not pastes only but clear crystals have long been palmed off on the unwary for diamonds. Perhaps the best-known of these were crystals of quartz found in the Clifton limestone near Bristol, which went by the name of Bristol diamonds. They are alluded to as worn in the ears by the fop described in Lenton's Young Gallant's Whirligigg (1629). Quartz crystals found in the tin mines of Cornwall, and similar stones from the neighbourhood of Harrogate, still known respectively as Cornish and Harrogate diamonds, were also much employed for jewellery from the sixteenth century. Transparent stones from various parts of the Continent are given the names of the localities in which they are found. In France, rock crystal, cut in rose or brilliant form, went generally by the name of Pierre d' Alençon or Caillou du Rhin.
Of the transparent glass paste termed Stras or Strass we have already spoken. Though an imitation, the paste of eighteenth-century jewellery does not necessarily belong to the category of frauds and counterfeits, since it possesses a certain originality of its own, and does not appear to have been generally worn with intent to deceive. False or mock pearls on the other hand seem in some way to be rather more associated with deception, though they also can be made to serve for decorative purposes entirely apart from any such intent. To reproduce the lustre or "orient" characteristic of oriental pearls, use is made in the fabrication of imitations of a pearly essence known as essence d'orient, obtained from the silvery scales on the underside of a fish called the bleak. Beads of blown glass slightly opalescent and treated with acid to produce an iridescent surface are coated internally with a film of the essence, and wax is then introduced to give the bead the desired weight. Other mock pearls are made up of a vitreous composition formed largely of the pearl essence. Their surface when burnished presents a fine lustre. These are generally termed Venetian pearls. Roman pearls are formed of external coatings produced by frequent dippings into a solution made of the pearliest parts of the oyster.
From earliest times frauds have been committed in connection with the precious metals. The goldsmiths and jewellers of the Middle Ages were forbidden to work in base metal, to use false stones of glass, or to put coloured foil beneath real stones. They were further expressly forbidden to manufacture personal ornaments for secular use of gilt or silvered copper or brass. Documents in the archives of the City of London contain many references to the perpetration of fraud in passing off as real, objects of brass or latten that had been silvered or gilded. In 1369 a conviction and punishment by the pillory took place for selling to "divers persons rings and fermails of latten, of coloured gold and silver, as being made of real gold and silver, in deceit, and to the grievous loss, of the common people"; and in 1376 a workman was imprisoned for having silvered 240 buttons of latten, and thirty-four latten rims for gipcières, and having "maliciously purposed and imagined to sell the same for pure silver, in deceit of the people." From actual objects that have survived it would seem that the more heinous offence was not infrequently committed of plating with silver the baser metals of tin, lead, and pewter. The statutes of the goldsmiths ordained that no jeweller should sell any article of silver unless it was as fine as sterling, "nor sett it to sell before it be touched" with the leopard's head and maker's mark. But exceptions were always made in favour of small articles of jewellery "which could not reasonably bear the same touch." Such materials as pinchbeck and Similor and the plated objects of modern times hardly fall within the present category.
Actual forgeries of personal ornaments can scarcely be said to have been committed until comparatively recent years—not, in fact, until the demand for specimens of old jewellery on the part of the antiquary and connoisseur rendered their reproduction profitable.[191]
Owing to the high prices they command from collectors, or to various facilities afforded for their production and disposal, three classes of objects—Greek and Etruscan jewellery, mediæval rings, and enamelled pendants of the Renaissance—offer the strongest temptation to the forger; and he on his part displays such an amount of skill and ingenuity, that the fabrication of spurious antiquities of this kind may be said to have amounted almost to a fine art.
The much sought after gold jewellery of Greece and Etruria has received more attention than any other, partly on account of the fact that gold is subject to but slight oxidisation; for the patina of age is lacking even on ancient examples. Setting aside the beautiful imitations by such artists as Castellani, father and sons, and later by Melillo and Giuliano—which clever reproductions are known to have been sometimes foisted upon collectors by unscrupulous dealers—a great deal of really false work made with the intent of passing for old has been produced in Italy—chiefly at Rome, Naples, and Florence. On the subject of such pseudo-antiques Count Tyszkiewicz has several good stories to tell in his Memories of an Old Collector. Of all objects of this kind, that which has claimed the largest share of public attention is the notorious "Tiara of Saitapharnes," which deceived several well-known authorities, and reposed for several years as a genuine antique in the Louvre, until the revelation in 1903 of the person of its ingenious author—a Russian Jew of Odessa.
The disclosure of this remarkable fraud was the climax of a long series of forgeries of ancient Greek jewellery from Southern Russia, which, purporting to be recovered from the Greek tombs of Olbia and Kertch, long renowned for their wealth in such objects, were purchased by more than one well-known collector. So keenly has the forger pursued his evil course in this particular domain, that, apart from that preserved in museums and in the cabinets of collectors whose personal judgment is sound on such matters, M. Eudel goes so far as to say that the greater portion of the antique jewellery extant is of recent fabrication.
Mediæval ornaments of all sorts are forged at the present day upon the Continent to a considerable extent, though less than are those of later times. One important centre of their production is Paris. Another, in earlier years in particular, was Frankfort, where visitors to watering-places on the Rhine have long been the victims of fraudulent vendors. Such mediæval objects, however well supported by a dealer's warranty of place and time of discovery, require, says Mr. King, to be examined by the amateur with a very suspicious and critical eye. Among other personal ornaments of this period that have received attention at the hands of the forger are the leaden badges known as pilgrims' signs. Many ingenious forgeries of the kind were produced about forty-five years ago, and purported to be brought to light by workmen engaged in excavations near the Thames in the City of London. These were in large part the work of two illiterate mud-rakers on the banks of the river; while articles of like kind were shortly afterwards made by two men known as "Billy and Charley," who manufactured a number of curious pendent medals of lead and "cock-metal."[192] The discovery in the Seine, about the same time, of many genuine pilgrims' signs led to the circulation also in France of a quantity of spurious objects of a similar nature.
Renaissance pendants, the prizes of the connoisseur, are favourite subjects for reproduction at the present day, for, unlike the earlier objects, they are not ill-adapted for personal use. Jewellery in the Cinquecento style has for several years past been made in large quantities at Vienna. These jewels are generally not in gold, like the works they profess to imitate, but in silver-gilt, and as a result their enamel is never of fine quality, their general appearance is not up to the standard of the old, and their workmanship is mostly very mechanical. Apart from these and similar works, made also in France and generally sold in jewellers' shops as modern productions, there are others which pretend to age. Though one seldom meets with examples that approach the best productions of the Renaissance, objects of the kind are occasionally imitated with such proficiency, that in collecting specimens of early jewellery in no instances is it necessary to exercise greater caution than in those of the Cinquecento.
Fine jewellery of the eighteenth century, now almost equally sought after—watches, chatelaines, rings, and brooches—has been multiplied in quantities during recent years. As the brooches of this date are very often mounted with rose-cut diamonds, care has been taken to employ stones cut in this manner. Their settings generally distinguish the copies. Again, as M. Eudel points out, when fine old diamond-work has been sent to be reset, the jeweller preserves the old mounts, sets them with modern stones or pastes, and sells them as genuine old work. For the purpose of furthering the deception complete parures purporting to be seventeenth or eighteenth century work are offered for sale in genuine old leather or shagreen cases. A set of jewels may even be made for the special purpose of fitting such a case, or an entirely new case constructed, and treated in such a manner as to give it an appearance of age.
CHAPTER XXXVII
MEMENTO MORI
"I will keep it,
As they keep deaths' heads in rings,
To cry memento to me."
THE study of the various forms of personal ornament by means of which the memory of the dead or of death itself has been preserved by the living is one which offers a wide field for investigation. The Egyptians enforced the precept "Memento Mori" by introducing at their banquets a small coffin containing the image of a corpse which, according to Herodotus, was shown to each guest. In classical times skeletons were rarely represented, though one is sculptured on a tomb at Pompeii.
The warning "Memento Mori" manifested itself in divers fashions in the Middle Ages, the most conspicuous being the famous "Dance of Death," which made its début in the fourteenth century, and was figured by Holbein in the sixteenth. Testimony of the desire of all to keep the warning constantly before the mind is borne by personal ornaments of various kinds displaying emblems of mortality. In order to arrive at the meaning of these crude emblems so often applied to objects of jewellery, regard should be paid to the feelings of the times that gave them birth.
During the latter period of the Middle Ages the grim and ascetic contemplation of death caused the artists of that period to represent it as the devil, the father of sin, horned and cloven-hoofed, carrying off the sinful souls and forcing them into the mouth of hell. But when during the fifteenth century "printing excited men's imaginations, when the first discovery of the ancient classics roused their emulation and stimulated their unrest, when the Renaissance in art increased their eagerness to express their thoughts and multiplied their method of expression,"[193] and their conscience was turned to the latter end and the unseen world, then at length did death appear, no longer as the father of sin, but altered into a familiar and human personification.
Side by side with the strange vigour and extraordinary joy in life that marked the period, there existed a great contempt for the value of life and a gross familiarity with death. It was Death himself, according to the imagination of the sixteenth century, who, always at hand, clutched men of every age and condition by the sleeve and hurried them all unwillingly away.
The emblems of death were always presented in close touch with the living. The forms they took—the skeleton, or simply the skull, or Death's head, with cross-bones—were rendered in the sixteenth century by both painter and sculptor; but it was reserved for the goldsmith—the sculptor and painter in one—to represent them on jewellery through the medium of the precious metals enriched with gems and coloured enamels. They figured on every kind of ornament. Brooches with enamelled skulls were fastened as enseignes upon the hat; golden jewels like funereal objects in shape of coffins holding enamelled skeletons hung from the neck; rosary beads, pomanders and watches in the form of human skulls were attached to the waist; and rings bearing Death's heads and other emblems were worn upon the fingers.
A great impetus was given to the use of such articles of adornment by Diana of Poitiers when she became mistress of Henry II of France. She was then a widow in mourning; and the complaisant Court not only adopted her black and white as the fashionable colour, but covered their personal ornaments with emblems of death.
Jewels of this description, it is clear, were not necessarily carried in remembrance of any special individual. With their legend "Memento Mori" they were simply reminders of Death in the abstract. As such they characterised exactly the temper of the time, and were quite commonly worn by the upper and middle classes, especially by those who affected a respectable gravity. At the time of which we now speak the personal badge or devise, an obscure expression of some particular conceit of its wearer, was at the height of fashion. In its elaboration the various emblems of death were largely put under contribution, their choice for the purpose being the outcome of the special disposition of those who adopted them. Perhaps the most notable instance of the representation of a badge of this kind is in Holbein's famous "Ambassadors," in the National Gallery. Here Jean de Dinteville, who stands on the left of the picture, wears a circular jewel formed of a white enamelled skull in a gold mount, pinned as an enseigne to the lower rim of his small black bonnet.
Amongst sundry ornaments bearing mortuary devices, there is a good example at South Kensington—a Memento Mori charm of enamelled gold in the form of a coffin containing a minutely articulated skeleton. It is English work of the Elizabethan period, and was found at Tor Abbey, Devonshire (Pl. XLIV, 16).
No article of decoration has been more extensively used as a "Memento Mori" or for memorial purposes than the finger ring. The association of the ring is largely with affairs of the heart, and lovers are united with it. And since the form itself is emblematic of eternity, so by this same token of affection has the memory of departed friends been kept green.
The sepulchral emblems referred to were not made use of for mediæval ornaments. But in the sixteenth century they were very frequent, especially on rings. One of the most remarkable specimens of the wonderful mastery over technical difficulties which stamps the goldsmith's work of this time is a "Memento Mori" ring of German work in the Waddesdon Bequest. Its bezel or top is in the form of a book, decorated at each corner with a diamond, emerald, sapphire, and ruby, with snakes and toads between them. In the centre is a death's head. The lid on opening discloses a recumbent figure with skull and hour-glass. On the shoulders of the ring, supporting the bezel, are figures of Adam and Eve representing The Fall and Expulsion from Eden. All the figures are enamelled in high relief, and though merely a fraction of an inch in size, are executed with extraordinary fidelity. A ring described as having belonged to Mary Stuart is in the possession of the Earl of Ilchester. Its bezel, composed of a large ruby cut in the form of a death's head and set with diamond eyes, is supported underneath by cross-bones in enamel. Woeiriot's beautiful collection of designs for rings, of the year 1561, contains a ring of this kind surmounted with a skull and cross-bones; and Gilles Légaré's Recueil of a century later has an engraving of similar pattern (Pl. XL).
English rings of the sixteenth century have a death's head carved in intaglio on carnelian, or sunk in the metal of the ring and sometimes filled with enamel. Around is the motto "Memento Mori," and similar expressions in Latin or in English (Pl. XXXVI, 12). A certain Agnes Hals whose will is dated 1554 bequeathed to her niece "my rynge of gold with the wepinge eie," and to her son "my rynge with the dead manes head."
From the commencement of the seventeenth century Memento Mori rings begin to be worn also as memorials of the departed, and bequests of money were frequently made for their purchase. The decoration of many of the rings of this period is very curious. On some the death's head in its natural shape is beautifully formed in enamel, has small diamond eyes, and is supported on each side by skeletons bent along the hoop of the ring. The bezel of others is of crystal in the shape of a coffin, the lid of which on being removed discloses a skeleton. Widows on the death of their husbands sometimes converted their wedding rings into memorial rings. This was done by engraving outside an elongated skeleton, the bones of which were brought into prominence by a background of black enamel.
Inside the memorial rings of the time was often a motto or posy, appropriate for the purpose, sometimes rhyming:—
Prepared be
To follow me;
or
I restless live, yet hope to see
That day of Christ, and then see thee.
Rings of this kind, commonly known as mourning rings, were frequently given, together with gloves and hat-bands, to those who attended at funerals. They were inscribed, in addition to a posy, with the initials of the deceased and the date. Evelyn at his son's funeral in 1658 distributed a number of rings with the motto "Dominus abstulit." At Pepys' funeral upwards of a hundred and thirty rings were given to friends and relatives.
Mention must be made, amongst other memorial jewellery, of the various objects worn in memory of Charles I. Most of these are finger rings containing a portrait of the ill-fated monarch, which were made and worn by Royalists after his execution. Some are so contrived that the portrait can only be discovered by opening a lid formed of a table diamond. They were doubtless used by those for whom devotion of the kind was dangerous. Other jewels worn in memory of the Royal Martyr were heart-shaped lockets, inscribed and decorated in a suitably funereal manner with skulls, cross-bones, and like emblems.
An important group of ornaments, dating from the time of Charles II to that of Queen Anne, are those in the form of small memorial brooches, lockets, bracelet clasps, buttons, and slides with loops at the back for attachment to a velvet band. They are of considerable interest in that they represent almost the only surviving examples of English jewellery of the time. The Franks Bequest in the British Museum contains several specimens. They usually have letters in a fine filigree of gold entwined in a monogram, laid on a ground of crimson silk, and covered with a thick crystal set in gold. The gold filigree, which is of extraordinary delicacy, is often laid on braids of hair arranged in various designs, and accompanied by the skull and cross-bones. The crystal covering is sometimes cut in table form, but is more often rose-cut. The locket surrounded with pearls shown on Plate XLIV has on its surface no less than a hundred facets.
Memorial rings of the same period have bezels with similar designs beneath a rose diamond or faceted crystal. Their hoops are mostly enamelled black on the shoulders. In the second quarter of the eighteenth century the mortuary emblems of skull and cross-bones in general disappear. The hoop of the ring is shaped in the form of a scroll or ribbon, and set with a small diamond, a coloured stone, or usually a white crystal. Around the hoop is inscribed in enamel the name and age of the deceased, and date of death. Black enamel was used for those who had been married; while white was employed for the unmarried—just as it was the practice at the funeral of an unmarried man or woman for the mourners and attendants to be clothed in white.
Mourning jewellery was extremely popular in England towards the end of the eighteenth and in the early part of the nineteenth century. The variety of design in objects of the kind then in use, and the ingenuity displayed in their production, may well be judged from a collection numbering upwards of one hundred and fifty specimens in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Some mementoes of the deceased are simply miniature portraits, as well as cameos and silhouettes, the miniature sometimes taking the form of a single eye set round with pearls or diamonds. But in most cases it appears to have been the custom to wear in lockets, brooches, and rings microscopic devices—works of infinite patience and skill—wrought in hair, with initials and other designs cunningly worked in seed pearls. There were also, sometimes, paintings in grisaille (Pl. XLVII, 2, 3). These often represented a lady in mourning garb weeping over a funeral urn, in the style of the ornament worn by Mr. Wemmick, the attorney's clerk in Great Expectations, of whom Dickens gives the following inimitable description: "I judged him to be a bachelor from the frayed condition of his linen, and he appeared to have sustained a good many bereavements; for he wore at least four mourning rings, besides a brooch representing a lady and a weeping willow at a tomb with an urn on it. I noticed, too, that several rings and seals hung at his watch chain, as if he were quite laden with remembrances of departed friends." Further on Mr. Wemmick himself describes his personal jewellery, and concludes by remarking: "I always take 'em. They're curiosities. And they're property. They may not be worth much, but, after all, they're property and portable.... My guiding-star always is, Get hold of portable property."
The painted brooches backed with hair and set round with pearls form, as a matter of fact, very pretty jewels, in spite of the sombreness of their subject and the trivial sentimentality of their mottoes, which run in this vein: "Whose hair I wear—-I loved most dear."
Mourning jewellery was usually set with pearls, garnets, or more often jet. The last, until a short while ago, was in universal favour, and was fashioned into all sorts of ornaments. It fortunately now meets with but little demand. The same applies to hair jewellery, of human hair woven in many intricate plaitings into brooches, rings, bracelets, and chains. The brooches of about the "forties" have a broad border inscribed with the word "Memory," etc., in Gothic letters on black enamel, and in the centre a panel of plaited hair. The custom of wearing ornaments composed of such sombre and unpleasing material has now to all intents and purposes ceased, though it is carried on to a certain extent in France, where ouvrages en cheveux in the form of bracelets and lockets are still worn as précieux souvenirs de famille.
After the middle of the nineteenth century the use of mourning rings and other memorial jewellery began to die out. The goddess Fashion, who throughout all ages has waged war on the productions of the goldsmith, has laid a heavier hand on these than on any other forms of personal ornament—a circumstance which accounts for the survival at the present day of a comparatively small proportion of the enormous quantity of objects of this description that must formerly have been produced. Most families from time to time have consigned to the melting-pot accumulations of these memorials of their predecessors; and those who have been long in the jeweller's business confess to the hundreds of such relics that they have broken up. It is to be hoped that the present-day revival may lead to the preservation of what remain of these quaint mementoes of our frail mortality.
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INDEX
[A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [Q], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [Y], [Z]
Ȧāh-Ḥetep, [3], [5]
À Becket, Thomas. See Thomas à Becket
Aberford (Yorks), [72]
Abingdon brooch, [60]
Acorn-shaped pendants, Phoenician, [10]
Acorn-shaped pendants, worn by Henry VIII, [206]
Acton, John, [302], [304]
Acus, xli, xlii, [60], [127]
Adalbert of Saxony, [137]
Adams (potter), [315]
Adriatic, [83]
" jewellery, [246], [347]
Ægean, [12]
Ægides, [6]
Aetites, [122]
Aglets, [268-9]
Agnus Dei, [72], [122]
Agnolo, Luca, [185]
Agrafes, [140]
Aigrettes, Hungarian, [198]
" jewelled, [230], [231]
" " sockets for, [230]
" 17 cent., [230], [231], [281], [290], [291], [303]
" 18 cent., [309], [312], [316], [317]
Aigulets, [268]
Aix-la-Chapelle, Treasury, [118], [139]
Albacete, [9]
Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, [194]
" VI, Duke of Bavaria, [248]
Albini, D. M., [309]
Alciatus, A., [223]
Aldegrever, H., [185], [193], [194], [250], [259]
Alençon, Pierre d', [343], [357]
Alexandria, [93]
Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, [158]
" II, Duke of Ferrara, [292]
Alfred the Great, [68], [69], [71]
" Jewel, [68], [69]
Algeria, Celtic brooch in, [76]
Algerian women, head-ornaments of, [9]
Alhstan, Bishop of Sherborne, [71]
Alicante, [9]
Allori, Alessandro, [350]
Altdorfer, A., [189]
Altoetting (Bavaria), [88]
Amadas, Robert, [208]
Ambassadors, jewellery given to, Eng., 17 cent., [306]
Amber in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [58]
" in ancient Irish jewellery, [42]
" in German peasant jewellery, [346]
" in early Italian jewellery, [24]
" in prehistoric jewellery, [39]
" in Roman jewellery, [30]
" in Romano-British jewellery, [45]
Ambergris, 125 n.
Amboise, Cardinal d', [199]
Amethystine quartz, beads of, in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [58]
Amethysts, 19 cent., [328], [329]
Amman, Jost, [270]
Amourette, [146]
Amphoræ, [8], [10]
Amphora-shaped ornaments, Greek, [16]
Amsterdam, Charles I's jewellery sent over to, [305]
Amulets, Egyptian, [2]
" Etruscan, [25]
" medl., [103], [122], [132]
" in medl. rings, [151]
" Roman, [29], [32]
" Romano-British, [47]
Ananizapta, [152]
Androuet Ducerceau, J., [201], [219], [241], [246], [265], [269]
Angell, John, [208]
Angles, [56]
Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [51], [56-74]
Ankles, rings for, [6]
Ann Boleyn, Q. of England, [212]
Anne of Austria, wife of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, [195]
" of Bohemia, Q. of England, [141]
" of Denmark, Q. of England, [268], [301]
Annunciation, on medl. morses, [139]
" on Renaiss. pendants, [244-5]
Anselm, [92]
Anthony, Dericke, [220]
Antioch, sack of, [33]
Antonio di Girolamo, [175]
Antwerp, corporation of goldsmiths, [155]
" engravers of designs for jewellery, [196]
" Hans of. See Hans.
" Museum, 227 n.
" port of, 16 cent., [167]
Annulus vertuosus, [147]
Aphrodite, [28]
Arabella Stuart, [299]
Arabs in Spain and Sicily, [84]
Ardagh chalice, [66]
Ark on Elizabethan jewellery, [255], [256]
Armada jewels, [217], [255]
Armagnacs, badge of, [110]
Armento, [16]
Armillæ, ancient British, [41]
" Roman, [30]
Armlet, Hunsdon, [218]
Armlets, xliv
" ancient Irish, [42]
" medl., [157-8]
" Roman, [30]
" Romano-British, [47]
Arphe, Juan de, [202]
Arrow heads, prehistoric, as charms, in Etruscan jewellery, [25]
" " " medl. jewellery, [122]
Art Nouveau, [337], [338]
Arundel, Eleanor, Countess of, [113]
Ashbee, C. R., [339]
Ashmole, Elias, [238]
Ashmolean Museum. See Oxford
Asia Minor, [8], [14]
Assyria, [7], [8]
Assyrian art, [12]
Athelney, Isle of, [68]
Athene, [16]
Athens, National Museum, [11]
Attavante, M., [175]
Augsburg, goldsmiths, [192]
" jewellery made at, [202], [203], [205]
" in 16 cent., [180], [189], [198], [210]
Augustine, St., [65], [66]
Augustus, Emperor, cameo of, [103]
" II, Elector of Saxony, [310], [311]
Aulmonière, [165]
Autun, Gallo-Roman enamelled jewellery found at, [46]
Auvergne, peasant jewellery, [342-3]
Babelon, E. C. F, [266]
Bacchus, [24]
Backwell, Edward, [305]
Bacon, Sir F., [100]
Bactria, [51]
Baden, Margraves of, [250], [261]
Badges, [116], [365]
" for hats, medl., [107-12]
" English, [16-17] cent., [257]
" pendent, medl. [110]
" " Spanish, 17 cent., [204]
Bags, at girdles, Anglo-Saxon, [63]
Bague, [258]
Bagues à trois grains, [73]
Bain, P., [282]
Baldrick, [93], [164]
Baldung, Hans. See Grien
Baldwin, K. of Jerusalem, [119]
Baltic, amber from, in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [58]
Balzac, H. de, [331]
Bandeau, French, 19 cent., [329]
" Italian, 15 cent., [107]
Bannatyne Club, [220]
Bapst, G., [335]
Barbarian tribes, migrations of, [49]
Barbaric jewellery of Europe, [49-55]
Barbor jewel, [218], [254]
" William, [254]
Barcelona, goldsmiths of, [202], [204]
Barclay, A., [236]
Baroncelli, Pierantonio, Maria, wife of, [114], [286]
Barnfield, R., [265]
Barrows, or graves, Anglo-Saxon, [57]
Bars of girdles, medl., 162 n.
Basalt, [5]
Basil, xlv
Basil the Macedonian, Emperor, [34]
Basle, Historical Museum, [192]
Basse-taille enamel. See Enamel
Bast, [6]
Batrachites, [151]
Battersea enamel, [320]
Bauer, Hermann, [339]
Baumann, D., [309]
Bavaria, Dukes of, [194], [248]
Bavarian National Museum. See Munich
Baudrier, [164]
Beaded work, 19 cent., [327]
Beads, Anglo-Saxon, [58]
" or balls of gold, on Anglo-Saxon rings, [73]
" ancient British, [40]
" " Irish, [42]
" Egyptian, [4-6]
" filigree, for perfumes, [265]
" glass, Romano-British, [45]
" jet, Romano-British, [47]
" Phoenician, [10]
" Roman, [29]
" rosary, [124-5]
Beatrice D'Este, Duchess of Milan, [172]
Beams, of gypcières, [165]
Beaumont and Fletcher (quoted), [265]
Bede, The Venerable, [67]
Bees, gold, jewelled, [53]
Belgium, peasant jewellery, [345-6]
Belisarius, [33]
Bells, hung from medl. girdles, [164]
" " Renaiss. pendants, [250]
Belts, xlv, xlvi
" Anglo-Saxon, [63]
" medl., [159-65]
" " resemblence to fillets, [105]
" military, medl., [163-4]
Bentzen, J., [284]
Berengaria, of Navarre, Q. of England, xliii, [128]
Beresford-Hope cross, [36]
Berghem, Louis de, [209], [277]
Berkeley Castle, [73], [218], [253], [265], [266]
" Elizabeth, Lady, dau. of Lord Hunsdon, [218]
" family, [274]
" heirlooms, [218]
" Thomas, Lord, [116]
Berlin, Crown Treasury, [251]
" iron jewellery made in, [330]
" Museums, [3], [9], [139]
" " pictures in, [90], [106], [168], [261]
Bernal, Ralph, [133]
Berne, [210]
" Museum, [64]
Bernhard III, Margrave of Baden, [261]
Bettystown, Co. Louth, [78]
Betnüsse, [125]
Beuvray, Mont, near Autun, [46]
Bezel, xlv
Bezoar stone, [122]
Bibracte, 46 n.
Bijouterie, [277]
"Billy and Charley," [360]
Bilston enamel, [320]
Bindesböll, T., [339]
Birckenhultz, P., [231], [234], [281]
Birds on Teutonic jewellery, [57], [58]
" " Renaiss. pendants, [249]
Birmingham, steelwork, [315], [319]
Bisamapfel, 275 n.
Black Sea, [14]
Blondus. See Le Blon.
Boccardi, Giovanni di Guiliano, [175]
Bodkins (hair-pins), Renaiss., [232], [233]
Bodleian Library. See Oxford.
Boehmer, [318]
Boethius, [100]
"Boglars," [198]
Bohemia, medl. pendants, [121]
" Renaiss. jewellery, [188]
Boîte à portrait, [320]
Bollin, M., [339]
Bologna, Church of S. Maria della Misericordia, [170]
" Picture Gallery, [170]
Bömmel, W. H., [309]
Bonny, Louis, [338]
Books, pendent to girdle, [272-4]
Bordier, P., [304]
Bordone, Paris, [263]
Borghese, Marie Pauline, Princess, [329]
Borgia, Cæsar, [100]
Bossange, [318]
Bossington (near Stockbridge), [73]
Bosworth Jewel, [219]
Bothwell, Earl of, [221]
Botticelli, Sandro, [169]
Boucheron, Messrs., [340]
Boulton and Watt, [315]
Bourchier, Lord, [110]
Bouquet, D., [297]
Bouquets, jewelled, 17 cent., [281], [290]
" " on the breast, 18 cent., [318]
Bouquets d'orfévrerie, [295]
Bourdon, Pierre, [309]
Bourguet, Jean, [309], [320]
Bow, jewelled, on breast, 17 cent., [204], [294]
" " " " 18 cent., [308], [318]
Bow-shaped brooches, Romano-British, [46]
Bowles, Thomas, [310]
Boyvin, René, [201], [265]
Bracelets, xliv
" Byzantine, [37]
" clasps, memorial, English, [17-18] cent., [368]
" Egyptian, [6]
" Etruscan, [25]
" Greek, [10]
" hair, 19 cent., [331]
" ancient Irish, [42]
" medl., [157-8]
" Renaiss., [264-7]
" " designs for, [265], [269]
" Roman, [30]
" Romano-British, [47]
" 17 cent., [294]
" 18 cent., [309], [313], [319], [320]
" 19 cent., [329]
Brachiale, [30]
Bracteæ, Greek, [19]
Bracteate coins, in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [59]
Bracteates, gold, [13]
Brandenburg, Fred. William, Elector of, [238]
Brantôme, [181], [200]
"Bravery," [299]
Braybrooke collection of rings, [264]
Brazil diamonds, [351]
Breast ornaments, medl., [135], etc.
" 17 cent., [204], [294]
" 18 cent., [308], [318]
Bremen, Kunsthalle, [190]
"Brethren," "The Three." See "Brothers"
Briceau, [309]
Briolettes, [291], [317], [343]
Bristol diamond, [259], [357]
Britain, invasion of, by Teutonic races, [56]
" Roman occupation of, [44]
British Isles, prehistoric jewellery, [39]
British Museum. See London
Britons, [39]
Broche, [127]
Broighter, near Limavady, [43]
Bromsgrove Church, [154]
Bronze Age, [39]
" ornaments, British, [39], [41], [45]
Bronzino, Angelo, [233]
Brooches, xl-xliv
" Anglo-Saxon, xlii, xliii, [50], [59-62], [70]
" Byzantine, [36], [37], [70]
" Celtic, xlii-xliv, [74-9], [131]
" circular, xlii, xliv
" cruciform, xlii, [61]
" disc-shaped, xlii, xliii
" Flemish-Burgundian, 15 cent., [143-6]
" Greek, [18], [19]
" hair, 19 cent., [331]
" hat, [108]. See also Enseignes
" by Holbein, [212]
" Italian, 15 cent., [174]
" Luckenbooth, [133-4], [165]
" medl., [121], [127], [144]
" " English, [93], [94]
" " inscriptions on, [128-30]
" " pectorals, [135-46]
" memorial, English, [17-18] cent., [368]
" penannular, xlii, xliii, [74-9]
" radiated, [63]
" Renaiss., [267]
" ring-brooch, xlii, xliv, xlv, [62], [127-34]
" Romano-British, [45-7]
" safety-pins, xli-xliii, [41]
" Scandinavian, [62]
" Scottish, [131-4]
" on sleeves, [267]
" 17 cent., [298]
" 18 cent., [309], [312]
" See also Fibulæ
Brosamer, Hans, [193], [198], [205], [250]
"Brothers," "The Three Brothers," [209], [210], [300]
Brueghel, Jan, [287]
Bruges, [89], [114], [277]
" goldsmith's shop in, 15 cent., [155]
" port of, 15 cent., [167]
Brunswick, Dorothea, Elizabeth, and Hedwig, Princesses of, [245]
Brussels, Musée du Cinquantenaire, [106], [271]
" Alexander of, [208]
Bruyn, Abraham de. See De Bruyn
" Bartholomäus, [189]
Bry, Theodor de, [195], [196], [219]
Brythons, [39]
Bucharest, Museum of Antiquities, [52]
Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, [210], [230], [235], [300]
Buckle, xlv, xlvi
" design for, by Aldegrever, [194]
" " " " de Bry, [196]
" " " " Dürer, [191]
" -plate, xlvi, [159], [160]
Buckles, Anglo-Saxon, [63]
" medl., [159-60]
" pinchbeck, [316]
" shoe, 18 cent., [321]
" steel, [315]
" stock, 18 cent., [322]
" Teutonic, [64]
" 17 cent., [298]
" 18 cent., [310], [312], [322]
Buda-Pesth, National Museum, [112],
[157], [198]
Bugles, [10], [319]
Bull, H. de. See De Bull
Bullæ, Etruscan, [24], [25]
" Roman, [29]
Bulliot, J. G., 46 n.
Buonaparte, Caroline, Q. of Naples, [329]
Burgh, Hebert de, [151]
Burgkmair, H., [189]
Burgundian Court, luxury of, [88-90]
Burgundians (Gothic tribe), [50]
Burgundy, Dukes of, [88-9], [114], [143]
Bussy d'Amboise, 123 n.
"Butterflies," [316]
Buttons, jet, Romano-British, [47]
" memorial, English [17-18] cent., [368]
" Renaiss., [267-8]
" steel, [315]
" 18 cent., [319], [320]
Byron, Lord, [331]
Byzantine, cloisonné enamel, [66]
" influence on medl. jewellery, [83-5], [157]
" jewellery, [33-8]
Byzantium, [33]
C., A., [284]
Cabalistic inscriptions on medl. rings, [152]
Cabochon stones, [88], [96], [97]
Cadboll brooches, [77]
Cære, [25]
Caillard, J., [282]
Caillou d' Alençon, [343]
" du Rhin, [357]
Cairngorms, [133]
Cairo, Museum, [3], [5]
Callot, J., [282]
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, [225]
" King's College, [115]
Camden, W., [94]
Cameos, antique, in medl. jewellery, [138]
" in bracelets, Renaiss., [264], [266]
" in bracelets, 18 cent., [320]
" Elizabethan, [217-18]
" medl. use of antique, [101-4]
" in mourning jewellery, [369]
" Renaiss., [226]
" " enseignes, [227-8]
" " pendants, [245-6]
" Roman, [30]
" 19 cent., [326-31]
Campbells of Glenlyon, [132]
Canning, Lord, [249]
Canosa, [70]
Canterbury Cathedral, 108 n., [109]
" " Chapel of St. Thomas à Becket, [140]
Canterbury Tales, [161], etc.
Cappello, Bianca, [233], [350]
Caracts, [132]
Caract rings, [152]
Caradosso, [168], [227]
Caravel, or carvel, [246]
Carberry Hill, [221]
Carcan, [317]
Carcanets, [114]
" Renaiss., [239]
Carlyle, T., [318]
Carmichael, Sir T. D. Gibson, [224]
Caroto, G., [172]
Carrand Collection. See Florence, Museo Nazionale
Carteron, S., [205]
Cassel Gallery, [296]
Cassolette, 275 n.
Castellani, [22], [346], [359]
" Alessandro, [333], [334]
" Augusto, [333], [334]
" Fortunato Pio, [333], [334]
" brooch, [70]
Cast-iron jewellery, 19 cent., [330-1]
Catherine Parr, Q. of England, [252]
Caucasus, [50]
Cavalcant, John, [208]
Ceinture, [105], [159]
" ferrée, [161]
Ceinturier, [270]
Cellini, B., [21], [22], [169], [171], [179], [183-6], [192], [196], [197], [199], [201],
[202], [208], [222], [227], [228], [241], [273], [278], [351]
Celtic brooch, [74], [75-9], [131]
" jewellery, [11], [39]
" Period (late), [39], [43]
Celts, [40]
Cercles, [93], [105]
"Cerro de los Santos," [9]
Cervetri, [25]
Cesarini, Gabriele, [228]
Chains, ancient Irish, [43]
" Egyptian, [5]
" Phoenician, [9]
" neck, 19 cent., [331]
Chains, worn round the neck. See also Necklaces and Neck-chains
Chalke, Agnes, [106]
Chamberlain, John, [299]
Chamillart, Mdme de, [314], [320]
Chansons, [152]
Chantilly, [168], [185]
Chape of girdle, xlvi, [160], [271]
Chapeau montabyn (montauban), [224], [231]
Chapelet, [125]
Chapeletz, [93], [105]
Chaperon, [156], [229]
Chaplets, medl., [105]
Chardin, Sir John, [278], [305]
Charity, figure of, on Renaiss. pendants, [244]
Charlemagne, [55], [65], [83], [84], [118]
Charles I, K. of England, [210], [219], [230], [288], [300], [304], [305], [354]
" I, K. of England, earrings of, [235], [354]
" I, K. of England, memorial jewellery of, [367]
" II, K. of England, [292], [305]
" V, K. of France, [88], [199]
" " " cameo of, [103], [130]
" VIII, K. of France, [199]
" IX " " [199], [200]
" the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, [107], [209], [231]
" the Great, Emperor of the West. See Charlemagne
Charlotte, Q. of England, [313], [317]
Charms, [99-104], [111-120]
Chartres, Treasury of, [103]
Châteaubriand, Countess of, [181]
Chatelaines, xlvii
" Anglo-Saxon, [63]
" medl., [161]
" pinchbeck, [316]
" 17 cent., [298]
" 18 cent., [310], [312], [313], [322], [323]
Chaton, xlv
Chaucer, [93], [94], [109], [129], 130 n., [164]
Chelsea, ring found at, [73]
Chepstow, Monmouthshire, [46]
Chéron, [314]
Chiflet, J. J., [53]
Child, Sir Francis, [305], [306]
Child's Bank, [306]
Childeric I, K. of the Franks, [51], [52], [53]
" " ring of, [63]
Chlotaire II, K. of the Franks, [59]
Christian V, K. of Denmark, [238]
Christianity, introduction of, change in jewellery owing to, [65], [66]
" introduction of into Ireland, [75]
Christie's Auction Rooms, [247], [256]
Christina, Q. of Sweden, [284]
Christopher, St., [142]
Christus, Petrus, [155], [222], [263]
Ciampoli, Carlo, [309], [317]
Cingulum, [163]
Circlets, xxxix
" medl., [106]
Clanricarde, Marquess of, [249]
Clarendon brooch, [78]
Clasps, xl
" of girdle, xlv, xlvii
" " medl., [160], [163]
" of mantle, medl., [140], [141]
" 17 cent., [298]
" 18 cent., [310], [312]
Clifford, Lord, [354]
Cloth of Gold, Field of, [207], [237]
Cloisonné enamel. See Enamel
" inlay, [3], [35], [50], [56]
Coats-of-arms on rings, [31], [153]
Cobra snake, [2]
Coello, A. S., [294]
Coiffure, Phoenician, [9]
" See also Head-ornaments
Coins in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [59]
" in Byzantine jewellery, [36]
" in Roman jewellery, [30], [32]
Colbert, J. B., [282]
Collar, gold, ancient Irish, [43]
" of Order of Golden Fleece, [90]
" of Lord Mayor of London, [117]
" SS collar, [116-17]
Collars, Egyptian, [5]
" medl., [113-117]
" See also Necklaces
Collaert, H., [194], [196], [197], [234], [247]
Collet, xlv
Collier of Marie Antoinette, [318]
Cologne Cathedral, [111], [145]
Cologne, Episcopal museum, [145]
" Wallraf-Richartz museum, [145]
Columban, [66]
Combs, Empire, 19 cent., [328]
" jewelled, medl., [107]
" 19 cent., [329]
Comines, Philip de, [109], [110]
Commonwealth, England, [305]
Compostella, [109]
" shrine of St. James, [91]
Conques, [102], [137]
" Treasury, [112], [137]
Consolavera, J. B. de, [208]
Constantine, [33], [226]
Constantinople, [33], [34], [49]
" foundation of, [33]
" sack of, [38]
Coral, in Dutch peasant jewellery, [345]
" medl. use of, [123]
" 19 cent., [328]
Corbeil, Our Lady of, [137]
Corbizi, Litti di Filippo, [175]
Cornaro, Catarina, [264]
Cornette, [107]
Cornish diamonds, [357]
Coronals, Italy, 15 cent., [169]
" medl., [106]
" round hat, [224]
Coronets, 106 n.
" medl., [106]
" 19 cent., [328]
Corsage, jewelled, [308]
Cosse de pois ornament, [281], [293], [297]
Costantini, G. B., [284]
Côtehardi, [267]
Coulant, [342], [345]
Counterfeit, [355]
" stones sold to Henry VIII, [208]
Courroye, [270]
Coventry, St. Mary's Hall, [115]
" ring, [150]
Cramp, rings worn against, [152]
Cranach, Lucas, [189], [238], [250], [259], [261], [264]
Crapaudine, [151]
Crete, [8]
Crimea, [9], [12], [14], [50]
Crivelli, Carlo, [167]
" Lucrezia, [172]
Cromwell, Oliver, [293], [294], [305]
" Thomas, [208], [213]
Crosby, Sir John, [115]
Cross, pendent, Byzantine, [36]
" " medl., [118]
" " peasant, [342]
" " Renaiss., [242-3]
" the True, relics of, [118]
" Visigothic (Guarrazar), [54]
Crotalia, [28]
Crown, Alfred Jewel, as ornament of a, [69]
" of Thorns, relic of, [118], [119]
Crowns, xxxix, [106]
" Byzantine, [35]
" Greek, [17]
" Mycenæan, [11]
" Scandinavian peasant, [346]
" Visigothic, [53], [54]
Croy, Celtic brooch from, [77]
Crusaders, [34]
Crusades, influence on jewellery, [101]
" jewellery brought back from, [84], [93]
Cryspyn, John, [208]
Crystal, [313], [342], [343], [347], [356], [357]
" of Lothair, [139]
Cuir bouilli, [97]
Cunynghame, H. H., [35], [86], [339]
Cupreous glaze, [2]
Cuthbert, St., [68]
Cyprus, [8], [10], [12], [21]
D., A., [285]
Dagobert, K. of the Franks, [155], [222]
Dalton, O. M., 34 n, 51 n.
Dance of Death, [363]
Danes, invasion of, [68]
Danube, Irish missionaries on, [67]
" valley, enamel-work, [198]
Dark Ages, [51]
Darnley, Henry, [217]
" jewel, [217], [257]
Dartrey, Earl of, [288]
Dashûr, [5]
Dauffe, [319]
Dauphin, badge of, [110]
Davenport, C. J. H. (quoted), [71]
David, Gerard, [140], [155], [263]
" J. L., [326], [329]
Davies, G. S. (quoted), [351], [352]
Davillier, Baron C., [202], [249]
Davy, William, [208]
Dawson, Nelson, [339]
Death's head, [364-7]
De Boot, A., [100]
Debruge-Duménil collection, [130], [245]
De Bruyn, Abraham, [197]
De Bull, H., [284]
Defontaine, J., [282]
De Heem, Jan, [287]
De Heere, Lucas, [252], [352]
De la Quewellerie. See La Quewellerie
Delaune, Etienne, [197], [201], [272]
De Leeuw, John, [155]
Demi-ceint, or demysent, [164]
Desborough (Northants), [74]
Devant de corsage, [318]
Devices, [223]
" on Elizabethan jewellery, [216-7]
" Renaiss., sewn to garments, [268]
Devise, [223], [365]
Dextrocherium, [30]
Diadems, xxxix
" Byzantine, [34]
" Egyptian, [3]
" Etruscan, [23]
" Greek, [16], [17]
" medl., [106]
" " English, [93]
" Phoenician, [9]
" Roman, [28]
" 19 cent., [328]
Diamant d' Alençon, [343]
Diamond, [276-9]
" of Charles the Bold, [209]
" earrings of Marie Antoinette, [317]
" necklace of Marie Antoinette, [318]
Diamonds, the brilliant, [279]
" Bristol, [235], 259 and n.
" cutting of, [230], [277-9]
" false, [235], [313], [314], [357]
" in pictures, [351]
" the "point," [277], [278]
" pointed, in rings, [260]
" in Renaiss. jewellery, [179]
" in rings, 17 cent., [296]
" rose cut, [282], [310]
" " in Flemish peasant jewellery, [345]
" "roses," [278-9]
" "table," [278-9]
" taille en seize, [279]
" use of, in early jewellery, [277]
" in 18 cent. jewellery, [308], [319]
Dickens, Charles (quoted), [369]
Dietrich, [339]
Dinanderie, 112 n.
Dinglinger, George Friedrich, [310]
" Johann Melchior, [310]
" " " (junior), [311]
Dinteville, Jean de, [365]
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, [20]
Dionysos, [24]
Diptychs, pendent, medl., [119-20]
Directory, [325-6]
Discs of gold. See Plates of gold
Dog (Talbot), on Renaiss. pendants, [249]
"Dombild," [145]
Dorchester House. See London
Douce, Francis, [53], [264]
Douglas, Lady Margaret, [217]
Douffet, Gerard, [296]
Dove, symbol of Holy Ghost, [249]
" in peasant jewellery, [343]
Dowgate Hill brooch, [69]
Dragon, Renaiss. pendant in form of, [249]
Drake, Sir Francis, [253], [266], [354]
" Sir F. Fuller-Eliott, [218], 230 n., [253]
" jewels, [218], 230 n., [353]
Drawings for jewellery by Barcelona goldsmiths, [202]
Drawings for jewellery by Sir F. Child, [306]
" " by Dürer, [190]
" " by Holbein, [210-213]
" " by Lulls, [302]
" " by Mielich, [195]
" " by the Santini family, [308]
Drury Fortnum. See Fortnum
Dresden, Picture Gallery, [261]
" Grüne Gewölbe, [251], [311]
Dress, ornaments sewn on, ancient Irish, [43]
" " " Renaiss., [268]
Dress-fasteners, prehistoric, xliii
" " ancient British, [41]
Dressche, Reinecke van, [139]
Du Barry, Madame, [317]
Du Bellay, G., [207]
Dublin, Irish National Museum, [42], [44], [77], [78]
" National Gallery of Ireland, [250]
" Royal Irish Academy, [42], [78]
" Trinity College, [78]
Dubois, Paul, [339]
Ducerceau. See Androuet Ducerceau
Duflos, August, [312], [317]
Du Fresnoy, C. A., [353]
Dunstan, St., [67]
Dürer, A., [185], [187], [190], [191], [250]
Du Suau de la Croix, Comte, [338]
Duvet, Jean, [200]
"Eagle Fibula," [135]
Eagle stones, [122]
Eanred, [72]
Earle, J., [69]
Ear-picks, Renaiss., [250-1]
Earrings, xxxix, xl
" Anglo Saxon, [58]
" ancient British, [40]
" Byzantine, [35], [37]
" " in Middle Ages, [112]
" Egyptian, [4]
" English, [16-17] cent., [234-5]
" Etruscan, [23]
" Frankish, [58]
" Greek, [15], [16]
" medl., [112], [113]
" " English, [92]
" worn by men, [234-5], [332]
" Merovingian, [58]
" Phoenician, [9]
" Renaiss., [233-5]
" Roman, [28-9]
" 17 cent., [291]
" 18 " [309], [317]
" 19 " [328]
East Anglia, [60]
Edict of Nantes, [305]
Edinburgh, High Street, [133]
" St. Giles' Church, [133]
" National Museum of Antiquities, [77], [132], [150], [165]
Edmer, [92]
Edward the Confessor, K. of England, [92], [102], [118]
" I, K. of England, [67], [92]
" II " [93], [162]
" III " [93], [121], [161], [162]
" IV " [115], [116]
" VI " [218], [219]
" " " Prayer Book of, [274]
" VII " [217], [224]
Effigies, sepulchral, jewellery on, [82]
Eglentine, Prioress, jewel worn by, [129]
Egyptian jewellery, [1-7], [49]
Elché, "Lady of," [9], [10]
Electrum, primitive Italy, [24]
Elenchi, [28]
Eligius, St. See Eloy
Elizabeth, Q. of Bohemia, [301]
" " England, [213-20], [232], [234], [237], [239], [251-256],
[265], [267], [269], [273], [301]
" Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, [172]
Eloy, or Eloi, St., [67], [155]
Emeralds, Spanish, [205]
Empire jewellery, [326]
Enamel, [49]
" Battersea, [320]
" basse-taille, [87], [97], [138]
" Bilston, [320]
" Byzantine, [35]
" Celtic, [41]
" champlevé, English, 16 cent., [211]
" " medl., [85], [138]
" " Romano-British, [45]
" " on rings, 17 cent., [295]
" " Spanish, 17 cent., [204]
" " [16-17] cent., 283 etc.
" " 17 cent., [292]
" cloisonné, [70], [136], [283]
" " Anglo-Saxon, [66], [68]
" " Byzantine, [35], [36]
" " medl., [84]
" " Tara brooch, [66], [78]
" Egyptian, [3]
" émail en blanc, [87]
" émail en résille sur verre, [273], [293], [296]
" émail en ronde bosse, [87], [225]
" English 16 cent., [216]
" " 18 " [313]
" "filigree enamel," (Draht-Email), [198], [347]
" French, 18 cent., [311], [312]
" Gallo-Roman, [46]
" "gold wire," [224]
" Greek, [13], [15], [17]
" Hispano-Moresque, [205]
" Irish, [66], [78]
" Limoges, medl., [86]
" " Renaiss. for enseignes, [229]
" "Louis Treize," [286], [289], [293]
" medl., [84-88]
" opaque, French, 16 cent., [199], [200]
" painted, [346], [347]
" " on peasant jewellery, [344], [347]
" " 17 cent., [285], [292], [293], [295]
" Renaiss., [180]
" Romano-British, [45]
" Toutin firing an, [285], [289]
" transluscent, 17 cent., [283]
" " 18 " [312]
" " See Basse-taille
" white, émail en blanc, [87]
" 17 cent., general, [283], [298]
" " on watches, [297]
" 18 cent., [312]
" 19 cent., revival of, [337]
England, medl. jewellery, [91-98]
" 16 cent. jewellery, [206-221]
" 17 " " [299-306]
" 18 " " [310]
Engraved designs for jewellery, English, 18 cent., [310], [312]
Engraved designs for jewellery, French, 16 cent., [200], [201]
Engraved designs for jewellery, Flemish, 16 cent., [196], [197]
Engraved designs for jewellery, German, 16 cent., [186-7], [191-4]
Engraved designs for jewellery, 17 cent., [280-9], [291-8]
Engraved designs for jewellery, 18 cent., [308-10], [312], [320]
Engraved gems, antique, in medl. jewellery, [148], [153], [154]
" " medl. use of, [101-4]
" " in rings, Romano-British, [47]
" " 16 cent., [227], [245]
" " 19 cent., [326], [327]
Enkomi, Cyprus, [12]
Enseignes, [156], [169]
" medl., [107-111], [146]
" Renaiss., [222-230], [267]
" with skulls, [364], [365]
"Equipage," [323]
Erasmus, D., [109]
Eros, [15], [16]
Escarcelle, [165]
"Esclavo," [204]
Escoffion, [107], [156]
Esguillettes, [269]
Espreuves, [123]
Essen, Treasury of, [143]
" medl. brooches at, [143-145]
Essence d'orient, [358]
Estampes, Duchess of, [181]
Este, Beatrice d', Duchess of Milan. See Beatrice
" Isabella d', Marchioness of Mantua. See Isabella
Estrennes, [153], [213]
Ethelbert, K. of Kent, [65]
Ethelswith, [71]
" ring of, [72]
Ethelwulf, K. of Wessex, [71]
" ring of, [72]
Ethred, [72]
Eton College, [115]
Etruscan goldsmiths, [8]
" jewellery, [20-26], [333]
Étuis, Eng., 18 cent., [309], [310], [323]
" pinchbeck, [316]
" Renaiss., [272]
Eudel, P., [360], [362]
Euphues, [273]
Eustachio, Fra, [175]
Evans, A. J., [43]
" Sir J., [47], [62], [296]
Evelyn, John, [298], [299], [367]
Evil Eye, [164], [250]
"Exeter Book," [57]
Exmewe, Thomas, [208]
Ex voto, [136]
Eyck, van, [106]
" John van, [90], [155]
Eyelets, Renaiss., [268]
Eymaker, [310]
Façon d'Angleterre, [162]
Fahrner, T., [339]
Faience, Egyptian, [2], [7]
Falize, Lucien, [335]
Falkland, Viscount, [295]
Fane, Sir S. Ponsonby, [322]
Fans, Renaiss., suspended to girdles, [272]
Fashion, influence on jewellery, [28], [80], [178], [370]
Fausse montre, [324]
Faversham, [57]
Fay, J. B., [312], [317]
Feathers, jewelled, as aigrettes, 17 cent., [231]
Feather jewel for hats, English, 17 cent., [300]
Fedeli, Ercole, [158]
Feder, von, [190]
Federigo of Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, [171]
"Felicini" altar-piece, [170]
Felicini, Bartolomeo, [170]
Felspar, green, [3]
Fenwolf, Morgan, [208]
Ferdinand of Tirol, Archduke, [188]
Ferenzuola, Giovanni da, [185]
Fermail, [93], [128], [131], [137], [141]
Fermailleurs, [131]
Ferronnière, [172], [328]
Fessey, J., [310]
Fibulæ, xlii, xliii, [127]
" Anglo-Saxon, [59], [127]
" Byzantine, [34]
" Etruscan, [24]
" Roman, xlii
" Romano-British, xlii, [46]
" "spectacle," xlii
" See also Brooches
Field of Cloth of Gold, [207], [237]
Filigree, [19]
" Byzantine, [35]
" " influence in Europe, [35]
" Etruscan, [24]
" gold, in Portuguese jewellery, [347]
" gold, in 17 cent. memorial jewellery, [368]
" Greek, [13], [16]
" in Jewish wedding rings, [262]
" silver, in German peasant jewellery, [346]
Fillets, xxxix
" Etruscan, [23]
" medl., [105]
" Phoenician, [9]
" Roman, [28]
Finger rings. See Rings
Finger-ring Lore, [296]
Finiguerra, Tommaso (Maso), [168]
Firens, P., [293]
Firmacula, [92], [138]
Fisher, Alexander, [339]
Fitzhardinge, Lord, [73], [274]
Flach, Thomas, [310]
Flanders, influence of, in 15 cent., [142]
Fleece, Golden, [24]
" " Order of, [90]
Flemish-Burgundian jewellery, [143-6], [213]
Flemish brooches, 15 cent., [146]
" paintings, jewellery in, [89-90]
" peasant jewellery, [345]
" Renaiss. " [196], [197]
Fleurs-de-lis, [93], [106]
Florence, [167]
" Bargello. See Museo Nazionale
" Cathedral, [175]
" Museo Nazionale (Bargello), [130]
" Museo Nazionale (Bargello), Carrand collection, [145]
" Pitti Gallery, [170], [233], [294]
" Spedale di Santa Maria Nuova, [114]
" Uffizi Gallery, [114], [117], [144], [168], [172], [264], [286], [294]
" Uffizi Gallery, Galleria delle Gemme, 228 n.
" 15 cent. jewellery, [174]
Flötner, Peter, [193]
Flower, pendant called, [210], [217]
Flowers, natural, designs in jewellery, [283], [285-9]
Fob-pocket, [298], [323], [324], [332]
Foil, gold, Anglo-Saxon, [60]
Foils for precious stones, [60-63], [180], [260], [351], [355], [356]
Fontenay, E., [4], [48], [72], [320], [335]
Fontevraud, [141]
Foppa Ambrogio, called Caradosso, [168]
Forgeries, [313], [355-62]
Fornarina, [233]
Fortnum collection. See Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
Foulc, E., [263]
Fouquet, Georges, [338]
Foy, René, [338]
Foy, St., [112], [136], [137]
Foyle, Lough, [43]
France, barbaric jewellery, [56]
" medl. jewellery, [88]
" peasant jewellery, [342], [343]
" Renaiss. jewellery, [199-201]
" 17 cent. jewellery, [276]
" 18 " " [309]
" 19 " " [325]
Francesca, Piero della, [171]
Francia, F., [169], [170], [210]
Francis I, K. of France, [172], [181], [199], [200], [208], [227]
Frankfort-on-the-Main, [195]
" Rothschild collection, [197]
" Städel Institute, [233]
Franks, the, [56]
Franks, Sir A. W., [72], [185]
" " See also London, British Museum, Franks Bequest
Frauds, [355-62]
Freeman, John, [208]
Friessler, L., [339]
Fritillaries, painted on enamel, [287]
Froment-Meurice, [331]
Frontlets, Egyptian, [3]
" Greek, [16]
" 19 cent., [328]
Fruit-shaped pendants, medl., [125]
Frye, Thomas, [317]
Fugger family, [188]
" Jacob, [210]
Fuller-Eliott-Drake. See Drake
Fuseli, H., [312]
Gaillard, Lucien, [338]
Gallo-Roman jewellery, [46]
Garlande, Jean de, [131]
Garnets, in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [57], [58], [60], [61], [63], [67]
" in barbaric jewellery, [49], [53]
" in mourning jewellery, [370]
" in Swiss peasant jewellery, [346]
Garter, Order of, [254]
" " pendent "George" of, [302]
Gaudees (gauds), [124], [125]
Gaskin, Arthur, [339]
Gaul, [50]
" invasion of by Teutonic races, [56]
Gaveston, Piers, [67], [93]
Geiss, [330]
Gems, engraved, antique, in medl. jewellery, [148], [153], [154]
" " in enseignes, 16 cent., [227]
" " in girdles, [271]
" " in pendants, 16 cent., [245]
" " in pendants, 17 cent., [291], [292]
" " 19 cent., [326-31]
" sewn on dress, Byzantine, [34]
" See also Engraved gems
George, St., enseigne of, [224], [225]
"George," of the Order of Garter, [302]
George III, K. of England, [313]
Genista, [110]
Gérard, F., Baron, [329]
Gerini, Casa, [350]
Germanic tribes, [50]
Germany, peasant jewellery, [346]
" 16 cent., jewellery, [187-96]
" 17 cent., jewellery, [276]
Gheeraerts, Marc, [352]
Ghemert, H., van, [284]
Ghent, [89]
" altar piece by the Van Eycks, at, [106]
Ghiberti, Lorenzo, [168], [210]
Ghirlandaio, Domenico del, [169], [170], [210], [263]
" Ridolfo del, [170]
Ghirlande, [169]
Gibbons, Grinling, [287]
Gibbs Bequest. See London, British Museum
Gigates, [47]
Giovio, Paolo, [260]
Gipcière, [165]
" beams, [165]
Giraldus Cambrensis, [109]
Girandole, [317], [318]
Girdle, medl., in picture, [156]
" -buckle, xlv, xlvi, [159], [160]
" " design by Aldegrever, [194]
" " " de Bry, [196]
" " " Dürer, [190]
" -buckles, 18 cent., [322]
" -hangers, Anglo-Saxon, [63]
Girdlers' Company of London. See London
Girdles, xlv, xlvi
" Anglo-Saxon, [63]
" Greek, [18]
" medl., [159-65]
" " England, [93], [94]
" Renaiss., [270-2]
" 17 cent., [296-7]
" 19 cent., [329]
Giuliano, Carlo, [22], [334], [359]
Giustinian, S., [206]
Glass, armlets, Romano-British, [47]
" beads, Phoenician, [10]
" " Roman, [29]
" " Romano-British, [45]
" diamond rings for writing on, [260]
" Egyptian, [3], [6]
" millefiori, in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [59]
" millefiori, in Romano-British jewellery, [46]
" painted, in jewellery, "verre églomisé," [203-4]
" paste, [1], [49], [52]
Glastonbury, [67]
Glenlyon brooch, [111], [132]
Glockendon missal, [175]
Glomy, [203]
Glossopetræ, [122], [123], [156]
Gloves, rings worn over, [149], [259]
" slashing of, [259], [265]
Gmünd, [339]
Gnadenmedaillen, [248]
Gnauth, [339]
Gnostics, [101]
Godberta, St., [155], [263]
Godstow Priory ring, [150]
Golconda, [278], [351]
Gold, coloured, [311], [328]
" imitation, [358], [359]
Golden Fleece, [14]
" " collar of, [90]
" Hind, [253]
"Goldshine," [316]
Goldsmiths of Paris, medl., [134]
" Company of London. See London
" workshops, interiors of, [98], [155], [156], [158], [176], [201]
Gondola, pendent jewel, in form of, [197], [247]
Gonzaga, Elizabeth, Duchess of Urbino. See Elizabeth
Gorget, from Petrossa, [52]
Gorgets, ancient Irish, [42]
Göss, [339]
Gothic ornament, appearance of, [86]
" nations, [49], [50]
" revival, 19 cent., [331]
" style, 19 cent., [332]
Græco-Phoenician jewellery, [8]
Graff, C., [339]
Grains de chapelet, [125]
Granulated gold, [327], [333]
Granulation, Byzantine, [35]
" Etruscan, [21], [24]
" Greek, [12], [13]
" Phoenician, [8]
Granson, battle of, [210]
Greek jewellery, [8], [11-19]
" Islands, peasant jewellery, [246], [346]
Green, J. R. (quoted), [66]
Gregory XVI, Pope, [22]
Gresham, Sir T., [237]
Grey, Lady Jane, [254]
Gribelin, Simon, [310]
Grien, Hans Baldung, [189], [261]
Grimani Breviary, [175]
Grondoni, G. B., [309], [310]
Guarrazar, [50], [53]
Guay, J., [320]
Guien, J., [310], [317]
Guilds, goldsmiths', [134]
" " rules against forgery, [356], [358], [359]
Guilloché gold, [312]
Gurschner, G., [339]
Gypcière, [94]
Habsburg, family, [294]
Hadaway, Mrs., [339]
Hailler, D., [284]
Hair, jewellery of, [368-70]
" " 19 cent., [331]
" ornaments for the, medl., [114]
" " " Renaiss., [223]
" " " 17 cent., [291]
" " " 18 " [316]
Hair-pins, xl, xli
" Anglo-Saxon, [57]
" Etruscan, [23]
" German peasant, [346]
" Greek, [17]
" Renaiss., [232-3]
" Roman, [28]
" Romano-British, [45]
" 18 cent., [316]
" 19 " [328]
Hall, Bishop, [259]
" Edward, [207], [211], [224]
Hals, Agnes, [366]
" Frans, [296], [362]
Hamilton brooch, [70]
" Palace collection, [303]
Hammer, [339]
Hampton Court Gallery, [245]
Hanau, [339]
Hannibal, [32]
Hans of Antwerp, [208], [213]
Harlay, family, [266]
Haroun al-Raschid, [84], [118]
Harrogate diamonds, [357]
Harvey, Gabriel, [261]
Hastings, Lord, [46]
Hat-badges. See Enseignes
" bands, jewelled, [224], [230]
" ornaments, medl., [109]
Hats, jewelled, medl., [107]
" jewels on, English, 17 cent., [300], [301]
" rings worn on, [261]
Hauer, J. P., [287]
Hauptmann, Franz, [339]
Hays, Cornelius, [208]
Head-appendages, Greek, [16]
" dresses, Roman, [28]
" ornaments, xxxix
" " Dutch, [344]
" " ancient Irish, [42]
" " Italian, 15 cent., [171], [172]
" " medl., [105-12]
" " Renaiss., [232]
" " 18 cent., [316]
" " 19 " [328]
Hearts, peasant jewels in form of, [342-5]
Hecke, van den. See Van den Hecke
Heel, Johann, [309]
Heeley, [319]
Heem, Jan de. See De Heem
Hefner-Alteneck, J. H. von, [195]
Hendrickje Stoffels, [191]
Henin, [107]
Henlein, Peter, [274]
Henrietta Maria, Q. of England, earrings of, [354]
Henry I, K. of England, [92]
" II " [141]
" III " [92], [141], [151]
" IV " [95], [115], [116], [140], [142], [162], [164]
" V " [95], [110]
" VI " [115]
" VII " [216], [219]
" VIII " [199], [206-13], [219], [224], [225], [226], [237], [238],
[250], [252], [258], [263], [265], [267], [268], [269]
" II, K. of France, [200], [365]
" III " [200], [234]
" IV " [314], [320]
" K. of Castile, [109]
" Prince of Wales, son of James I, [302-3]
Hentzner, Paul, [214]
Hera, [19]
Herbals, precious stones in, 100 n.
Heraclius, Emperor, [59]
Herbst, J. B., [310]
Herculaneum, [29]
" discovery of, [311]
Herculean knot, rings shaped like, [32]
Heriot, George, [268], [273], [300], [301], [304]
" James, [210], [304]
Heriot's Hospital, [301]
Hermitage Museum. See St. Petersburg
Herodotus, [363]
Herrick, Nicolas, [220]
" Robert, [220], [302]
" Sir William, [220], [301], [302]
Heyl, Baron von, [136]
Highland brooches, [131-3]
Hilary, St., [104]
" " jewel of, [103], [136]
Hilliard, Nicholas, [219], [253], [255]
Hipkins, W. and Co., [315]
Hirzel, H. R. C., [338]
Hispano-Moresque jewellery, [205]
Hissarlik, [9]
Holbein, Hans, the younger, [190], [210-13], [224], [243], [252],
[273], [351], [352], [363], [365]
Holford, Major, [288]
Holinshed, R., [207], [235]
Holland, peasant jewellery, [344-5]
Hollar, W., [190], [275]
Holtzendorff treasure, [267]
" family, [238]
Holy Land, jewellery brought back from, [84], [86]
Holyrood, [115]
Homer, [19]
Honervogt, J., [282]
Honyson, Guillim, [208]
Hooks and loops, medl., [140]
" " eyes, Renaiss., [268]
Hoop (of ring), xlv
Hornick, Erasmus, [193], [194], [251]
Horus, [2]
Huaud or Huault, [298]
Hungary, 16 cent. jewellery, [197-8]
" peasant jewellery, [347]
Hunsdon, George Carey, Lord, [218], [265]
" Henry Carey, Lord, [218], [253], [274]
" jewels, [93], [218], [253], [274]
Hunterston brooch, [79]
Hurtu, J., [285]
Hyderabad, [278]
Ialysos, [12]
Iconoclastic decrees, [34]
Iklyngton Coler, [115]
Ilchester, Earl of, [366]
Il Rosso. See Rosso
Impresa, [223]
Imitation diamonds, [313-14]
" gold, [358], [359]
" pearls, [314]
" precious stones, 18 cent., [313]
Imitations, [355-62]
Incrustation (or inlay), process of, [49-55]
Initials, jewelled, Renaiss., on garments, [268]
" jewels in form of, [211-12]
" pendants in form of, Renaiss., [248]
Inlaid jewellery, [35], [49-55]
" " Anglo-Saxon, [60]
Innocent III, Pope, [96], [148]
Intaglio cutting on gold, Greek, [13]
" medl., [138]
Intaglios, antique, in medl. jewellery, [102]
" Renaiss., [227]
" Roman, [30]
" 19 cent., [326]
Inventories, jewellery in, [82], [88-9], [92-6], [142], [215], [258], [263], [353]
Ionia, [22]
Ipsamboul (Abu Simbel), [4]
Ireland, cloisonné enamel, [66]
" introduction of Christianity into, [75]
" prehistoric ornaments in, [40-4]
Irish missionaries, their influence on Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [66], [67]
Iron jewellery, 19 cent., [330], [331]
" prehistoric, [39]
Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, [158]
" of France, Q. of England, [114]
Italian jewellery, 15 cent., [166-76]
" " 16 " [183-6]
" peasant jewellery, [334], [346]
Jacobson, Philip, [302], [304]
James I, K. of England, [210], [230], [231], [235], [238], [257], [268], [299], [300-4]
" II " [119]
" St., of Compostella, [109]
Jane Seymour, Q. of England, [212]
Janssens, C., [352]
Jaquin, [314]
Jet jewellery, [48]
" medl., [124]
" mourning jewellery, [370]
" Romano-British, [45], [47]
Jewish wedding rings. See Rings
"Jingling Geordie," [301]
Joaillerie, [277]
Joailliers-faussetiers, corporation of, [314]
Joanna of Navarre, Q. of England, [141]
Jocalia, [92], [138]
John Anwarpe. See Hans of Antwerp
" of Cambridge, [106]
" the Constant, Elector of Saxony, [261]
" Frederick, Elector of Saxony, [261]
" of Leyden, [250]
" St., Baptist, head of, [226], 227 n.
" " Evangelist, [36], [99], [103]
" King of England, [92], [96]
" II, King of France, [88]
Jones, W., [296]
Jonson, Ben, [151]
Jörg, A., [284]
Josephine, Empress, [29], [329-30]
Juliers, William, Duke of. See William
Jupiter, cameo of, considered to represent St. John, [103]
" Capitolinus, temple of, [32]
Justinian, Emperor, [33], [34]
Jutes, [56], [59]
K., P. R., [280], [284]
Kameiros, [12]
Kann collection, [169]
Karlsruhe, [190]
Kaufmann collection, [263]
Kayle, Hugh, [220]
Kensington (South) Museum. See London, Victoria and Albert Museum
Kent, [60]
Kentish cemeteries, [56], [57], [63]
Kertch, [14], [16]
" forged jewels, said to come from, [360]
Kh[=a]-em-uas, [5]
Khepera, [2]
Kilbride, West, [79]
Kilmainham brooch, [77]
Kimmeridge shale, [47]
King, C. W. (quoted), [100]
Kings of the East, Three, [102], [111], [129], [132], [150], [152]
Kingston brooch, [60]
" -on-Thames, [142]
Klein-Meister, [191-4]
Kneller, Sir G., [353]
Knives, Renaiss., suspended to girdles, [272]
Knotwork, in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [57]
Koul-Oba, [14]
Kraft, Adam, [120]
Kreuterbuch, 100 n., [126]
Labarre, P., [282]
Laborde, L. de, [277]
Laffitte, Gaston, [338]
Lalique, René, [338]
Lang, Andrew, [221], [353]
Lange, Jehan, [208], [209]
Latten, [161]
La Quewellerie, G. de, [284], [295]
Lannoy, Baldwin de, [90]
" Raoul de, [116]
Lapis-lazuli, [2], [136]
Lark Hill, near Worcester, [154]
Latium, [24]
Laton, [161]
Lauingen, [230], [232]
Laverstoke, [72]
Law, Thomas and Co., [315]
"Lazos," [204], [294]
Lead, medl. jewels of, [108-10], [131], [161]
" models for jewellery, [192-3]
Leblanc, [316]
Le Blon, M., [284], [304]
"Leda and the Swan," by Cellini, [185], [228]
Ledyard, Adam, [124]
Lefebure, F., [282], [291]
Lefèvre, R., [329]
Légaré, Gédéon, [282], [287]
" Gilles, [279], [282], [287-9], [291], [293], [294], [296], [298], [366]
Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl of, [239], [274]
Leland, J., [207]
Lely, Sir P., [353]
Leman, Baptist, [208]
Le Mans, xliii, [128]
Lemersier, B., [282]
Lempereur, [312], [318]
Lennox, Henry Stuart, Earl of, [217]
" jewel, [217], [257]
Lenton, F., [235], [357]
Leo III, Emperor, [34]
Leonardus, C., [100], [101]
Leopold, J. F., [309]
Letelen, Albert von, [139]
Letters, jewels in form of, [211]
" pendants in form of, Renaiss., [248]
Leven and Melville, Earl of, [221], [353]
Leyden, John of, [250]
Liberale di Giacomo da Verona, [175]
Liberation, German War of, [330]
Liberty, A. Lazenby, [339]
Lichtwark, A., [193]
Limoges enamel, medl., [86]
" enamelled enseignes made at, [229]
Limavady treasure, [43]
Lion's head on Egyptian jewellery, [5]
" Phoenician jewellery, [9]
Lions on archaic Greek jewellery, [12]
Lipona, Countess, [16]
Lippmann, F., [190]
Lisbon, Museum of Fine Arts, [347]
Linas, C. de, 52 n.
"Little masters" (Kleinmeister), [191-6]
Liverpool, Mayer collection, [60]
Lively, [110], [116-7]
Livre de Taille d'Épargne, [309]
Llewellyn, [152]
Llys-fæn, Carnarvonshire, [71]
Loch Buy brooch, [133]
Lochner, Stephan, [145]
Lockets, memorial, Eng., [17-18] cent., [368]
" 17 cent., [293]
Lombard Street, [115]
Lombards (Gothic tribe), [50]
Lombardy, peasant jewellery, [346]
London, British Museum, [3], [4], [8-10], [12], [17], [23-8], [34], [37], [44], [46], [51],
[60], [63], [69], [72], [74], [76], [108], [119], [122], [129], [132],
[133], [138], [190], [211], [273], [297]
" British Museum, Franks Bequest, [37], [110], [145], [148], [246], [264], [368]
" British Museum, Gibbs Bequest, [57], [62], [63]
" British Museum, Waddesdon Bequest, [125], [184], [226], [231],
[248], [272], [303], [366]
" British Museum, Sloane collection, [218], [255]
" British Museum, Gold Ornament Room, [154], [292]
" British Museum, Carlisle collection, [246]
" British Museum, Room of Greek and Roman Life, [23]
" Cuming Museum, Walworth Road, 361 n.
" Dorchester House, [225], [288]
" Girdlers' Company, [161], [272]
" Goldsmiths' Company, [131], [213]
" Guildhall Museum, [108], [165]
" National Gallery, [140], [171], [174], [238], [259], [264], [365]
" National Portrait Gallery, 141 n., [212], [222], [235], [254]
" Royal Academy, [312], [313]
" St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, [115]
" St. Paul's Cathedral, [115], [138]
" South Kensington Museum Jewellery Exhibition, 1872, [241]
" South Kensington Museum. See London, Victoria and Albert Museum
" Temple Church, [128]
" Tower, [300]
" Victoria and Albert Museum, [31], [36], [51], [72], [73], [120], [122], [129],
[130], [138], [139], [163], [203], [218], [226],
[231], [246], [248], [249], [254], [257], [266],
[272], [273], [294], [296], [321], [334], [347],
[356], [365], [369]
" Victoria and Albert Museum, Art Library, [308], [344]
" Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce collection, [293]
" Victoria and Albert Museum, Jones collection, [293]
" Victoria and Albert Museum, Waterton collection, [149], [264]
" Wallace collection, [226], [272], [296], [297]
Londesborough collection, [129], [264]
Loops (clasps), medl., [140]
" Renaiss., [268]
Lord Mayor of London, collar of, [117]
Loreto, Santa Casa, [91]
Lorn, brooch of, [133]
Lothair II, K. of the Franks, [139]
Lotto, Lorenzo, [263]
Lotus flower, [4]
Louis IX, St., K. of France, [119]
" XI, K. of France, [109], [110], [116]
" XII " [199]
" XIII " [279], [286], [292]
" XIV " [266], [279], [282], [293]
" XV " [311], [320]
" XVI " [311], [323]
Louise Augusta, of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess, [339]
Luckenbooth brooches, [133-4], [165]
Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, [168], [172]
Ludwig I, K. of Bavaria, [16]
Lulls, Arnold, [231], [302], [304]
Lunulæ, [42]
Luthmer, F., xxxiv, [82], [135], [197], [240], [339], [352]
Lyly, J., [217], [273]
Lyons, [277]
Lyte jewel, [257], [293], [303], [304], [354]
" Sir H. Maxwell, [304]
" Thomas, [303], [304], [354]
Mabell, [269]
Mabuse, [261], [351]
Macdougals of Lorn, [133]
Macleans of Loch Buy, [133]
Macneals of Firfergus, [133]
Macquoid, Mrs. Percy, [120]
Madrid, Royal Armoury, [53]
" Museum of Antiquities, [9]
Mænad, [15]
Magi. See Kings of the East
Magna Græcia, [14], [17], [18]
Magnussen, E., [339]
Mainz, [135-7]
Mainz Cathedral, [137]
" " Treasury, [137]
" Museum, [136]
Maîtres ornemanistes, [246]
Malone, E., 123 n.
Mammillary fibulæ, xliii, [42]
Mantle clasps, medl., [140], [141]
Manuscripts, representation of jewellery in, [82], [97], [174], [175], [176]
Marbode, Bishop of Rennes, 100 n.
Marcasite, [315], [319], [321]
Marchant, Pierre, [281], [292], [306]
Margaret, Q. of Scotland, [114-115]
Maria, [312], [319]
Marie Antoinette, Q. of France, [316], [317], [318]
Mariette, P. J., [288]
Martial, [31], [355]
Martin, brothers, [204]
" Sir Richard, [220]
Mary, the Blessed Virgin, [36], [37]
" " monogram of, [97], [204], [249]
" of Burgundy, Empress, 146 n., 246 n.
" daughter of James I, [302]
" Q. of England, [207], [219], [237], [254], [269]
" Q. of Scots, [220], [221], [234], [265], [268], [269], [353], [366]
Marygold by Temple Bar, The, [306]
Matsys, Quentin, [156], 227 n., [263]
Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary, [175]
Mauricius, Emperor, [59]
Mayer collection. See Liverpool
Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, [248]
" I, Emperor, [191], 146 n.
" II " [188]
Mazarin, Cardinal, [279]
Medallions on the hat, [229]. See also Enseignes
Medals, pendent, Renaiss., [247-8]
" " English, [257]
Medici, family, [114], [260], [294]
" " device of, [260]
" Costanza de', [170], [263]
" Cosimo de', [260]
" Francesco de', [233]
" Guiliano de', [171]
" Lorenzo de', [171], [260]
" Lucrezia de', [292]
" Piero de', [260]
Mediterranean, [8], [21]
Melillo, [334], [359]
Melos, [17]
"Memento Mori," [363-70]
Memorial jewellery, [321], [331]
" rings, [364-70]
Merchants' marks on rings, [153]
Mermaids, pendants in form of, Renaiss., [249], [250], [251]
" " hung with bells, 164 n.
Merman, Renaiss. pendant in form of, [243], [249], [251]
Merovingian dynasty, [52], [55]
" jewellery, [46], [56]
Merovingians, [50]
Meuse, jewels found in, [143]
Michelangelo di Viviano, [171]
Mielich, Hans, [195], [226]
Mignot, D., [193], [231], [280], [284], [304]
Migrations of the Tribes, [49]
Milan, Ambrosiana, [172]
" Brera Gallery, [171]
" Crespi Gallery, [225]
" Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, [217], [255], [256]
" S. Eustorgio, [111]
" school of painting, [167]
Millefiori glass in Anglo-Saxon jewellery, [59]
" " in Romano-British jewellery, [46]
Milvian Bridge, battle of, [226]
Minden, [139]
Miniature cases, [218]
" " Elizabethan, [256]
" " English, 17 cent., [303]
" " 17 cent., [281], [293], [297]
" frames, pinchbeck, [316]
" " 17 cent., by Marchant, [306]
" " jewelled, 18 cent., by Toussaint, [313]
Miniatures in bracelets, [319-20]
" memorial jewellery, [369]
Minster Lovel jewel, [69]
Minuteria, xxxiii, 227 n.
"Mirror of France," [300]
Mirror cases, medl. [146]
" Renaiss., [272]
" 17 cent., [297]
Mithridates, [29]
Mitres, jewels on, [97], [98]
Mocha stone, [321]
Models for jewellery in lead, [192-3]
Möhring B., [338]
Monckton, Lady, [317]
Moncornet, B., [282], [287], [288]
Monday, John, [208]
Mondon, [309], [317]
Monilia baccata, [29]
" medl., [121], [138]
" Roman, [29]
Monograms, pendants in form of, [204], [212], [248], [249]
" sewn on garments, [268]
Monogrammists, [284]
Montauban, [224], [231]
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, [323]
Monte di Giovanni, [175]
Montefeltro, Federigo of, Duke of Urbino. See Federigo
Moorish influence on Portuguese peasant jewellery, [347]
" influence on Spanish peasant jewellery, [205], [347]
Mordant, xlvi, [159], [160], [162], [271]
More, Sir Antonio, [352]
Moreau, P., [312]
Moreelse, Peter, [232]
Morgan, Sir Matthew, [266]
" Octavius, [148]
" Pierpont, collection, [169], [173], [217], [248], [254], [256],
[293], [297], 313 n.
Morisson, F. J., [308], [310]
Morlière (of Orleans), [287]
Mors de chape, [137]
Morses, [121], [137-40]
Mosaic jewellery, 19 cent., [327]
Mosaics, Byzantine, [33], [34], [36]
Mosbach, H., [282]
Moser, G. M., [312]
Moss agates, 18 cent., [321]
" 19 cent., [328-9]
Mottoes on rings, [295-6]
Moulds for casting jewellery, [108], [122]
Mount Charles, Countess of, [240]
Mourning jewellery, [331], [369], [370]
" rings, [296], [364-70]
Mummies, [1], [6]
Munich, [194]
" Antiquarium, [3], [16]
" Bavarian National Museum, [62], [120], [157], [192], [195], [231], [232], [247]
" Coin Cabinet, [248]
" jewels made at, [245]
" Pinakothek, [261], [263]
" Royal Library, [195], [226]
" Royal Treasury, [195], [251]
" in 16 cent., [188], [189]
Munk, Eugenie, [339]
Murat, Joachim, [16]
Museums, collections of jewellery in, [336]
" portraits and jewels in, [349]
Mycenæ, [11], [19], [40], [43]
Mycenæan jewellery, [11]
" period, [21], [22]
Mytens, D., [352]
Nail, Holy, [204]
Nancy, battle of, [107]
Nantes, Edict of, [305]
Napoleon I, Emperor, [118], [325], [329], [332]
" III " [118]
Narwhal, [123]
Nassaro, Matteo del, [226], [227]
National Gallery, London. See London, National Gallery
"Navette" pendants, [246]
Neckam, A., [92]
Newman, Mrs., [339]
Neck-chains, xl
" medl., [113-17]
" Renaiss., [236-41]
Necklaces, xl, xliv
" Anglo-Saxon, [58], [59], [74]
" ancient British, [40]
" Egyptian, [4]
" Etruscan, [24]
" Greek, [17]
" hair, 19 cent., [331]
" Italian, 15 cent., [172-3]
" medl., [113-17], [121]
" Phoenician, [10]
" Renaiss., [236-42], [266], [285]
" " perfumes worn in, [265]
" rings worn on, [152], [261]
" Roman, [29]
" Romano-British, [45]
" 17 cent., [291]
" 18 " [313], [317], [318]
" 19 " [328-31]
Necklets, [113-17]
" Renaiss., [239-40]
Neck-ornaments, ancient Irish, [42]
Nef, [246]
" jewel, [252]
Nene, [72]
Neolithic Age, [47]
Nephthys, [5]
Neuburg, Amalia Hedwig of, [232]
" Counts Palatine of, [232]
" Dorothea Maria, wife of Otto Henry, Count of, [231]
" Otto Henry, Count Palatine of, [230]
Newcastle, William Cavendish, Duke of, [263]
New College jewels, [96-8]. See also Oxford
New Year's gifts, [153], [213], [215], [220], [265], [302]
Niello, Anglo-Saxon, [71-3]
" Byzantine, [36]
" Italian, 15 cent., [163], [168], [173]
" on medl. brooch, [130]
" on Tara brooch, [78]
"Niello" designs, engraved, [284], [295]
Nolin, P., [285]
Norfolk, Duke of, [221]
" " badge of, [110]
Norman Conquest, [65]
Normandy, peasant jewellery, [342], [343]
Norsemen, ravages of England, [68]
Northumbria, [60]
Norway, peasant jewellery, [345]
Nose-ornaments, ancient British, [40]
Nouches, [70], [93], [111], [121], [141], [142], [145], [223]
Nowche or nuche, [141], [223]
Nummi bracteati, Anglo-Saxon, [59]
"Nuremberg eggs," [275]
Nuremberg, [194]
" jewellery made at, [202]
" Germanic Museum, [232], [238], [272], [349]
" St. Lawrence's Church, [120]
" Town Library, [175]
" 16 cent., [188], [189]
Nutwell Court, [253]
Odobesco, A., 52 n.
Olbia, forged jewels said to come from, [360]
Olbrich, J. M., [338]
Oldano, 275 n.
Oliver, I., [303]
" P., [293]
Olonne, Countess d', [288]
Oppenheim, Baron A., [155]
Opus interrasile, Byzantine, [34], [35]
" Roman, [30]
Orleans, Duke and Duchess of (1408), [162]
Orles, [106]
Ornament engravings. See Engraved designs for jewellery
Orpheus, [100]
Osma, J. G. de, [204]
Ossian, [331]
Otho II, Emperor, [34]
Ouch or owche, [141], [223]. See also Nouches
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, [29], [60], [68], [73], [238], [298]
" Ashmolean Fortnum collection, [264]
" Bodleian Library, [63], [264]
" New College, [123], [142], [149]
" University Galleries, [293]
Oxus treasure, [51]
Paillons, [180], [260]
Palestine, jewellery brought back from, [84], [86]
Palissy, Bernard, [229]
Palmer, Col. N., [68]
" Thomas, [68]
Panier, [319]
Pantikapaion, [14]
Paphos, [17]
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Médailles et Antiques,
[30], [52], [53], [103], [185], [200], [225],
[228], [245], [266], [292], [320], [330]
" Dutuit collection, [139]
" goldsmiths of, medl., [134]
" Louvre, [3], [5], [6], [9], [12], [172], [272], [291], [297], [329]
" " Campana collection, [23], [24]
" " Davillier Bequest, [251]
" " Galerie d'Apollon, [137], [139], [154], [249]
" " Adolphe Rothschild Bequest, [139], [240], [245]
" " Salle des Bijoux Antiques, [23]
" " Sauvageot collection, [154]
" Musée Cluny, [53], [108], [139], [250], [251]
" Notre-Dame, [329]
" Quai des Orfévres, [314]
Parmigianino (Mazzuola), [233]
Parrot, Renaiss. pendant in form of, [249]
Parthey, G. F. C., [190-91]
Partridge, Affabel, [220]
" Mr. and Mrs., [339]
Parure, 18 cent., [308]
Pastes, [355-7]
" imitating garnets, in Barbaric jewellery, [49-54]
Paste jewellery, 18 cent., [314]
" 19 " [328]
Paternosterers, [124]
Paton, J., [99]
Patrick, St., [75]
Pattern-books for jewellers, 17 cent., [280], [304]
Pattern-books for jewellers, English, 18 cent., [310]
Paul III, Pope, [199]
"Paul's windows," [87]
Peacocks, [35], [37]
"Pea pod" ornament, [281], [289], [292], [293]
Pearls, [314]
" baroque, in Renaiss. pendants, [244]
" " " toothpicks, [251]
" in Byzantine jewellery, [33]
" earrings, [234], [235], [291]
" Q. Elizabeth's, [215]
" false or mock, [314], [315], [357], [358]
" pendent cluster, on jewels, 253 [347]
" pendent from Renaiss. jewels, [243]
" perles à potences, [174]
" ropes of, in the hair, [232], [316]
" " as necklaces, [113], [239], [318]
" "Roman," [358]
" in Roman jewellery, [28]
" Scottish, [121], [133], [356]
" setting of, 15 cent., [174]
" "Venetian," [358]
" 19 cent., [328]
Peasant jewellery, [341-7]
" Dutch, [344-5]
" Flemish, [345]
" French, [342-4]
" German, [346]
" Hungarian, [197-8], [347]
" Italian, [346]
" Norwegian and Swedish, [345-6]
" Portuguese, [347]
" Spanish, [205], [347]
Pectoralia, [138]
Pectorals, Egyptian, [5]
" medl., [135-46]
Pembroke, Earl of, [116]
Penannular brooch, xlii, xliii, [74]
Pendants, xl
" Anglo-Saxon, [58]
" Egyptian, [5]
" Etruscan, [24]
" Flemish, 16 cent., [196]
" girdle, medl., [159-60]
" " Renaiss., [272], [275]
" Italian, 15 cent., [169], [173]
" medl., [118-26], [156]
" Phoenician, [10]
" Renaiss., [242-57]
" " English, [212], [251-7]
" " forgery of, [361]
" " worn on hats, [223]
" Roman, [29], [30]
" 17 cent., [281], [291-4]
" 18 " [309]
Pendeloques, [291], [318]
Pendulum, [93]
Penicuik jewel, [221]
Penruddock jewel, [252], [353]
" Sir George, [353]
Pent-à-col (pentacols), [113], [121], [242]
Pepys, S., [367]
Peres de eagle, [122]
Perfumes in bracelets, [265]
" in earrings, [234]
" in necklaces, [265]
" in pomanders, medl. [125-6]
" " Renaiss., [275]
Persia, [33], [34], [50]
Persian origin of inlaid jewellery, [52]
Peru, emeralds from, [205]
Peruzzi, Vincenzo, [279]
Petitot, J., [288], [293], [304]
Petrossa, treasure of, [50], [52]
Peutin, John, [90]
Pewter, jewels of, [111], [131], [161]
Pforzheim, [339]
Philibert, Margrave of Baden, [250]
Philip "the Good," Duke of Burgundy, 89 n., [90], [155]
Phoenicians, [21]
Phoenicians jewellery, [7-10]
Phoenix jewel, [218], [254], [255], [286]
Phillips, Robert [335]
Phylacteries, [122]
Pichon, Baron, [119], [130], [264]
"Picture-cases" (miniature-cases), English, 17 cent., [303]
Pictures, jewellery in, [82], [329], [348-54]
" Flemish jewellery in, [89], [90]
" German jewellery in, [145], [189]
" Italian, 15 cent., jewellery in, [167-76]
" Italian, 16 cent., jewellery in, [183]
" medl. necklaces in, [114-15]
" " rings in, [155-6]
Pierre d' Alençon, [343], [357]
Piers Plowman, [153]
Pilgrims' signs, [107-11], [222]
" forgery of, [360-1]
Piloty, [338]
Pinchbeck, [315-16], [327], [359]
" Christopher, [316], [321]
" Edward, [321]
Pinnow, [238], [267]
Pins, xi-xli
" Anglo-Saxon, [57], [74]
" ancient British, [41]
" Romano-British, [45]
Pinturicchio, B. B., [267]
Plaquettes, [193]
Plate-inlaying, [50]
Plates or discs of gold, [11]
" " ancient Irish, [43]
" " Mycenæan, [12]
Platinum, [311]
Pliny, [28], [30], [32], [47], [355]
Plon, Eugène, [184]
Ploumyer, Allart, [208], [209]
Plume decoration on hat, [111]
Points, Renaiss., [267-9]
Poison, medl. tests for, [123]
" in rings, [32]
Poitiers, Diana of, [266], [364]
Pollaiuolo, A., [168], [174], [210]
" P., [168]
Polypsephi rings, [32]
Pomander, design for, by Dürer, [191]
" medl., [125-6], [160]
" Renaiss., [270], [275]
" in form of skulls, [364]
" 17 cent., [296]
Pomeambre, [125]
Pompadour, Madame de, [311], [320]
Pompeii, [311], [326], [363]
Pompey, [29]
Pompoms (buttons), Renaiss., [268]
Pont-y-Saison, [46]
Portinari, Tommaso, [114]
" " daughter of, [114], [115], [117]
" " Maria, wife of, [114], [144]
Portland, Duke of, [221], [235], [354]
Portraits, enamelled, as pendants, 17 cent., [292]
" on bracelet clasps, [319-20]
" on rings, Roman, [31]
" " 18 cent., [320]
"Portugal diamond," [300]
Portugal, peasant jewellery, [347]
Posy (posies), [128], [152], [262], [295], [296], [321]
Pottery, glazed, [1]
Pouches, medl., [165]
Pouget, the younger, [312], [314], [317]
Pourbus, Peter, [352]
Prague, [188], [198]
" Cathedral Treasury, [121]
Præneste, [24]
Prato, Girolamo del, [185]
Prayer-books, enamelled gold, [218], [273], [274]
Precious stones, imitation of, [355-8]
" in modern jewellery, [337], [338]
" setting of, in Renaiss. jewellery, [180], [260]
" mystery of, [99-104]
" 19 cent., [328]
Predis, Ambrogio da, [172]
Prerogative Royal, [44]
Price, F. G. Hilton, [306]
"Primavera," [169]
"Primrose," Mrs., [350]
Prutscher, O., [339]
Ptolemaic jewellery, [6]
"Pulvisculus aureus," [21]
Purbeck, Island of, [47]
Purled work, 19 cent., [327]
Purses, Anglo-Saxon, [63]
" medl., [165]
Puy, peasant jewellery, [343]
Pylon, [5]
Pynson, R., [236]
Pyrites, iron (marcasite), [315]
Quartz, [313]
" crystals, [357]
Raab, H., [287]
Rabelais, F., [199]
Raibolini, Francesco. See Francia
Raimbau, Mlle., [312]
Raleigh, Sir Walter, [235]
Rameses II, [4], [5]
Raphael, [182], [226]
Ravenna, [33], [70]
" Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, church of, [36]
" San Vitale, church of, [33], [36]
Raynes, Robert, [237]
Reasons, [152]
Récamier, Madame, [326]
Reccesvinthus, [54]
Red Sea, [28]
Rée, P. J., [275]
Relics, [102], [108], [111], [118], [125]
" in rings, [152]
Reliquaries, Byzantine, [36]
" Italian, 15 cent., [173]
" medl., [118-19], [121], [160]
" Spanish, [203], [347]
Rembrandt, [291]
Renaiss. jewellery, its general characteristics, [177-183]
Renty, [316]
Repoussé work, [11]
" Byzantine, [34]
" Egyptian, [3]
" Etruscan, [21]
" Greek, [13]
" Irish, [43]
" Renaiss., [227]
Resons, [152]
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, [313], [353]
Rhenish enamels, [85-6]
Rhine, Irish missionaries on, [67]
Rhodes, [12]
Richard I, K. of England, xliii, [128]
" II " [94], [110], [114], [116], [141]
" III " [116], [222]
Ring-brooch. See Brooch
Ring-money, [40], [43]
Rings, xliv, xlv
" Anglo-Saxon, [62], [71-3]
" betrothal, [261-2]
" ancient British, [40]
" Byzantine, [37]
" charm, [151-2]
" with coins, Roman, [32]
" with death's heads, [364]
" decade, [150]
" devotional, [149], [150], [152]
" " signets, [153]
" made by St. Dunstan, [67]
" ecclesiastical, [147-9]
" Egyptian, [2], [67]
" engagement, [261-2], [296]
" engraved designs for, [263], [264], [284], [295], [296]
" episcopal, xlv, [148], [149]
" Etruscan, [25], [26]
" fede, [152], [261]
" fyancel, [152]
" giardinetti, [295]
" gimmel, [152], [261]
" Greek, [18]
" with hair, [331]
" worn on hats, [261]
" iconographic, [149], [150]
" of investiture, [148]
" Italian, 15 cent., [170]
" jet, [47]
" Jewish, [262]
" key-rings, Byzantine, [37]
" " Roman, [31]
" marquise, [321]
" medl., [147-57]
" " with antique gems, [96], [101], [103], [148-9], [153-4]
" " with false stones, [356]
" " forged, [360]
" memento mori, [365-70]
" memorial, [364-70]
" mourning, [296], [321], [367]
" Merovingian, [62], [73]
" Mycenæan, [11]
" worn on necklaces, [152], [261]
" nielloed, Anglo-Saxon, [71-3]
" " Italian, 15 cent., [173]
" ornamental, xlv
" " medl., [154-5]
" " Renaiss., [258], [259]
" " 17 cent., [295], [296]
" papal, [148]
" Phoenician, [10]
" in pictures, [155-7], [261], [263], [295]
" poison, [32]
" polypsephi, Roman, [32]
" posy, [152], [262], [295], [296], [321], [367]
" with relics, [152]
" religious, [149-50]
" Renaiss., [258-64]
" arranged along a roll of parchment, [155], [156], [170], [263]
" Roman, [31]
" Romano-British, [47]
" Samothracian, [32]
" in ancient sculpture, [18]
" signets, xlv, [298]
" " of Childeric I, [53], [63]
" " Egyptian, [6]
" " Greek, [18]
" " medl., [153-154]
" " Roman, [31]
" " 17 cent., [298]
" talismanic, [111]
" Teutonic, à trois grains, [73]
" wedding, xlv
" " medl., [152]
" " converted into memorial, [367]
" " Jewish, [262]
" " Renaiss., [262]
" " 17 cent., [296]
" " 18 cent., [321]
" 17 cent., [295-6]
" 18 cent., [309], [312], [320], [321]
Rivard, C., [282], [291]
Rivers, ornaments found in, [107]
Roach Smith nouche, [69]
Robin, [331]
Robinson, F. S., [339]
Rococo, [307], [308], [311], [324], [332]
Rogart, [77]
"Roman de la Rose," [113], [164]
Roman jewellery, [27-32]
Romano-British jewellery, [44-48]
"Romantic" jewellery, [331]
" style, [332]
Romanus, Emperor, [34]
Rome, Barberini Palace, [175]
" Baths of Petus, [182]
" Castle of St. Angelo, [334]
" National Gallery, [225]
" Vatican, [22]
" " Appartamento Borgia, [267]
" " Gallery of Constantine, [226]
" " Library, [175]
" " Loggie, [182]
Romerswael, Marinus van, [156]
Romney, Earl of, [273]
Rosenheim, Max, 193 n., [294]
"Rössel," "das goldene," [88]
Rosso, Il, [201]
Rosaries, [124-5], [156]
" as bracelets, [157]
Rosary beads in form of skulls, [364]
Rosette, jewelled, on breast, 17 cent., [294]
Rothschild, Baron F., [303]
" Baron K., [197]
Rotterdam Gallery, [232]
Rouen, [128]
" peasant jewellery, [343]
Roy, [237]
Rubens, P. P., [287]
Rubies, [148], [260]
" of Charles the Bold. See Three Brothers
Rudolf II, Emperor, [100], [188], [189]
Rudolphine Period, [188]
Runic characters on Hunterston brooch, [79]
Russia, Byzantine jewellery in, [38]
" Greek jewellery in, [14-16]
Sabines, [20]
Sabra, princess, [224]
Sacré Coeur, [345]
Safety-pins, xli-xliii, [41]
Saint, T. D., [312]
St. Angelo in Vado, [333]
St. Denis Cathedral, [137]
" " treasury, [103]
Saint Esprit, [343]
St. Germain, Musée des Antiquités Nationales, [46]
St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate. See London
St. Hilary, jewel of, [103]
St. Paul's Cathedral. See London
St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum, [9], [15], [16]
Saitapharnes, tiara of, [360]
Salting, George, [119], [176], [224], [248], [263]
Santini family, drawings by, [308], [317], [318], [344]
Sapphires, [54], [151]
Saragossa, treasury of the Virgen del Pilar, [144], [203], [249]
Sarawak, Ranee of, [339]
Sardinia, [8], [9], [21]
Sardonyx, [31]
Sarre, [59]
" brooch, [60]
Sarum, [138]
Saur, C., [284]
Savoy, peasant jewellery, [342]
Saxons [50], [56]
Scandinavians, [50]
Scarabs, [2], [5], [6], [10], [25]
Scent-cases, [125-6], [275]
Schaffhausen onyx, [103], [104], [136]
Schaper, Hugo, [238]
Schliemann, H., [11], [40]
Schneider, F., [137]
Schönbrunn, [294]
Schöpfer, H. [250]
Schotenornamentik, [281]
Schwarzornamente, [283], [289]
Scissors suspended to girdle, [272]
Scorpion, jewelled, [172]
Scotland, introduction of Christianity into, [75]
" Celtic brooches, [75-9]
" medl. brooches, [131-4]
Scott, Sir Walter, [301], [331]
Scythian tribes, [14]
Seal stone, Egyptian, [6]
Seals, medl., [139]
" pendent, 17 cent., [298]
" 18 cent., [309], [312], [322-4]
" 19 " [332]
Seffrid, Bishop of Chichester, [149]
Seghers, D., [287]
Seneca, [29]
Serpent bracelet, Roman, [30]
" ring, Greek, [18]
Set-Hathor, [5]
Sévignés, [294], [298], [318]
Shagreen jewel-cases, [362]
Shale, Kimmeridge, [47]
Shakespeare, W., [151], [216], [229], [237]
" portrait of, [235]
Shank (of ring), xlv
Sheffield plate, [315]
" steelwork, [315]
Sherborne Castle, [267]
Ships, pendants in form of, [249], [252], [253], [347]
Shoe-buckles, [299], [321], [322]
" -strings, [322]
Shoes, rosettes on, [299]
Shore, Jane, [115]
Shrines, jewels on, [91], [108]
Sicily, [27]
" Arabs in, [84]
" peasant jewellery, [347]
" Roman plunder of, [27]
Siena Cathedral, [175]
" school of painting, [167]
Signacula, [109], [111]
Signs of pilgrimage, [107]
Silhouette, Etienne de, [314]
" designs, [283], [284], [289], [304]
" portraits, [314]
Silhouettes in mourning jewellery, [369]
Silver jewellery worn by virgins, [342]
Similor, [316], [359]
Simon, James, [163]
Simpson, E., [339]
" T., [304]
"Sippenaltar," 145 n.
Sirens, pendants in form of, [250]
Skeletons, [363-7]
Skulls, [364-6]
Slashes in garments, [259], [265], [268-9]
Slides, [342], [343]
" memorial, English [17-18] cent., [368]
Sloane, Sir Hans, [72], [211], [255]
Slott-Möller, H., [339]
Smith, C. Roach, [62], [69]
" J., [310]
" R. Soden, [264]
Sodoma (Bazzi), [233]
Solder, Egyptian, [3]
" Etruscan, [20], [21]
" Greek, [13]
" Phoenician, [8]
" prehistoric, [39]
Solis, Virgil, [193], [194]
Somerset, Alfred in, [68]
" Anne, Duchess of, [233], [273]
" Edward Seymour, Duke of, [233], [273]
" Robert Carr, Earl of, [235]
Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of, [235]
South Kensington Museum. See London, Victoria and Albert Museum
Spain, Arabs in, [84]
" Phoenician sculpture in, [9]
" peasant jewellery, [347]
" 16 cent. jewellery, [202-205]
" 17 cent. jewellery, [294]
"Spangle money," [59]
Spenser, E., [217]
Sphinxes, [5], [16]
Spilman, Sir J., [301]
Spinther, [30]
Spiral ornament, [11]
" " Celtic, [39], [75]
Spitzer collection, [246]
SS Collar, [116-17]
Stabler, Harold, [339]
Stafford, Lady, [154]
Stalagmia, [29]
Steatite, [5]
Steel jewellery, [315], [319]
Stephan, Master. See Lochner
Stephanus. See Delaune, Etienne
Stock-buckles, [322]
Stoffels, Hendrickje, [291]
Stoffler, W., [339]
"Stomacher," [318], [350]
Stone Age, [47]
Stowe, J., [207]
Stras or Strass, [314], [315], [357]
Strawberry Hill, [257], [288]
Strigel, Bernard, [189], [238]
Stuart, Arabella, [299]
" Henry, Earl of Lennox. See Lennox
Stubbes, Philip, [215], [234], [272]
Studded girdle, [161]
Suffolk, Henry Grey, Duke of, [254]
Sulla, [28]
Sumptuary laws, [27], [93], [94], [161]
Sustermans, J., [294]
Svinthila, [50], [54]
Swans on Byzantine jewellery, [37]
Sweden, peasant jewellery, [345]
Switzerland, use of marcasite in 18 cent., [315]
" peasant jewellery, [346]
Symonds, J. A. (quoted), [168], [185]
Symony, P., [282], [284]
Tableau or tabulet, [120]
Tablets, votive, pendent, [119]
Tag of girdle, xlvi, [160]
Tags (aglets), [269]
Talaura, [29]
Talbot, [249]
" Earl of Shrewsbury, badge of, [110]
Talismans, [30], [99], [101], [109], [111], [121], [129], [132], [147], [151]
Talismanic inscriptions on Scottish brooches, [111], [131]
Tallien, Madame, [326]
Taman, [14]
Taplow buckle, [63]
Tara brooch, [66], [78], [79]
Tassels, Greek, [18]
" of medl. clasps, [140]
" Phoenician, [9]
Tassie, J., [315], [330]
Tauric Chersonese, [14]
Tavernier, J. B., [278]
Terrey, William, [304]
Tet, [2]
Teutonic jewellery, [51], [53]
" nations, [56], [57]
Tharros, [9], [10]
Theban dynasties, [3]
Theodamas, [100]
Theodora, Empress, [33]
Theophano, [34]
Theophilus, [85], [356]
Thirty Years' War, [189], [238], [276]
Thomas à Becket, St., [91], [96], [109], [140]
Three Brothers, jewel called, [209], [300]
Three Kings of the East. See Kings
Tiara of Saitapharnes, [360]
Tiffany, Messrs., [339]
Tinctura, [278], [351]
Titian, [264]
Titulus, [132]
Toadstones, [100], [123], [151]
Toes, jewels on, 19 cent., [326]
Tongue of buckle, xlvi
Toothpicks, [250-1]
Tor Abbey, Devonshire, [365]
Tornabuoni, Giovanna, [169]
Torque, from Petrossa, [52]
Torques bracchialis, [30]
Torques, [236]
" ancient British, [40]
" " Irish, [42], [43]
Touching-pieces, [123]
Tournai, [52]
Tours de tête, [328]
Tousches, [123]
Toussaint, Augustus, [313]
Toutin, H., [285], [295]
" J., [285], [293], [295]
" J., in his workshop, [289]
Tovaloccio Piero, Giovanni and Romolo del, [185]
Tower of London. See London
Townley brooch, [70]
"Toys," "Toyman," [316]
Tradescant, John, the younger, wife of, [298]
Translucent enamel on relief. See Enamel, basse-taille
Transylvania, [58]
Traquair, Mrs., [339]
Treasure hoards, [51]
" Trove, [44]
Treasuries, jewellery preserved in, [83]
Trender, Peter, [220]
Tressoures, [93], [105]
"Triplet," [357]
Triptychs, pendent, [119-20]
Triquetra, [78]
Triton, pendant in form of, [243],
[249]
Troad, [9]
Trumpet pattern, Celtic, [43]
" " on Tara brooch, [78], [79]
Tucher, Baron, collection of, [225]
"Tulipomania," [286]
Tulips painted on enamel, [286]
Turkey stone, [151]
Turquoise, [3], [67], [151]
Turner (potter), [315]
Tuscany, schools of painting, [167]
Twiselton, John, [208]
Tymborychoi, [13]
Tyrol, peasant jewellery, [346]
Tyszkiewicz, Count, [17], [360]
Tytler, P. Fraser, [257]
Ucker-Mark (N. Germany), [267]
Ugadale brooch, [133]
Uffila brooch, [62]
Uffizi Gallery. See Florence
Umbria, peasant jewellery, [346]
Unger, Elsa, [339]
Unicorn, Master of the, [200]
Unicorn's horn, [123]
Unicorns on medl. jewels, [145]
" on Renaiss. jewels, [243]
Uniones, [28]
University brooch, [78]
Uræus, [2]
Urban VI, Pope, [122]
Usekh collar, [5]
Usertsen III, [5]
Utrecht, John of, [208]
Uza or utchat, [2]
Van den Hecke, J., [287]
Van der Cruycen, L., [312], [317]
" Doort, Abraham, [219]
" Goes, H., [114], [117], [144]
" Gow, J., 213 n.
Van de Velde, H. C., [338]
Van Dyck, A., [354]
Van Somer, P., [352]
Van Strydonck, L., [339]
Van Thielen, J. P., [287]
Vasari, G., [168], [227]
Vatican. See Rome
Vauquer, J., [287-9], [293]
Vautier, [297]
Velasquez, [294]
Venetian pendants, Renaiss., [246]
Venetians, sack of Constantinople by, [38]
Veneto (Veneziano), Bartolommeo, [225]
Venice, Byzantine jewellery in, [83-84]
" Library of St. Mark's, [175]
" in Middle Ages, [89]
" port of, [15-16] cent., [167]
" school of painting, [167]
Vermiculated patterns in gold, Anglo-Saxon, [63]
Vernicles, [130]
Veronese, Paolo, [172]
Veronica, 130 n.
Verre églomisé, [203-4]
Verrocchio, Andrea del, [168], 174 [210]
Versailles, Picture Gallery, [329]
Verus, Lucius, [292]
Vespasian, [28]
Vespucci, Simonetta, [168]
Vesuvius, [311]
Vever, [338]
Victoria, Q. of England, [257]
Vienna, Imperial Art Collections, [30], [145], [185], [247]
" Imperial Art Collections, Antiken-Kabinet, [228]
" Picture Gallery, [155], [212]
" Treasury, [188]
" jewellery in, 18 cent., [308]
" reproductions made in, [361]
Vigée-Lebrun, Madame, [329]
Vinci, Leonardo da, [172]
Virgin, The. See Mary, the Blessed Virgin
Visigoths, [50], [54]
Vos, Cornelis de, [296]
Vovert, J., [285]
Vulci, [23], [24]
Vyner, Sir Robert, [305]
Waddesdon Bequest. See London, British Museum
Wagner, Anna, [339]
Walpole, Horace, [214], [257], [288]
Walsingham Priory, [91], [108]
War of Liberation, German, [330]
Wars of the Roses, [95]
Warwick, Earls, badge of, [110]
"Wasps," [316]
Watches, 16 cent., [274]
" 17 cent., [274], [275], [297-8]
" 18 cent., [309], [323-4]
" egg-shaped, [275]
" false, [324]
" in form of skulls, [364]
Watch-cases, pinchbeck, [316]
" " 18 cent., [313]
" -chains, hair, [331]
" -keys, 18 cent., [310], [322-3]
Waterton, Edmund, [71], 149 n., [264]
" collection. See London, Victoria and Albert Museum
Way, Albert, [257]
Wedgwood, [315], [319], [321], [328], [330]
Weimar, Picture Gallery, [261]
Wells Cathedral, sculpture on, [128]
Werner, J. H., [338]
Westminster, [211], [268]
" Abbey, [92], [102], [119], [141], [215]
Whistles, pendent, [190], [193], [198], [250], [251]
Wight, Isle of, [56], [57], [59], [60]
Wild jewel, [218], [254]
Wilde, W. R., 42 n.
William I, K. of England, [91]
" III " [306]
" Duke of Juliers, [250], [259]
" St., of York, [141]
" of Wykeham. See Wykeham
Williams, John, [238], [257], [302]
Wilson, H., [339]
Wilton House, [116]
Winchester Cathedral, [98], [148]
Windsor Castle, [219], [224], [225], [249], [257], [292]
Witham, [74]
Wittislingen, [62]
Woeiriot, Pierre, [201], [219], [234], [246], [263], [366]
Wolfers, P., [339]
Wolgemut, M., [189]
Wolsey, T., Cardinal, [208]
Wootton-under-Edge (Gloucestershire), [116]
Worley, Nicolas, [208]
Wreaths, Byzantine, [35]
" Greek, [16]
" medl., [105]
Wright, T., [101]
Wykeham, William of, Bishop of Winchester, [96-8], [142], [149]
Yecla, [9]
York Minster, [138]
" " shrine of the head of St. William, [141]
Zerrenden, F., [339]
Zona, [93]
Zucchero, F., [253], [352], [353]
Zundt, Mathias, [194]
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD.
PLYMOUTH
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ridgeway (W.), Early Age of Greece, p. 437.
[2] Fontenay (E.), Les bijoux anciens et modernes, p. 98.
[3] Babelon (E. C. F.), Catalogue des camées antiques de la Bib. Nat. (No. 367), p. 199.
[4] Dalton (O. M.), Catalogue of early Christian antiquities in the British Museum. 1901.
[5] Cunynghame (H. H.), European enamels, p. 40.
[6] Niello: a composition of lead, silver, sulphur, and borax.
[7] Wilde (W. R.), Cat. of antiquities of gold, p. 12.
[8] Bulliot (J. G.), Fouilles de Mont Beuvray (ancienne Bibracte) de 1867 à 1895. 1899.
[9] Archæologia, LVIII, p. 240, 1902.
[10] Dalton (O. M.), The treasure of the Oxus, 1905.
[11] A remarkable book descriptive of this treasure has been published by Professor Odobesco, of the University of Bucharest, in which the whole process of inlaying is discussed at considerable length. The same subject has been treated with the most minute care by the well-known art historian, M. Charles de Linas.
[12] Abbé Cochet, Le tombeau de Childéric Ier, 1859.
[13] Lasteyrie (F. de), Description du trésor de Guarrazar, 1860.
[14] De Baye (J.), The industrial arts of the Anglo-Saxons, p. 45.
[15] Faussett (B.), Inventorium sepulchrale, p. 78, Pl. 1.
[16] Arch. Journal, IV, p. 253. Another similar brooch from Abingdon is in the British Museum. See Akerman (J. Y.), Remains of pagan Saxondom, Pl. iii.
[17] Archæologia Cantiana, II, Pl. iii.
[18] Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon antiquities, p. xv.
[19] Green (J. R.), Short history of the English People (1875 ed.), p. 21.
[20] The Alfred Jewel, p. 45. 1901. Others consider that the jewel was the head of a book-marker or pointer.
[21] M. Molinier (Histoire générale des arts appliqués à l’industrie, IV, p. 93) is of the opinion that the enamel is English, and not, as some hold, of Byzantine origin. See also Victoria County History of Somerset, I, p. 376. 1906.
[22] Archæologia, XXIX, p. 70, Pl. x.
[23] Catalogue of the Alfred the Great millenary exhibition in the British Museum. 1901.
[24] Proc. Soc. Antiq., 2nd Series, XIX, p. 304. Such long stout pins could only have served to fasten coarse, loosely woven fabrics.
[25] J. R. Allen (Celtic Art, p. 219) describes the exact function of this brooch, and illustrates its use in ancient and modern times. (See also Reliquary, 2nd Series, I, p. 162. 1894.)
[26] Anderson (J.), Scotland in early Christian times, 2nd Series. 1881.
[27] Luthmer (F.), Gold und Silber, p. 50.
[28] Luthmer, op. cit., p. 72.
[29] Ibid., p. 50.
[30] Ilg (A.), Theophilus Presbyter, p. xliii.
[31] Cunynghame (H. H.), European enamels, p. 69.
[32] Kunstdenkmale des Königreiches Bayern, I, iii, p. 2364. 1903.
[33] Some estimate of their magnificence and extent may be obtained by means of contemporary inventories. The most remarkable inventory is perhaps that of John’s eldest son, Charles V—“the Wise”—drawn up in 1379 and published by J. Labarte. Scarcely less remarkable are the jewel inventories of his three other sons, Louis Duke of Anjou, John Duke of Berry, and Philip (le Hardi) Duke of Burgundy, which have been published respectively by L. de Laborde, J. Guiffrey, and B. Prost.
[34] Several inventories of the contents of the Burgundian treasury have been preserved. Lists of the magnificent jewels of two of the most powerful and wealthy, those of Philip the Good (1396-1467) and his son Charles the Bold (1433-1477) have been published by Laborde in his Ducs de Bourgogne, Pt. 2, Vol. II.
[35] Bateson (M.), Mediæval England, p. 13.
[36] Ibid., p. 148.
[37] Published by the Society of Antiquaries in 1789. pp. 332-353.
[38] Rymer, Fœdera, II, 1, pp. 203-205.
[39] Kalendars and Inventories of the Exchequer, III, p. 137.
[40] See list of his jewels in Inventories of the Exchequer, III, p. 166, and his Great Wardrobe Accounts (Archæologia, XXXI, p. 55).
[41] Paton (J.), Scottish national memorials, p. 337.
[42] The foremost interpreter of their mysteries in the Middle Ages was Marbode, Bishop of Rennes (1095-1123), in his De Lapidibus Pretiosis Enchiridion.
[43] King, Precious stones, p. 12.
Treatises on precious stones frequently find a place in sixteenth-century Herbals, and are often accompanied by very spirited woodcuts representing the working of precious stones and the process of adapting them to personal ornaments, together with designs of actual articles of jewellery in which they are set. Two of the finest books of the kind are—an Ortus Sanitatis (Strasburg, circa 1497), and a Kreuterbuch printed at Frankfort in 1536.
[44] Bock (F.), Das heilige Köln. Schatzkammer des Kölner Domes, p. 27.
[45] The Abbey of Conques, near Rodez, in the Department of Aveyron. See Darcel (A.) Trésor de Conques, p. 66.
[46] Rock (D.), Church of our fathers, III. 1, p. 393.
[47] Babelon (E. C. F.), Catalogue des camées de la Bib. Nat., p. 107.
[48] St. Luke, iv. 30; and St. John, viii. 2.
[49] Babelon, op. cit., p. 1.
[50] For a full description of this jewel, see a monograph by J. J. Oeri, entitled Der Onyx von Schaffhausen.
[51] Riley (H. T.), Memorials of London, p. 313.
[52] No attempt will here be made to enumerate the various forms of crowns and coronets. A general outline of the subject is set forth in chapter xxvi of Mr. Fox-Davies’ Art of Heraldry.
[53] Lambecius, Bib. Caes. Vindobon., II, p. 516; Laborde, Ducs de Bourgogne, Pt. 2, II, p. 113, no. 3100.
[54] Several writers on Pilgrims’ Signs state that a furnace destined for the same purpose may still be seen in an upper chamber in Canterbury Cathedral. Inquiry on the spot has failed to confirm the truth of this statement. The furnace in question has been used solely for the purpose of casting leadwork for repairing the roof. The badges were probably made somewhere in the Cathedral precints.
[55] Compare, An “Esmail d’Arragon,” by A. Van de Put (Burlington Magazine, VIII, p. 421, 1906; X, p. 261, 1907).
[56] Figured in Exposition de Budapest, 1884, Chefs-d’œuvre d’orfévrerie, I, Pl. I. There is a reproduction of this remarkable specimen of Dinanderie in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
[57] Shaw (H.), Dresses and decorations, Pl. 60.
[58] Hist. MSS. Comm., IX, p. 56.
[59] Kalendars and Inventories, II, p. 165, etc.
[60] Archæologia, XXXIX, p. 264.
[61] Mr. Hartshorne (Arch. Journ., XXXIX, p. 366) considers the origin of the letters SS—par excellence the “crux antiquariorum,” he terms it—to lie between the words Seneschallus, Souverayne, and Sanctus, and of these he appears to be in favour of the first.
[62] See Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden in Rheinlande, XXXIX, p. 272. Bonn, 1866.
[63] Wall (J. C.), Tombs of the Kings of England, p. 197. Evelyn’s Diary, Sept. 16, 1685.
[64] Kalendars etc., III, pp. 185, 188.
[65] Podlaha (A.), and Sittler (E.), Der Domschatz in Prag, pp. 113-132. 1903.
[66] A relic of this superstition still exists in the coral baubles hung with bells, with which infants are aided in cutting their teeth.
[67] Quoted from Bussy d’Amboise (1607) by Malone, commenting on the passage, “Unicorns may be betray’d with trees” (Julius Cæsar, II, i).
[68] Riley (H. T.), Memorials of London and London life, p. 455.
[69] Read (C. H.), Catalogue of the Waddesdon Bequest, No. 231.
[70] Probably abbreviated from ambregis (ambergris), the well-known odoriferous substance, so called from its resemblance to grey amber. It was the most highly prized of all perfumes in mediæval times; and though its use is now almost entirely confined to perfumery, it formerly also occupied no inconsiderable place in pharmacy.
[71] Arch. Journ., III, p. 76.
[72] St. Luke, iv. 30.
[73] A Veronica, or Face of our Lord, frequently figured on hat-ornaments. Thus: “A vernicle hadde he sewed upon his cappe” (Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, l. 688). This jewel may perhaps have been a hat-brooch.
[74] Sometimes called (by metathesis) fremailleurs.
[75] Luthmer, op. cit., p. 74.
[76] Kunstgewerbe-Blatt, III, p. 21, 1887.
[77] Barbet de Jouy, Gemmes et joyaux de la couronne, Pl. XI.
[78] Rock, op. cit., III, iii, p. 101.
[79] Dugdale, History of St. Paul’s Cathedral (1818 ed.), p. 310.
[80] Fabric Rolls of York Minster (Surtees Society), p. 222.
[81] Compare p. 121.
[82] Shaw, Decorative arts of the Middle Ages, Pl. 7.
[83] It is intended, however, to be looked at from the reverse side through the crystal—when the device appears like a cameo.
[84] Archæologia, LIX, p. 25.
[85] Figured by Shaw, Dresses and decorations, Pl. 88, where it is erroneously described as the clasp of the Emperor Charles V.
[86] Pollen, Gold and silversmith’s work in the S. Kensington Museum, p. 98.
[87] Beissel, Kunstschätze des Aachener Kaiserdomes, Pl. XIII.
[88] Barbet de Jouy, op. cit., Pl. X.
[89] Molinier, Donation de Adolphe de Rothschild, Pl. XIX.
[90] Giraud, Les arts du métal, Pl. VII.
[91] Probably a corruption of the Latin words nusca, nuxa, a brooch or fibula (Prompt. Parv., p. 359).
[92] Testamenta Eboracensia (Surtees Society), I, p. 267.
[93] This effigy, and that of Anne of Bohemia, and of Henry IV and his Queen, may be studied from reproductions in the National Portrait Gallery.
[94] Kalendars and Inventories of the Exchequer, III. p. 344, etc.
[95] Revue de l’art chrétien, 1887, p. 276; and Humann (G.), Die Kunstwerke der Münster-Kirche zu Essen, Pl. 62.
[96] Compare this jewel with “un damoisell seant en un solaill” in Henry IV’s inventory.
[97] Compare Henry IV’s “i. damoisell et i. unicorn.”
[98] The same motive is figured on a morse shown on the left wing of a picture in the Cologne Museum known as the “Sippenaltar” (by the Meister der heiligen Sippe), dating from the end of the fifteenth century. The jewel is worn by S. Nicasius. It is trefoil in shape, and decorated with the figure of an angel, full face, holding a large stone in front.
[99] This jewel once formed part of the treasure of the House of Burgundy, and came into the Imperial Collections through the marriage of Mary of Burgundy with the Emperor Maximilian I.
[100] Amongst others there are three in each of the cathedrals of Chichester, York, Winchester, and Durham, and two at Hereford (Archæologia, XLV, p. 404).
[101] Waterton (E.), “Episcopal rings” (Arch. Journ., XX, p. 224), 1863.
[102] Archæologia, XVIII, p. 306.
[103] Arch. Journ., XX, p. 195.
[104] Archæologia, XXXVI, p. 200.
[105] Cartwright (J.), Isabella d’Este, I, p. 73.
[106] Many admirable representations of girdles are figured in Stothard’s Monumental effigies of Great Britain.
[107] Riley (H. T.), Memorials of London and London life, p. 154.
[108] Riley, op. cit., p. 399.
[109] Inventories of the Exchequer, III, p. 142.
[110] Archæologia, XXXI, p. 55.
[111] Inventories, etc., III, pp. 174, 184.
[112] These bars of metal were attached vertically at intervals to the belt or girdle to maintain the rigidity of the material. The word bar (corresponding to the French clou) was subsequently applied to all such attachments, which were sometimes perforated to allow the tongue of the buckle to pass through them (Way, Prompt. parv., p. 24).
[113] Hartshorne (A.), “Swordbelts of the Middle Ages” (Arch. Journ., XLVIII, p. 320).
[114] Way, Prompt. parv., p. 27, n. 2.
[115] There is the possibility that bells were worn as amulets, though not necessarily intended as such by their wearers. “Le son de l’airain,” like the tinkling ornaments of the daughters of Zion (Isa. iii. 18), was thought to have a prophylactic virtue. The double-tail mermaids of silver still worn in Naples as charms against the evil eye are always hung with little bells (Elworthy, The evil eye, p. 368).
[116] Inventories of the Exchequer, III, p. 337.
[117] Symonds (J. A.), Renaissance in Italy—The Fine Arts, p. 91.
[118] Williamson (G. C.), Francia, pp. 2, 3, 21, 38.
[119] For a photograph of this jewel, and for the information respecting it and the other works of this artist, I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Williamson.
[120] Wölfflin (H.), The art of the Italian Renaissance, p. 234.
[121] The whole of this magnificent work has been reproduced by Sijthoff, of Leyden, under the direction of Scato de Vries and Dr. S. Morpurgo.
[122] This tendency is as common as ever in the East, particularly among high-class natives of India, on account of the prevailing belief that the only safe way to invest money is to purchase precious stones and similar articles of intrinsic or sterling value. (See Nineteenth Century, LVIII, p. 290, 1905, “The origin of money from ornament.”)
[123] Proc. Soc. Antiq., XIV, p. 180.
[124] Reproduced by Quaritch in 1897 from a copy now in the possession of Mr. Max Rosenheim.
[125] Lichtwark (A.), Der Ornamentstich der deutschen Frührenaissance, p. 111.
[126] Most of Mielich’s works have been reproduced by Hefner-Alteneck in his Deutsche Goldschmiede-Werke des 16ten Jahrhunderts.
[127] Jannettaz, Diamant et pierres précieuses, p. 423.
[128] Bucher, Geschichte der technischen Künste, II, p. 307.
[129] La collection Spitzer, III, p. 53.
[130] Brewer (J. S.), Henry VIII, I, p. 10.
[131] Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, II, p. 1441, etc.; III, p. 1533, etc.
[132] Letters and Papers, XII, No. 47.
[133] Lambecius, Bibliotheca Cæsarea Vindobonensi, II, p. 512.
[134] Kalendars and Inventories of the Exchequer, II, p. 304.
[135] That pendants were termed “flowers” is clear from W. Thomas’s Italian Grammar (1548), where a fermaglio is defined as “the hangeing owche, or flowre that women use to tye at the chayne or lace that they weare about their neckes” (Way, Prompt. parv., p. 359, n. 3).
[136] His family name was Van der Gow or Van der Goes. See L. Cust, Burlington Magazine, VIII, p. 356.
[137] An enormous number of these exist. A catalogue of them has been drawn up by Mr. F. M. O’Donoghue, of the British Museum.
[138] British Museum. MSS. No. 4827.
[139] Strickland, Queens of England, IV, pp. 262, 416.
[140] Vertue (G.), Catalogue of the collection of Charles I, p. 47.
[141] “He gave me a jewel the other day, and now he has beat it out of my hat” (Timon of Athens, Act iii.)
“Honour’s a good brooch to wear in a man’s hat at all times” (Ben Jonson, Poetaster).
“And his hat turned up, with a silver clasp on his leer side” (Ben Jonson, Tale of a Tub).
[142] Bonnaffé (E.), La collection Spitzer, III, p. 134.
[143] Burlington Fine Arts Club, Catalogue of enamels, 1897.
[144] Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, IV, Nos. 1907 and 6789.
[145] L’Arte, II, p. 432, 1899.
[146] Hefner-Alteneck (J. H. von), Deutsche Goldschmiede-Werke des 16ten Jahrhunderts, Pl. 12.
[147] This legend is the subject of a striking picture by Quentin Matsys (itself rich in representation of jewellery), which forms the left wing of the magnificent “Deposition” (No. 245), in the Antwerp Museum. A famous relic, the skull of the saint in Amiens Cathedral, exhibits a hole over the eyebrow.
[148] I trattati dell’ oreficeria. Ed. Milanesi, 1857. Chapter on Minuteria.
[149] In the night of December 17th, 1860, the Galleria delle Gemme of the Uffizi was entered by thieves, who carried off a large number of gems and jewels. Most of the gems were recovered, but nearly all robbed of their settings. All the jewels were lost (Gotti, A., Le Gallerie di Firenze, pp. 229 and 388).
[150] Kenner (F.), Cameen und Modelle des XVI. Jahrhunderts, p. 27 (Jahrbuch der Kunsthistor. Sammlungen des Kaiserhauses, IV), 1886.
[151] A jewelled enseigne known as the “Star Jewel,” once the property of Sir Francis Drake, belongs to Sir F. Fuller-Eliott-Drake. It is enriched with translucent red enamel, and has rubies set in the rays, with opals and diamonds interspersed in the border, round an engraved ruby in the centre. It has four loops behind for attaching to the hat.
[152] Archæologia, XXI, p. 152.
[153] Inuentaires de la Royne Descosse Douairiere de France (published by the Bannatyne Club), p. 87.
[154] Crystal quartz found in the Clifton limestone, and known as Bristol diamonds.
[155] Nichols (J.), Illustrations of the manners and expenses of ancient times in England, Pt. III, p. 26.
[156] Nuremberg: Germanisches Museum. Mitteilungen, 1894, p. 73.
[157] Letters and Papers, IV, No. 1907.
[158] Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, II, p. 498.
[159] Luthmer, Gold und Silber, p. 100.
[160] Davenport, Cameos, 1900.
[161] Cf. “Une petite nef d’or, estoffée de tout son appareil” (Invent. of Mary, dau. of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and wife of Maximilian I. Lille: Archives du Nord, VIII, p. 171.)
[162] Cf. “A juell of golde, wherein is a parret hanging” (New Year’s gifts to Queen Elizabeth, 1578-9).
[163] Henry VIII, Letters and Papers, IV, No. 6789.
[164] Nichols, Progresses of Q. Elizabeth, I, pp. 380, 412; II, p. 52.
[165] See Connoisseur, V, p. 80. The gems and jewels at Windsor Castle, by H. Clifford Smith.
[166] Way(A.), Cat. of antiquities and historical Scottish relics, Edinburgh, 1859, p. 163. See also Connoisseur, loc. cit.
[168] Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Aug., 1596.
[169] Compare pp. 293 and 297. See Darcel (A.), Notice sur émaux et de l’orfévrerie (Louvre), p. 81. See also Labarte (J.), Les arts industriels (2nd ed., II, p. 136, 1873), “L’émaillerie cloisonnée sur cristal.”
[170] See p. 301.
[171] I will have my pomander of most sweet smell,
Also my chains of gold to hang about my necke.
Book of Robin Conscience (circa 1600).
[172] The only modern French word for the pomander is cassolette. In German and Italian there is a tendency to revive the old titles Bisamapfel and Oldano.
[173] Reproduced by Quaritch in 1888.
[174] Burlington Magazine, VIII, p. 130, 1905.
[175] Reproduced by Quaritch in 1888.
[176] Mariette, Abecedario, IV, p. 133.
[177] These are described in the Connoiseur, V, p. 243.
[178] See pp. 273 and 297.
[179] Historical MSS. Commission, IV, p. 286.
[180] Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, March 18, 1623.
[181] See p. 209.
[182] Nichols, Progresses of James I, IV, p. 830. A complete list of the jewels removed from the Tower is given in Archæologia, XXI, p. 148.
[183] Nichols, op. cit., III, p. 548.
[184] Devon (F.), Issues of the Exchequer, James I (Pell records), p. 49.
[185] Archæologia, XV, p. 19.
[186] Examples of these jewelled frames are preserved in Mr. Pierpont Morgan’s collection of miniatures. For the information respecting them I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Williamson, author of the catalogue of that collection.
[187] Les bijoux anciens et modernes, p. 294.
[188] See Connoisseur, XII, p. 81.
[189] Kindly communicated by the late Sir Dominic Colnaghi.
[190] Davies (G. S.), Frans Hals, p. 88.
[191] Munro (R.), Archæology and false antiquities.
Eudel (P.), Le Truquage, 1887. Trucs et Truqueurs, 1907.
[192] Archæological Journal, XXI, p. 167. A collection of pseudo-antiques of the kind made at the ateliers of Messrs. Billy and Charley, Rosemary Lane, Tower Hill, is shown in the Cuming Museum, Walworth Road, London.
[193] Cook (T. A.), The history of Rouen, p. 293.