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.