In the finely executed portrait of the Duchess Anne de France, she wears a coronet with three pearls at each point. It seems to be made up of three large pearls, set on a row of pearls circling the entire top of her head, beneath which is a row of great emeralds, and then another row of pearls. Flaring downward and entirely covering the side of her head near the ear, are two rows of pearls with a row of fine emeralds between them, the rows of pearls deflecting slightly downward until the chin line is reached, and then turning back and slightly upward, meeting at the back. As in the crown cap, the same severe decoration in pearls is the main feature, and is repeated on each side of the robe, the front of which is of ermine. Beginning on a line with the shoulder is a broad band of pearls and emeralds set in gold which extends below her waist. At the top of this are six pearls set in a straight line. Then from the end of this line, dropping straight down, is a row on each side. Between the two rows is a gem, then two great pearls and another gem, then two more pearls, this being repeated to below the waist. The ermine is held at her waist by a trefoil reversed; that is, two pearls above and one below a great gem, and then a trefoil reversed below this. This portrait is dated 1498 and is on a triptych in the cathedral of Moulins.
Quite unique is the pearl decoration in a picture of St. Barbara, painted by an artist of the French school, and dated 1520, which is in the National Museum of Budapest. This artist uses pearls with the utmost severity of taste and richness. Beginning a trifle above the center of her forehead is an emerald ornament, and on each side there extend to the back of her head three rows of pearls, not placed exactly one row above the other, but the rows intertwined with each other. The whole is enriched by a great string of pearls about her neck. The effect produced is extremely artistic and beautiful.
Catharine de’ Medici wore two rows of pearls on her bonnet, and a quaint necklace in sections of two rows of four pearls, with a large pearl between; a pear-shaped pendant on a Renaissance jewel; a row of pearls around her low-cut bodice, and a girdle of jewels alternating with pearls, which extended to the lower end of her gown. In addition to all this, she wore a bracelet of jewels with a pearl set between each ornament. This artistic combination is best shown in her portrait in the Uffizi, Florence (No. 726), painted by an unknown artist.
One of the most unique, rich, and chic collections of pearls, and one worn with unusual grace, is that of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, shown in the fine portrait of her by Coello Sanchez. In this portrait her hat shows the plumes embroidered with slanting rows of three, four, and five pearls. In the center of the hat is an ornament shaped like a flower, with seven large pearl petals surrounding a great pearl center. The hat is tilted to one side showing her hair on the left, while a little to the right of the center of her forehead, and touching it, there hangs from her hair a great pear-shaped pearl, which adds a wonderful amount of character to the jeweling of her head. Around her neck is a high fluted ruff; below which is a collar of large gems relieved by an ornament of two pearls placed between each gem. The same interesting motive is carried out in a girdle of gems which comes down very low to her waist, terminating in a large jeweled heart ornament. The painting shows sixteen remarkable pearls in the collar, and thirty-six pearls in the jeweled girdle.
A very interesting collection of portraits was exhibited last spring (1907) at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The pictures are contained, in some instances, in old illuminated manuscripts, while in others they are contemporary crayon sketches. Many pearl decorations are represented, and we give a few of the most important.
The portrait of Anne de Bretagne (1476–1514), wife of Louis XII, from the “Heures d’Anne de Bretagne,” illuminated by Jean Bourdichon, represents the queen kneeling; she wears a collar ornamented with groups of four pearls alternating with precious stones.
A crayon sketch of Françoise de Foix, Comtesse de Châteaubriant (1490–1537), who became the mistress of Francis I, shows her wearing a hood or coif ornamented with forty oval pearls. She also wears a necklace of sixty fine round pearls.
Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566), granddaughter of Charles VII and Agnes Sorel, is represented with a head-dress similar to that worn by the Comtesse de Châteaubriant . It has a border of sixty round pearls. This crayon is of the time of Jean Clouet.
A portrait of Philip Strozzi (1541–1582) who, although an Italian, had the rank of colonel-général in the French army, is interesting as an illustration of the wearing of earrings by the men of this period. The fine round pearl which hangs from his ear strikes us now as a curious ornament for a warrior.
A crayon sketch of Gabrielle d’Estrées (d. 1599), mistress of Henri IV, is attributed to the hand of Daniel Dumonstier. Here may be seen a splendid pearl necklace, which apparently consists of six sections, each comprising three rows of eight round pearls, the sections being connected with each other by a large oval pearl. The necklace, which hangs down over the bosom, is fastened by a clasp in the form of a four-leaved clover, from which depend two other sections similar to those described above, and terminating in an oval pearl pendant.