The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jewellery, by H. Clifford Smith,
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Title: Jewellery
Author: H. Clifford Smith,
Release Date: December 30, 2014 [EBook #47823]
Language: English
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Transcriber's Note:
1) Page 91 contains a footnote, however there is no associated
marker. The footnote has been left in place, with a note to
this effect.
2) A letter following ^ is superscripted. Where more than one
letter is superscripted, each is preceded by the ^ symbol.
3) [.A] = dot above A [h.] = dot below h [=a] = macron above a
4) [Symbol: cross pattée] (also known as a "cross pattee",
"cross patty", "cross formée" or "cross formy" or in German
"Tatzenkreuz") is a type of cross that has arms which are narrow
at the center, and broader at the perimeter. The name comes from
the fact that the shape of each arm of the cross was thought to
resemble a paw (French patte).
* * * * *
JEWELLERY
BY
H. CLIFFORD SMITH, M.A.
[Illustration: The Connoisseur's Library]
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
LONDON: METHUEN & CO.
1908
[Illustration: _PLATE I_ SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PENDENT JEWELS OF
ENAMELLED GOLD]
CONTENTS
PAGE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, ix
PREFACE, xxxiii
INTRODUCTION, xxxvii
EARLY JEWELLERY
CHAPTER I. EGYPTIAN JEWELLERY, 1
PHOENICIAN JEWELLERY, 7
" II. GREEK JEWELLERY, 11
" III. ETRUSCAN JEWELLERY, 20
" IV. ROMAN JEWELLERY, 27
" V. BYZANTINE JEWELLERY, 33
" VI. PREHISTORIC (CELTIC) JEWELLERY, 39
ROMANO-BRITISH JEWELLERY, 44
" VII. THE BARBARIC JEWELLERY OF EUROPE
(THE GREAT MIGRATIONS), 49
" VIII. ANGLO-SAXON JEWELLERY
(FIFTH TO SEVENTH CENTURIES),
MEROVINGIAN JEWELLERY, 56
" IX. LATE ANGLO-SAXON JEWELLERY
(SEVENTH TO NINTH CENTURIES), 65
" X. THE CELTIC BROOCH, 75
THE JEWELLERY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
(TENTH TO FIFTEENTH CENTURIES)
CHAPTER XI. MEDIÆVAL JEWELLERY
(INTRODUCTION), 80
" XII. MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND, 91
" XIII. THE MYSTERY OF PRECIOUS STONES, 99
" XIV. HEAD-ORNAMENTS, 105
NECKLACES, 113
" XV. PENDANTS, ROSARIES, AND POMANDERS, 118
" XVI. BROOCHES--THE RING-BROOCH, 127
" XVII. BROOCHES (_contd._)--PECTORALS, 135
" XVIII. RINGS AND BRACELETS, 147
" XIX. BELTS AND GIRDLES, 159
RENAISSANCE JEWELLERY
CHAPTER XX. ITALY, FIFTEENTH CENTURY, 166
" XXI. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY (GENERAL), 177
" ITALY, SIXTEENTH CENTURY, 183
" XXII. GERMANY, THE LOW COUNTRIES, HUNGARY, 187
" XXIII. FRANCE--SPAIN, 199
" XXIV. ENGLAND (HENRY VIII--ELIZABETH), 206
" XXV. HEAD-ORNAMENTS, ENSEIGNES,
AIGRETTES, HAIR-PINS, EARRINGS, 222
" XXVI. NECKLACES, NECK-CHAINS, AND COLLARS, 236
" XXVII. NECK-PENDANTS, 242
" XXIX. GIRDLES AND GIRDLE PENDANTS
(MIRRORS, BOOKS, WATCHES,
SCENT-CASES, AND POMANDERS), 270
LATER AND MODERN JEWELLERY
CHAPTER XXX. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY (GENERAL), 276
" XXXI. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY (_contd._), 290
ENGLAND, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 299
" XXXII. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY, 307
" XXXIII. NINETEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY
--THE MODERN REVIVAL, 325
" XXXIV. PEASANT JEWELLERY, 341
" XXXV. JEWELLERY IN PICTURES, 348
" XXXVI. FRAUDS AND FORGERIES, 355
" XXXVII. MEMENTO MORI, 363
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 371
INDEX, 381
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
B. M. = British Museum.
V. and A. M. = Victoria and Albert Museum.
_A page-number appended to a description indicates
place of reference in the text._
I. SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PENDENT JEWELS OF ENAMELLED GOLD _Frontispiece_
1. Pendant in the form of a Triton. Italian.
(Marquess of Clanricarde.) _p. 249._
2. Pendant in form of a winged dragon. Spanish.
_p. 249._ (Louvre.)
II. PHOENICIAN JEWELLERY _p. 8._
1-8. From Cyprus and Sardinia. (B. M.)
1-4. Four gold earrings. _p. 9._ 1. Chrysalis form.
2-3. A pair: birds perched above a bushel of grain.
4. Long oval ring terminating with a cross.
5-6. Two necklaces with pendent heads in the Egyptian
style, from Tharros in Sardinia. _p. 10._ 5. Beads
of glass and gold. 6. Carnelian bugles.
7-8. Two seal pendants of silver, set with sard scarabs.
9. Ibero-Phoenician stone bust, known as the "Lady of
Elché." _p. 9._ (Louvre.) (_Photo, Giraudon._)
III. EARLY GREEK JEWELLERY _p. 12._
1. Three gold plates or discs from Mycenæ. _p. 11._
(National Museum, Athens.)
2-7. Gold ornaments of the Mycenæan period. _p. 12._ (B. M.)
2. Pendant from Ægina: figure in Egyptian costume
grasping geese.
3. Plaque from Kameiros: winged goddess, with two
lions in the round, and owls at the top.
4. Diadem of spiral ornament, from Enkomi (Salamis),
Cyprus.
5-6. Pair of leech-shaped earrings, from Enkomi.
7. Pendent pomegranate of granulated gold, from Enkomi.
IV. GREEK JEWELLERY (EARRINGS, NECKLACE AND HAIR-PIN). (B. M.) _p. 16._
1-3. Three earrings. _p. 15._ 1. Head of a goat with
garnet eye. 2. Pendent Cupids and Victories (Kyme,
in Æolis). 3. Eros with a jug (Crete).
4. Gold necklace with pendent tassels in form of
pomegranates (Kyme).
5. Pair of gold earrings set with garnets and emeralds,
connected by a plaited chain. (Tyszkiewicz Collection.)
6. Gold pin from Paphos, Cyprus. _p. 17._
V. GREEK JEWELLERY (CROWN, NECKLACES, BRACELET, RINGS). (B. M.) _p. 18._
1. Gold crown from Magna Græcia, second century B.C.
(Tyszkiewicz Collection.) _p. 17._
2. Necklace with enamelled rosettes and filigree.
(Blacas Collection.)
3. Enamelled gold necklace from Melos. _p. 17._
4. Gold bracelet with bulls' heads. (Blacas Collection.)
5. Four rings. 1. Gold, demon with Sphynx and panther
(early Ionic). 2. Silver, surmounted by gold fly
(Cyprus). _p. 10._ 3. Gold, engraved with figures of
Aphrodite and Eros. 4. Gold, with busts of Serapis
and Isis (Græco-Roman).
VI. ETRUSCAN JEWELLERY (PINS, NECKLACES, EARRINGS). (B. M.) _p. 22._
1. Hair pins and balls of granulated gold, from Etruria.
2. Primitive necklace of amber, gold, and electrum, from
Præneste. _p. 24._
3. Necklace hung with pendent vases and heads of Io.
4. Necklace with pendent head of a faun. _p. 24._
5. Chain with pendent head of a negro. _p. 24._
6. Necklace of plasma and gold beads, with basalt amulet
pendant. _p. 25._
7-8. Earrings. _p. 23._ 7. Saddle-shaped, with fine
granulation.
8. Pendent cock in white enamel.
VII. ETRUSCAN JEWELLERY (BROOCHES, DIADEM, BRACELET, RINGS).
(B. M.) _p. 24._
1. Early fibula from Cervetri, surmounted with
figures of lions. _p. 25._
2. Gold diadem of ivy leaves and berries. _p. 23._
3. Fibula from Tuscana, with meander pattern in fine
granulation.
4. Early bracelet from Cervetri, with minute granular
work. _p. 25._
5-8. Four rings. 1. Bezel mounted with intaglio, gold
border with tendril pattern (Chiusi). 2. Cartouche
with figures of shepherd and dog (Chiusi).
3. Intaglio bezel supported by lions. _p. 25._
4. Large oval bezel bordered with dolphins and
waves (Bolsena). _p. 26._
VIII. ROMAN JEWELLERY _p. 30._
1-6. (B. M.)
1. Gold necklace set with garnets, and a pendant
in form of a butterfly.
2. Gold necklace, with a pendent aureus of
Domitian. _p. 30._
3. Gold hair-pin from Tarentum surmounted by a
figure of Aphrodite. _p. 28._
4-6. Three gold rings. _pp. 31-32._ 4. Serpent form.
5. Open-worked, set with a nicolo intaglio--a mask
of a Satyr. 6. Eye-shaped, with open-work shoulders,
set with a nicolo.
7-15. (V. and A. M.)
7-10. Earrings. _pp. 28-29._ 7. Porphyry drop. 8. Two
pearls (_crotalia_) suspended from yoke. 9. Basket
of fruit set with garnet, a carnelian bead, and an
emerald pendant. 10. Large hook set with sapphire,
an emerald below, and three pearl drops.
11. Gold bracelet in form of a serpent. _p. 30._
12-15. Four rings. 12. Gold: tragic mask in high relief.
13. Gold: quintuple, set with two sapphires and
three garnets. 14. Gold: raised open-work bezel set
with a sapphire and a chrysoprase. 15. Gilt bronze:
bust of Serapis in relief. _p. 32._
IX. BYZANTINE JEWELLERY, AND ENAMELLED JEWELLERY IN
THE BYZANTINE STYLE _p. 36._
1-7 and 9-11. (B. M.) 8. (V. and A. M.)
1-2. Pair of gold loop earrings: a cross patée
between two peacocks confronted. About seventh
century. _p. 35._
3. Gold pectoral cross with a text from Galatians
vi. 14. Eleventh century. _p. 36._
4-5. Pair of gold and enamelled loop earrings. Twelfth
century. _p. 35._
6. Nielloed gold wedding ring: Christ and the Virgin
blessing a bride and bridegroom. About tenth century.
7. Engraved gold signet ring. About fifth century.
8. Beresford-Hope cross: cloisonné enamel. About eighth
century. _p. 36._
9. The Castellani brooch: portrait in cloisonné enamel.
North Italian, seventh century. _p. 70._
10. Gold inscribed key ring. Fourth century. _p. 37._
11. Townley brooch. Probably Rhenish work, with Byzantine
cloisonné enamels. Tenth or eleventh century. _p. 70._
X. PREHISTORIC GOLD ORNAMENTS OF THE BRITISH ISLES (B. M.) _p. 40._
1. Ring, found at Bormer, near Falmer, Sussex.
2. Plaited ring, found near Waterford, Ireland.
3. "Ring Money" of gold and silver, found at Rustington,
Sussex.
4. Torque fastened by a ring, found at Boyton, Suffolk.
5. Disc, found at Castle Treasure, near Douglas, Co. Cork.
6. Dress fastener, found at Crif Keran Castle, Co. Armagh.
7. Bracelet, found at Bexley, Kent.
XI. ANGLO-SAXON AND ROMANO-BRITISH BROOCHES, ETC. (B. M.) _p. 60._
1-5. Anglo-Saxon inlaid jewellery.
1. Gold brooch, from Sarre, Kent. _p. 61._
2. Silver brooch, from Faversham, Kent. _p. 60._
3. Gold pendant, from Faversham. _p. 58._
4. Bronze brooch, from Wingham, Kent. _p. 60._
5. Gold brooch, from Abingdon, Berks. _p. 61_, note.
6-7. Romano-British brooches.
6. Bronze brooch set with slices of Roman millefiori
glass, from Pont-y-Saison, near Chepstow, Mon. _p. 46._
7. Enamelled bronze brooch, found in London.
(Hastings Collection.) _p. 46._
XII. ANGLO-SAXON AND FRANKISH JEWELLERY
(FIFTH TO SEVENTH CENTURIES) _p. 62._
1-6. (B. M.)
1. Gold necklace with garnets, from Desborough,
Northants. _p. 74._
2. Gold bracteate, from Ash, near Sandwich,
Kent. _p. 59._
3. Saucer-shaped brooch, bronze gilt, from East
Shefford, Berks. _p. 61._
4. Square-headed brooch, from Chessell Down, Isle
of Wight. _p. 62._
5. Cruciform brooch, bronze gilt, from Sleaford,
Lincs. _p. 61._
6. Inlaid and jewelled gold buckle, from Taplow,
Bucks. _p. 63._
7. "Radiated" brooch of silver, enriched with gold
and inlay of garnets. The back inscribed with the
name UFFILA. Seventh century. From Wittislingen
on the Danube. 6½ inches long. _p. 62._
(Bavarian National Museum, Munich.)
XIII. LATE ANGLO-SAXON JEWELLERY
(SEVENTH TO NINTH CENTURIES) _p. 68._
1-2. The Alfred Jewel. _pp. 68-69._
(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.)
3. St. Cuthbert's cross. _p. 68._ (Durham Cathedral.)
4. Dowgate Hill brooch: cloisonné enamel and pearls.
_p. 69._ (B. M.)
5. Ethelwulf's ring. _p. 72._ (B. M.)
6. Nielloed gold ring with two bezels, found in the
Nene, near Peterborough. _p. 72._ (B. M.)
7. Ethelswith's ring. _p. 72._ (B. M.)
8. Gold ring, found in Garrick Street, London. (B. M.)
9. Alhstan's ring. _p. 71._ (V. and A. M.)
10. Nielloed gold ring. _p. 73._ (Lord Fitzhardinge.)
11. Silver ring found in the Thames at Chelsea. _p. 73._
(V. and A. M.)
XIV. THE TARA BROOCH. _p. 78._
(Collection of the Royal Irish Academy,
National Museum, Dublin.)
XV. THE JEWELS OF WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM.
NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD. _p. 96._
1. Monogram of the Virgin: gold, enamelled, and set
with rubies, emeralds and pearls.
2. Silver-gilt decorations of the mitre: comprising
two quatrefoils set with turquoises, two rosettes
set with pastes, and hinged bands of brasse-taille
enamel set with pearls and crystals. English, late
fourteenth century. _pp. 96-98._
XVI. ANTIQUE CAMEOS IN MEDIÆVAL SETTINGS. _p. 102._
1. The Jewel of St. Hilary. _p. 103._
(Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)
2. The Schaffhausen onyx. _p. 104._
3. The cameo of Charles V of France. _p. 103._
(Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.) (_Photo, Giraudon._)
XVII. MEDIÆVAL HEAD-ORNAMENTS. _p. 110._
1-4. Pilgrims' signs of lead. _p. 110._ (B. M.)
1. Head of St. Thomas with swords, within a cusped
border.
2. Ampulla for blood of St. Thomas.
3. St. George within a border.
4. Head of St. John the Baptist.
5-8. Retainers' badges of lead. _p. 110._ (B. M.)
5. Hart lodged (Richard II).
6. Crowned ostrich feather (Duke of Norfolk).
7. Rose and fetterlock (Edward IV).
8. Collared hound (Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury).
9. Silver-gilt crown or circlet, set with pearls
and coloured pastes. French, fourteenth
century. _p. 106._
(Musée du Cinquantenaire, Brussels.)
10-12. Three fifteenth-century gold enseignes.
10. Antique onyx cameo, outer frame set with rubies.
Spanish. _p. 111._ (V. and A. M.)
11. "Pelican in her Piety," set with a ruby and diamond.
Flemish (found in the Meuse). _p. 111._ (B. M.)
12. Figure of a dromedary in white enamel in frame set
with pearls. Flemish. _p. 146._
(Museo Nazionale, Florence.) (_Photo, Alinari._)
XVIII. MEDIÆVAL PENDANTS (RELIQUARIES, ETC.) _p. 120._
1. Silver reliquary set with crystal. German,
fifteenth century. _p. 121._
(Bavarian National Museum, Munich.)
2. Silver-gilt reliquary, from the treasury of Enger,
near Herford, in Westphalia. Fifteenth century.
(Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin.)
3. Silver-gilt pomander opening into four sections.
German, about 1480. _p. 126._
(Bavarian National Museum, Munich.)
4. Gold Reliquary of Charlemagne, containing a fragment
of the True Cross. German, ninth (?) century _p. 118._
5. "Reliquary of St. Louis," gold, enriched with translucent
enamels, containing a thorn from the Crown of Thorns.
French, fourteenth century. _p. 119._ (B. M.)
6. Gold bracelet. German, twelfth century. _p. 157._
(Bavarian National Museum, Munich.)
XIX. MEDIÆVAL PENDANTS _p. 124._
1. Silver-gilt pendant containing figures of saints
and angels, surmounted by the Virgin and Child.
German, fifteenth century. _p. 120._
(Bavarian National Museum, Munich).
2-3, 5-8, and 10. German fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. (V. and A. M.)
2. Coronation of the Virgin, silver gilt.
3. _Agnus Dei_, silver gilt. Inscribed: IECUC (JESUS)
MARIA JOHANNES ANNUS (AGNUS). On the back:
JESUS MAIRA (MARIA) JOHANNES MARIA HILF. _p. 122._
4. Nielloed pendant, silver gilt: with the Annunciation
on one side, and the sacred monogram on the other.
Italian, fifteenth century. _p. 173._ (V. and A. M.)
5. St. Sebastian, silver gilt.
6. The Crucifixion, silver gilt.
7. Figures of four saints, silver gilt.
8. Gold cross, set with rubies and pearls. Fifteenth
century.
9. The Devil of Temptation, silver gilt. Flemish or German,
fifteenth century. _p. 120._ (Mrs. Percy Macquoid.)
10. Rosary of boxwood, with emblems of the Passion in
silver. _p. 124._
XX. MEDIÆVAL BROOCHES (RING-BROOCHES, ETC.) _p. 130._
1-6. GOLD RING-BROOCHES (_fermails_).
1. Set with pearls and precious stones, and with
four bosses of animals. Fourteenth century.
_p. 129._ (B. M.)
2. Enamelled blue and white, and inscribed with a
text from St. Luke iv. 30. French, fourteenth
century. _p. 130._ (Museo Nazionale, Florence.)
(_Photo, Alinari._)
3. Set with rubies and sapphires, the back nielloed.
French, thirteenth century. _p. 130._ (V. and A. M.)
4. Heart-shaped, inscribed. French, fifteenth century.
_p. 139._ (V. and A. M.)
5. Circular: inscribed, and set with two rubies and
four small emeralds. English (from Enniscorthy Abbey),
fourteenth century. (B. M.)
6. Set with rubies and emeralds. French, thirteenth
century. _p. 130._ (Museo Nazionale, Florence.)
(_Photo, Alinari._)
7. Silver-gilt brooch in form of St. Christopher.
English (from Kingston-on-Thames),
fifteenth century. _p. 142._ (B. M.)
8-12. FLEMISH-BURGUNDIAN GOLD BROOCHES (_nouches_).
Fifteenth century.
8. Two standing figures, enamelled, and set with a
ruby, diamond, and pearls. _p. 146._
(Imperial Art Collections, Vienna.)
9. Seated female figure with golden rays behind:
enamelled and set with pearls. _p. 144._
(Essen Treasury.)
10-12. Brooches found in the Meuse. _p. 143._ (B. M.)
10. Enamelled and set with a ruby and diamond.
11. A female figure, set with a sapphire, diamond,
and three rubies.
12. Set with a ruby amidst foliage, with traces of enamel.
XXI. MEDIÆVAL SCOTTISH BROOCHES. THE GLENLYON AND LOCH BUY BROOCHES.
(B. M.) _p. 132._
1. The Glenlyon brooch. Silver gilt, set with amethysts,
pearls, and rock crystal: the back inscribed.
Fifteenth century. _p. 132._
2. The Loch Buy brooch. Silver, set with rock crystal
and pearls. About 1500. _p. 133._
XXII. MEDIÆVAL BROOCHES (PECTORALS AND MORSE) _p. 136._
1. The "Eagle Fibula"; gold and cloisonné enamel.
Early twelfth century. _p. 135._ (Mainz Museum.)
2. Gold brooch in form of an eagle, set with emeralds,
lapis-lazuli, a sapphire, and a ruby. Thirteenth
century. _p. 136._ (Baron von Heyl.) From an etching
in _Kunstgewerbe-Blatt_, III.
(By permission of the artist, Prof. P. Halm, of Munich.)
3. Silver-gilt morse, made in 1484 for Albert von Letelin,
Canon of Minden, by the goldsmith Reinecke van Dressche
of Minden. _p. 139._ (Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin.)
XXIII. MEDIÆVAL AND LATER RINGS _p. 148._
1-2. Episcopal rings of William of Wykeham.
Fourteenth century. (New College, Oxford.)
1. Gold set with a ruby. _p. 149._
2. Silver gilt, with representation of the
crucifixion, set with a crystal.
3. Gold, episcopal, set with a sapphire. English,
fourteenth century. (V. and A. M.)
4-5. The Coventry ring (two views). Gold, engraved with
the five wounds of Christ and their names. English,
about 1457. _p. 150._ (B. M.)
6. The Godstow Priory ring: a gold love-ring, with
legends and forget-me-nots. English, fifteenth
century. _p. 150._
7. Gold, episcopal, projecting bezel set with a sapphire.
French, fourteenth century. (V. and A. M.)
8. Gold, episcopal, of complex design, set with a
sapphire. Italian, fifteenth century. (V. and A. M.)
9. Silver, set with a toadstone. German, sixteenth
century. _p. 151._ (V. and A. M.)
10. "Papal" ring. Gilt metal with cardinal's hat and
crossed keys. On shoulders Virgin and Child and Saint.
Inscription on hoop: EPISC. LUGDUN--Cardinal de
Bourbon (?), Archbishop of Lyons, 1466-1488. Italian,
fifteenth century. _p. 148._ (V. and A. M.)
11. Antique gem in red jasper, set in gold Italian mount
of the fourteenth century, inscribed:
S. FR. DE COLUMPNA. _p. 154._ (V. and A. M.)
12. Gold, set with a wolf's tooth, and inscribed with
the charm motto:
+BURO+BERTO+BERNETO+CONSUMMATUM EST.
English, fourteenth century. _p. 152._ (V. and A. M.)
13. Gold ornamental ring, chased, enamelled, and set
with emeralds. Italian, sixteenth century. (B. M.)
14. Gold signet ring with the arms of Mortimer. English,
seventeenth century. (V. and A. M.)
15. Silver-gilt wedding ring, set with two teeth. North
German, seventeenth century. _p. 262._ (V. and A. M.)
16. Fede ring, nielloed silver. Italian, fifteenth
century. _p. 173_ (V. and A. M.)
17. Ornamental ring of silver gilt, set with a foiled
crystal. German, sixteenth century. _p. 356._
(V. and A. M.)
18. The Percy signet. Gold. Inscribed: "NOW YS THUS."
From Towton Field, W. R., Yorks. English, fifteenth
century. _p. 153._ (B. M.)
19. Ornamental ring of silver gilt, with stag and foliage
in open-work. German, late fifteenth century.
(V. and A. M.)
20. Gimmel rings, enamelled gold. German, sixteenth
century. _p. 261._ (B. M.)
XXIV. PICTURE, KNOWN AS THE "LEGEND OF ST. ELOY AND ST. GODEBERTA,"
REPRESENTING THE INTERIOR OF A GOLDSMITH'S SHOP IN THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY. By PETRUS CHRISTUS, OF BRUGES. _p. 155._
(Baron A. Oppenheim, of Cologne) _p. 156._
XXV. FIFTEENTH-CENTURY PENDANTS, ETC. (ITALIAN AND FLEMISH) _p. 170._
1. The "Felicini" jewel, by Francia. Reproduced from
a picture in the Bologna Gallery. _p. 170._
2. Enamelled gold pendant, figured with the Annunciation.
Italian, fifteenth century. _p. 173._
(Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.)
3. Pendent jewel of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy,
set with three rubies ("the Brethren"), a diamond,
and four pearls. _p. 209._
4. Two silver-gilt girdle-plates, with figures of Samson
and St. Michael. Flemish, fifteenth century. _p. 163._
(Herr James Simon, of Berlin.)
XXVI. DESIGNS FOR JEWELLERY BY DÜRER AND HOLBEIN. (B. M.) _p. 190._
1. Drawings for two ring-shaped pendent whistles
by Dürer. _p. 190._
2-3. Etchings for (2) a buckle and buckle-plate and
(3) a girdle-end, by Hollar, from lost originals
by Dürer. _p. 191._
4-9. Drawings by Holbein. _p. 212._
4. Jewelled pendant: a monogram of the letters R and E.
5. A pendant of open goldwork with ribbon ornament;
a diamond in the centre, surrounded by six pearls,
and a pearl below.
6. Pendant formed in a monogram of the letters H and I.
7-8. Two pendants each formed of two stones, one above
the other, set in goldwork, with three pearls below.
9. Pendant: a bust of a woman holding before her a large
stone, on which are the words _Well Laydi Well_.
XXVII. DESIGNS FOR JEWELLERY by SOLIS, WOEIRIOT,
HORNIC, AND BROSAMER _p. 194._
1-2. Engravings for pendants by Virgil Solis.
_p. 194._ (B. M.)
3. Engraving for a pendant by Pierre Woeiriot,
dated 1555. _p. 201_ (B. M.)
4-6. Engravings for pendants by Erasmus Hornick:
Neptune and Amphitrite, and St. George and the
Dragon. _p. 194._ (B. M.)
7. Drawing for pendent whistle by Han Brosamer,
fitted with toothpick, etc.
_pp. 193, 250._ (Mr. Max Rosenheim.)
XXVIII. RENAISSANCE JEWELLERY OF ENAMELLED GOLD.
(His Majesty the King) _p. 218._
1. Painted enamel back of a "lesser George" of
the Garter, belonging to Charles II. English,
seventeenth century. _p. 292._
2. Enamelled gold enseigne, with figures of St. George
and the Dragon. Venetian, sixteenth century. _p. 224._
3. Enamelled gold pendant, with figures of Apollo and
Daphne: inscribed: DAPHNEM PHEBVS AMAT, etc.
Italian, sixteenth century.
4. The Lennox or Darnley Jewel. Scottish, sixteenth
century. _pp. 217 and 257._
5. Miniature case of enamelled gold, open-worked and
set with diamonds and rubies. English, late sixteenth
or early seventeenth century. It contains a lock of
hair of Charles I taken from his coffin. _p. 257._
From the _Connoisseur_ (1903). By permission of
Mr. J. T. Herbert Baily.
XXIX. RENAISSANCE ENSEIGNES OF ENAMELLED GOLD _p. 226._
1. Head of John the Baptist on a charger. Italian,
sixteenth century. _p. 226._ (V. and A. M.)
2. Bust of Helen. Italian, sixteenth century.
(Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, Milan.)
3. Battle scene. Italian, sixteenth century. _p. 225._
(Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)
4. Head of a negro in agate. German, sixteenth
century. _p. 228._ (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)
5. Leda and the Swan. By Cellini. _p. 228._
(Antiken Kabinet, Vienna.)
6. Cameo bust of Nero on sardonyx, in enamelled mount
set with diamonds and rubies. French, sixteenth
century. (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)
(Photo, Giraudon.)
7. Cameo of Diana on sardonyx in enamelled setting.
French, sixteenth century. (B. M.)
8. Onyx cameo, winged female head in enamelled setting.
French, sixteenth century. (B. M.)
XXX. HAT-ORNAMENTS (AIGRETTES, ETC.). LATE SIXTEENTH AND EARLY
SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES _p. 230._
1. Two coloured drawings for jewelled aigrettes.
By Arnold Lulls, jeweller to James I.
_pp. 231 and 302-3._ (V. and A. M.)
2. Gold enseigne of Sir Francis Drake: enamelled and
set with diamonds, rubies, and opals. _p. 230._
See also Plate XXXIV, 3. (Sir F. Fuller-Eliott-Drake.)
3. Socket for an aigrette, enamelled gold set with rubies:
initials D. M.--Dorothea Maria, wife of Otto Henry,
Count Palatine of Neuburg. _pp. 230-1._
(Bavarian National Museum, Munich.)
4. Enamelled gold aigrette set with emeralds, pearls, etc.
S. German, early seventeenth century. (Formerly
the property of Sir T. D. Gibson Carmichael.)
XXXI. GERMAN AND FRENCH RENAISSANCE PENDENTS _p. 244._
1. Necklace and pendant of enamelled gold set
with diamonds, rubies, and pearls.
German, late sixteenth century. (Lady Rothschild.)
2. Pendant of enamelled gold. In the centre a table-cut
emerald with a triangular emerald above. French,
sixteenth century. (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)
3. Gold pendant: on the front two raised shields of arms;
on the back the initials D. A. German, about 1530.
_p. 248._ (V. and A. M.)
4. Cameo bust of a woman, the head carnelian, with amethyst
drapery, jewelled gold crown; gold background and black
enamelled frame. German, sixteenth century.
(His Majesty the King.)
5. Pendant in the shape of a Sphynx. The body formed of
a large baroque pearl. Head, breast, and arms are
flesh-coloured enamel; the claw opaque white with gold
scales; the tail green, set with diamonds. On the breast
is a ruby. The base mounted with a row of diamonds on
white enamel, the creatures at each end being green.
The chains, of white enamel set with diamonds, hang from
a ruby, from which is suspended a heart-shaped pearl.
German, late sixteenth century. (Lady Rothschild.)
6. Portrait cameo in agate. Gold mount enamelled black
and white and set with four rubies and two diamonds,
with a pendent pearl. The portrait (unidentified)
is represented on a contemporary medal by a north
Italian artist. The mount, French, sixteenth century.
(Bibliothèque Nationale Paris.)
7. Gold pomander case: enriched with brilliant blue, red,
and translucent green enamel, and opaque white.
Set with rubies and pendent pearls, German, late
sixteenth century. (Lady Rothschild.)
XXXII. THREE PENDENT JEWELS _p. 246._
Gold, enriched with polychrome enamels, set with
precious stones and hung with pearls. German,
about 1600. (Lady Rothschild.)
XXXIII. PENDENT JEWELS BY HANS COLLAERT, ETC. _p. 248._
1. Enamelled gold pendant: in centre a figure of
Charity with three children, on each side a
pilaster set with diamonds and rubies
alternately, with a cupid above, and beyond
each pilaster a figure of Faith on one side
and Fortitude on the other. German, sixteenth
century. (B. M., Waddesdon Bequest.)
2. Design for a pendant by Hans Collaert (1581).
_p. 196._ (Mr. Max Rosenheim.)
3. Pendant in the style of Collaert: enamelled gold,
in the form of a ship, with figures of Antony
and Cleopatra. _pp. 197, 247._ (Mr. Charles
Wertheimer.)
XXXIV. RENAISSANCE PENDANTS, ETC., OF GOLD, ENAMELLED
AND JEWELLED. SPANISH (1-2) AND ENGLISH (3-6). _p. 254._
1-2. SPANISH PENDANTS, LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
From the Treasury of the Virgen del Pilar,
Saragossa. 1. Jewel in form of a parrot:
translucent green enamel, the breast set
with a hyacinth. _p. 249._ 2. Jewel of
enamelled gold: a dog standing on a scroll,
set with diamonds, rubies, and an emerald.
(V. and A. M.)
3-4. THE DRAKE JEWELS: presented to Sir Francis Drake
by Queen Elizabeth. 3. Enseigne of enamelled
gold set with diamonds, rubies, and opals; the
centre ruby engraved with the Queen's orb and
cross. _p. 230._ 4. Enamelled gold pendant,
containing a miniature of Elizabeth by Hilliard.
_p. 253._ (Sir F. Fuller-Eliott-Drake.)
5-6. THE ARMADA JEWEL. Believed to have been presented
by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Francis Walsingham.
Possibly the work of Nicholas Hilliard. 5. Front:
Gold bust of the Queen. 6. Back: Ark resting
peacefully on troubled waves. Inside: Miniature
of Elizabeth by Hilliard. _p. 255._ (Mr. J. Pierpont
Morgan.)
XXXV. ELIZABETHAN JEWELLERY _p. 256._
1. The Phoenix Jewel. _p. 255._ (B. M.)
2. Drake pendant in the form of a ship. _p. 253._
(Lord Fitzhardinge.)
3. Pendent miniature case, with carved medallion in
mother-of-pearl. _p. 256._ (Poldi-Pezzoli Museum,
Milan.)
4. The Barbor Jewel. _p. 254._ (V. and A. M.)
5. The Hunsdon Armlet. _p. 265-6._ (Lord Fitzhardinge.)
6. Onyx cameo in gold mount, presented to Queen Elizabeth
by Archbishop Parker. (Described in _Arch.
Journ._ Vol. XIX.) (Mr. G. E. Lloyd Baker.)
7. Edward VI's Prayer Book. _p. 274._ (Lord Fitzhardinge.)
XXXVI. RENAISSANCE AND LATER RINGS. (V. and A. M.) _p. 262._
1. Gold wedding ring: open-work hands (_fede_),
inscribed within: QVOD DEVS CONIVNVIT HOMO NON
SEPARET. Florentine, sixteenth century. _p. 262._
2. Jewish wedding ring of enamelled gold. Italian,
sixteenth century. _p. 262._
3. Gold wedding ring, set with rose diamond between
enamelled hands. English, dated 1706. _p. 321._
4. Gold, set with a pointed diamond. English,
seventeenth century. _p. 260._
5. Jewish wedding ring of enamelled gold in form of
a temple. German, sixteenth century. _p. 262._
6. Enamelled gold, set with a diamond. Italian,
sixteenth century.
7. Enamelled gold, figure of Cupid with a garnet on
the breast. Seventeenth century.
8. Gold, set with a miniature portrait of James Stuart,
the Old Chevalier.
9. Giardinetti ring: a basket of flowers composed of
diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. English, eighteenth
century. _p. 295._
10. Giardinetti: set with diamonds and rubies in the form
of a vase of flowers. English, late seventeenth
century. _p. 295._
11. Memorial: chased with death's head in white enamel,
and having diamond eyes. English, seventeenth
century. _p. 367._
12. Memorial: with enamelled skull. Inscribed: BEHOLD
THE ENDE. (Said to have belonged to Charles I.)
_p. 366._
13. Memorial: bezel enclosing painted female figure,
bearing inscription: NOT LOST BUT GONE BEFORE.
English, dated 1788. _p. 369._
14. Memorial: bezel enclosing funereal urn in hair
and gold. English, dated 1781. _p. 369._
XXXVII. RENAISSANCE BRACELETS _p. 266._
1. Gold bracelet of circular fluted links with
enamelled clasp. German, late sixteenth
century. _p. 266._ (V. and A. M.)
2. Bracelet of enamelled gold. French, seventeenth
century. _p. 294._ (V. and A. M.)
3-4. Bracelet of Diana of Poitiers, enamelled gold,
set with cameos. _p. 266._ (Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris.) (Photo, Giraudon.)
5. Gold bracelet of Otto Henry, Count Palatine of
Neuburg (d. 1604), with his wife's initials--
D M P B R G H Z W V T (Dorothea Maria Pfalzgräfin
bei Rhein geborne Herzogin zu Wirtemberg und Tek.)
Compare _p. 230._ (Bavarian National Museum, Munich.)
XXXVIII. RENAISSANCE GIRDLES _p. 272._
1. Italian, fifteenth-century girdle of gold
tissue with gilt metal mounts. _p. 163._
(V. and A. M.)
2. Silver gilt chain girdle. German, late sixteenth
century. (Mrs. Percy Macquoid.)
3. Nuremberg girdle of leather, with silver-gilt
mounts. Seventeenth century. _p. 272._
(V. and A. M.)
XXXIX. ENGRAVED DESIGNS FOR JEWELLERY BY DANIEL MIGNOT.
_p. 280._ (Mr. Max Rosenheim.) _p. 280._
XL. ENGRAVED DESIGNS FOR JEWELLERY BY GILLES LÉGARÉ
AND PAUL BIRCKENHULTZ _p. 282._
1-2. Designs for pendants, seals, and rings; from
Gilles Légaré's _Livre des Ouvrages d'Orfévrerie_.
_p. 282._ (B. M.)
3. Seal in the style of Légaré. The upper part gold
with painted enamel; below, engraved on steel,
the Royal Arms of the Stuarts, with bâton sinister,
of Anne Fitz Roy (b. 1661, d. 1721, married 1674,
Lord Dacre, created Earl of Sussex), daughter of
Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, and
Charles II. (Col. Croft Lyons.)
4. Design for a pendant by Paul Birckenhultz.
_pp. 280-1._ (Mr. Max Rosenheim.)
XLI. ENGRAVED PATTERNS FOR JEWELLERY, AND ENAMELLED JEWELS
EXECUTED FROM SIMILAR DESIGNS. LATE SIXTEENTH AND EARLY
SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES _p. 284._
1. Design for enamelled jewellery by Hans Hensel, of
Sagan (1599). _p. 284._ (Mr. Max Rosenheim.)
2. Gold ring set with flat heart-shaped garnet: design
on shoulders reserved in gold on white enamel.
Early seventeenth century. _p. 295._ (B. M.)
3. Design for jewellery in champlevé enamel, by Guillaume
de la Quewellerie, of Amsterdam (1611). _p. 284._
(V. and A. M.)
4. Gold ring: the shoulders enamelled in the champlevé
manner with design in black and white. Late
sixteenth century. (V. and A. M.)
5. Design for an enamelled ring by Hans van Ghemert
(1585). _p. 284._ (V. and A. M.)
6. Design for enamel-work by Jean Toutin (1619).
_p. 285._ (Mr. Max Rosenheim.)
7. The Lyte Jewel, containing a portrait of James I
by Isaac Oliver. Reverse side, with "silhouette"
pattern in gold and ruby champlevé enamel on white
ground. English, about 1610. _pp. 303-4._
(B. M., Waddesdon Bequest.) (Enamel-work of identical
design occurs on the back of a miniature-case,
containing a portrait of Charles I by Peter Oliver,
dated 1626, in the collection of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.)
8. Design for enamel-work in the "niello" or "silhouette"
manner, by Stephanus Carteron (1615). _p. 285._
(Mr. Max Rosenheim.)
XLII. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENAMELLED PENDANTS, ETC. _p. 290._
1. Gold pendant, containing an onyx cameo surrounded
by ribbon-work and flowers of coloured enamel,
set with rose diamonds. French. (Mr. Jeffery
Whitehead.)
2-3. Pair of earrings _en suite_ formed of a hand holding
a bow and bunch of flowers.
4. Pendant: an interlaced monogram of turquoise enamel
suspended from a crown-shaped ornament, enamelled
and set with diamonds. French. (Mr. Jeffery
Whitehead.)
5. Gold pendant of variegated enamel (translucent and
opaque) in form of a basket filled with fruit, with
flowers above, and a bird on the top. (H. C. S.)
6. Small aigrette of silver in form of a bunch of flowers
springing from a vase, set with rose diamonds, and
bearing traces of enamel. (H. C. S.)
XLIII. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENAMELLED MINIATURE-CASES,
LOCKETS, ETC. _p. 292._
[A]1. Gold miniature-case by Jean Toutin: the design
reserved in gold on a ground of black enamel.
_p. 293._ (Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.)
2. Gold miniature-case, translucent green enamel,
with pattern in white, from a design by Pierre
Firens. _p. 293._ (V. and A. M., Dyce Collection.)
[A]3. Gold miniature-case of translucent green enamel
(_émail en résille_) with "pea-pod" design in green
and red; enclosing miniature of Charles II by
Samuel Cooper. _p. 293._ (Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.)
[A]4. Crystal reliquary mounted in enamelled gold and set
with a plaque of _verre églomisé_. Spanish, about
1600. _p. 203._ (Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.)
[A]5. Gold locket of purple enamel with floral design in
white, yellow, and green on gold (_émail en résille_).
French. (Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.)
6. Pendant, set with a cameo of Lucrezia de' Medici in
open-work floral border of painted enamel. French.
_p. 292._ (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.)
[A]7. Gold miniature-case of open-work design enamelled in
green, blue, and white; containing a miniature of
James I. English. (Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan.)
8. Gold locket with painted ("Louis-Treize") enamel of
various colours in relief on blue ground. English.
_p. 293._ (Mrs. B. Spring-Rice.)
[A] Reproduced by permission of Dr. Williamson, acting on behalf
of Mr. J. Pierpoint Morgan. Copyright reserved.
XLIV. RINGS, SLIDES, AND PENDANTS (CHIEFLY MEMORIAL). SEVENTEENTH
AND EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES _p. 294._
1. Memorial ring, black enamel: set with crystal
over a skull and cross-bones; dated 1740.
2. Gold memorial locket with faceted crystal
enclosing hair; inscribed behind: "_Of such
is the Kingdom of God_." English, late
seventeenth century. _p. 368._
3. Memorial ring, black enamel; dated 1777.
4. Memorial ring, white enamel; dated 1739.
5. Memorial ring, white enamel; dated 1793.
6. Memorial ring, black enamel; set with faceted
crystal enclosing minute pattern in gold wire.
English, early eighteenth century.
(1--6--H. C. S.)
7. Back of a gold slide: painted enamel with initials
E. J. beneath a coronet. (Viscount Falkland.)
8. Gold ring: open-work floral pattern in painted
enamel; inscribed with a posy. _p. 295._
(Viscount Falkland.)
9. Silver locket surrounded by pearls, with faceted
crystal enclosing monogram in gold wire. English,
late seventeenth century. _p. 368._ (Mrs. Stewart
King.)
10-14. Memorial slides, with various devices and initials
in gold wire over hair or ribbed silk beneath
faceted crystal. English, late seventeenth and
early eighteenth centuries. _p. 368._ (Mr. Jeffery
Whitehead.)
15. Gold pendant set with an antique Roman cameo in
open-work floral border of painted enamel. English,
seventeenth century. _p. 292._ (His Majesty the King.)
16. "Memento Mori" jewel of enamelled gold; inscribed
round the sides: "_Through the resurrection of
Christe we be all sanctified_." English, about 1600.
_p. 365._ (V. and A. M.)
17. Gold pendant set with a cameo of Lucius Verus, in
border of "pea-pod" ornament. From a design by
Pierre Marchant. French, early seventeenth century.
_p. 292._ (B. M.)
XLV. PAGE FROM THE LEDGER OF SIR FRANCIS CHILD, JEWELLER TO WILLIAM III.
About 1674. Preserved at Child's Bank, No. 1 Fleet Street,
London, E. C. _p. 306._
(By permission of Mr. F. G. Hilton Price.) _p. 304._
XLVI. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY, FRENCH AND ENGLISH _p. 316._
1-3. Pendant, and two earrings _en suite_ containing
paintings _en grisaille_ on mother-of-pearl, in
gold frames set with rubies, diamonds, and
strings of pearls. French, Louis XVI.
(Mr. Jeffery Whitehead.)
4. Rosette-shaped brooch pavé with white paste of
fine quality. English, early eighteenth century.
(Col. Croft Lyons.)
5-6. Pair of _girandole_ earrings with paste sapphires.
Formerly the property of Madame du Barry. French,
Louis XV. _p. 217._ (Lady Monckton.)
7. Necklet and pendant of pink paste and marcasite.
English, about 1760. (Col. Croft Lyons.)
XLVII. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NECKLACES, ETC.
(Mr. Jeffery Whitehead) _p. 320._
1. Necklet and pendant of paste in silver setting.
English.
2-3. Pair of oval memorial clasps containing _grisaille_
paintings within pearl borders. English.
_p. 369._
4. Necklace of cut steel with Wedgwood cameos in
white on blue. English.
LXVIII. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHATELAINES
(Mr. Jeffery Whitehead) _p. 322._
1. Chatelaine (equipage) of cut steel mounted with
Wedgwood ware in white cameo on blue jasper
ground, hung with a watch and two watch keys.
English, about 1780.
2. Chatelaine (equipage) of gold formed of a hook
with five pendants--a scissor-case, two thimble
or scent cases, and two needle or bodkin cases.
French, Louis XV. _p. 323._
3. Oval memorial clasp of blue enamel with minute
design in carved ivory and pearl work, mounted
in paste frame. English. _p. 369._
XLIX. EMPIRE HEAD-ORNAMENTS _p. 326._
1. Empire tiara of rose diamonds set in silver,
on gold mounts. (Mrs. Kirby.)
2. Empire head-ornament (_bandeau_) of gold, enriched
with blue enamel, and set with twenty-five
carnelian intaglios. Formerly the property of
the Empress Josephine. (Mr. M. G. Lloyd Baker.)
3. Empire comb _en suite_ set with four carnelian
intaglios. (Mr. M. G. Lloyd Baker.)
L. EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY JEWELLERY _p. 328._
1-2. Pair of earrings in form of baskets of flowers,
enamelled, and set with turquoises and pearls.
(Mr. Jeffery Whitehead.)
3-4. Pair of bracelet clasps of beaded goldwork set with
various coloured stones, with Crown and Royal
cypher in enamel. Formerly the property of Queen
Charlotte. (Mr. Jeffery Whitehead.)
5. Necklace and pendent cross, with brooch and earrings
_en suite_: of beaded gold and filigree, set with
pink topazes and pearls. English. (Lady Ramsay.)
6. Necklace, with brooch and earring _en suite_, of
coloured gold set with amethysts and pearls.
English. (Lady Ramsay.)
LI. BUCKLES AND NECKLACES. LATE EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY
NINETEENTH CENTURIES _p. 330._
1-2. Pair of steel buckles partly plated with silver.
Signed W. Hipkins. _p. 315._ (H. C. S.)
3. Girdle-clasp of faceted steel. English (Birmingham),
late eighteenth century. _p. 315._ (V. and A. M.)
4. Gold shoe-buckle. English, eighteenth century.
_p. 322._ (V. and A. M.)
5. Silver girdle-buckle. English, eighteenth century.
(H. C. S.)
6. Silver shoe-buckle. English, eighteenth century.
(H. C. S.)
7. Necklace of delicate gold filigree enriched with
blue enamel and set with sapphire pastes. Early
nineteenth century. (Mrs. Holman Hunt.)
8. Necklace of cast iron mounted with gold: the oval
plaques, in open-work, alternately a spray of
flowers and a figure subject in the style of an
antique gem. Prussia (Berlin), early nineteenth
century. _p. 330._ (V. and A. M.)
LII. MODERN FRENCH JEWELLERY. (V. and A. M.) _p. 338._
1. Enamelled gold brooch. By Georges Fouquet.
2. Neck-ornament (_plaque de collier_): carved horn,
set with pink baroque pearls. By René Lalique.
3. Pin for the hair, gold, set with opals and diamonds.
By Gaston Laffitte.
4. Gold pendant set with diamonds and an opal, and
enriched with open-work translucent enamel in high
relief. By Comte du Suau de la Croix.
5. Enamelled gold pendant, set with diamonds, opals, and
emeralds. By G. Gautrain.
LIII. SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, FLEMISH, AND FRENCH PEASANT
JEWELLERY, ETC. _p. 342._
1. Bow-shaped breast-ornament of gold set with
emeralds, and having large emerald pendant.
Spanish, seventeenth century. _p. 204._
(Mrs. Close.)
2. Earring of gold filigree hung with pendants.
Portuguese. _p. 347._ (Lady Cook, Viscondessa
de Monserrate.)
3. Gold pendant set with rose diamonds mounted on
silver rosettes. Flemish, eighteenth century.
_p. 345._ (H. C. S.)
4. Silver cross set with crystals. French (Normandy).
_p. 342._ (H. C. S.)
5. Pendent badge of brass, enamelled black, white,
and blue, containing a crowned monogram of the
Virgin. Spanish (Barcelona), seventeenth
century. _p. 204._ (H. C. S.)
LIV. "ADRIATIC" JEWELLERY. _p. 346._
1. Pendant in form of a ship, enriched with
coloured enamels and hung with clusters of
pearls. (Mr. Jeffery Whitehead.)
2. Ship pendant of gold filigree hung with pearls.
(Mr. Jeffery Whitehead.)
3-4. Pair of enamelled earrings hung with clusters
of pearls. (Mr. Jeffery Whitehead.)
5. Long earring of gold filigree mounted and hung
with pearls. (Mr. Jeffery Whitehead.)
6-8. Pendant and pair of earrings, of gold filigree
enriched with coloured enamels. From the Island
of Patmos. (Mr. Cecil H. Smith.)
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
Safety-pin xli
Romano-British brooch or fibula with bilateral
spring xlii
Brooch formed of double spiral discs of concentric
wire ("Spectacle" fibula) xlii
Celtic brooch xliii
Ring-brooch (Tomb of Queen Berengaria of Navarre,
wife of Richard Coeur de Lion, at Le Mans) xliii
Buckle, with buckle-plate and tag. German, about
1490. (Victoria and Albert Museum) xlvi
Bronze fibula. (Ireland) xlvii
Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, made in
1432 by John Peutin, of Bruges, jeweller to Philip
the Good, Duke of Burgundy. (From the portrait of
Baldwin de Lannoy by John van Eyck at Berlin) 90
Interior of a jeweller's shop. From _Kreuterbuch_.
(Frankfort, 1536) 98
Gold ring engraved and enamelled with figures of
the Virgin and Child and St. John the Evangelist.
Scottish, fifteenth century. (Nat. Museum of
Antiquities, Edinburgh) 104
Necklace worn by the daughter of Tommaso Portinari
in Van der Goes' triptych in the Uffizi Gallery,
Florence 117
Pomander. From _Kreuterbuch_. (Frankfort, 1569) 126
A mediæval lapidary. From _Ortus Sanitatis_.
(Strasburg, about 1497) 134
Mantle clasp (portion) on effigy of Henry IV.
(Canterbury Cathedral) 140
Brooch of the Virgin in Lochner's "Dombild."
(Cologne Cathedral) 145
English gold ring, fifteenth century. Engraved with
the "Annunciation," and the words _en bon an_.
(Mr. E. Richardson-Cox) 150
French gold ring, fourteenth century. (Louvre) 154
A goldsmith in his workshop. From _Hortus Sanitatis_.
(Strasburg, 1536) 158
"Luckenbooth" brooch of silver. (Nat. Museum of
Antiquities, Edinburgh) 165
Pendant worn by one of the Three Graces in
Botticelli's "Primavera." 169
Jewel, in Ghirlandaio's portrait of Giovanna
Tornabuoni 170
Brooch worn by the Virgin on fifteenth-century
Florentine picture (No. 296, National Gallery,
London) 174
A fifteenth-century jeweller. From _Ortus
Sanitatis_. (Strasburg, about 1497) 176
Design for a pendent whistle by Hans Brosamer 198
Design for a pendant by Hans Brosamer 205
Earring, from Portrait of a Lady by Sodoma.
(Frankfort Gallery) 233
Design for a pendant by Jacques Androuet Ducerceau 241
The Penruddock Jewel 252
Triple rings set with pointed diamonds. Device of
Cosimo de' Medici. From Paolo Giovio's _Dialogo
dell' imprese_. (Figured in Botticelli's "Pallas"
in the Pitti Gallery) 260
Rings on a roll of parchment. From _Kreuterbuch_.
(Frankfort, 1536) 263
Design for a bracelet by Jacques Androuet Ducerceau 269
Jean Toutin in his workshop, firing an enamelled
jewel 289
Design for a pendent miniature-frame by Pierre
Marchant 306
PREFACE
The term Jewellery is used generally in a very wide sense, and it has
been necessary to impose certain limitations upon its meaning for the
purpose of the present work. Jewellery may be defined as comprising
various objects adapted to personal ornament, precious in themselves or
rendered precious by their workmanship. The jewel worn as a personal
ornament may be merely decorative, such as the aigrette or the pendant,
or it may be useful as well as ornamental, such as the brooch or the
girdle. Gems and precious stones are not jewels, in the present sense,
until the jeweller's skill has wrought and set them. This definition
will be found to correspond with the term _minuteria_ adopted by
Italian writers on the goldsmith's art for objects in precious
materials employed for the adornment of the person, as distinct
from _grosseria_--those fashioned for household use or ornament.
With the exception of a chapter dealing with Egyptian jewellery, I
have confined myself solely to Europe. The work falls into four main
divisions. The first deals with the jewellery worn during classical
times, and until the ninth century of our era. The second treats of the
jewels of the Middle Ages. The third is devoted to the jewels of the
Renaissance, and the fourth includes those of subsequent times. In the
chapters dealing with Renaissance and later jewellery I have endeavoured
to utilise the valuable evidence, hitherto generally overlooked or
neglected, which may be derived from the engraved designs and working
drawings of jewellers, from personal inventories, and from pictures by
the old masters. Perhaps too generous a share of attention has been
bestowed on English work; but this may be pardoned when it is remembered
that the previous literature of jewellery has been almost entirely from
the pens of French and German writers. While fully appreciating the
importance and interest of the recent revival of artistic jewellery,
I have not thought it necessary, in a book intended mainly for the
connoisseur, to give more than a rapid review of the main features of
the modern movement, with a brief mention of some prominent craftsmen
therein employed. For similar reasons no general account is given of the
processes of manufacturing articles of jewellery, though references are
made to technical methods when they serve to explain points of artistic
importance.
Assistance has been supplied by numerous works. The largest debt is due
to the learned art historian Ferdinand Luthmer, whose standard work
_Gold und Silber_ has afforded most important aid. From Rücklin's
_Schmuckbuch_ I have constantly derived instruction; and Fontenay's
_Bijoux anciens et modernes_ has been a storehouse of information. Other
books which have been of service are included in the Bibliography.
It is now my duty and pleasure to express my obligations to all those
whose unvarying kindness has facilitated my researches. Special thanks
are due: to Lady Rothschild, who has presented me with photographs,
specially taken for the purpose, of some of her choicest jewels; to Lady
Fuller-Eliott-Drake, who at considerable personal inconvenience brought
the Drake jewels to London; to Mr. Jeffery Whitehead, who despatched
for my use a number of jewels from his collection; to Mr. Max Rosenheim,
who, besides placing at my disposal his unrivalled series of engraved
designs for jewellery, has read through and corrected the portion of the
subject dealing with engraved ornament; to Sir John Evans, K.C.B., who
has guided me personally through his splendid collections of early
jewellery; and to Dr. Williamson, for assisting me in many ways, and for
the loan, on behalf of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, of copyright photographs
of the finest enamelled miniature-cases from his catalogue of Mr.
Morgan's collection, with leave to describe and reproduce such of them
as I might select for this volume.
Among those who have favoured me with permission to publish the
treasures in their possession I must gratefully mention Lady Cook
(Viscondessa de Monserrate), Lady Ramsay, Lady Monckton, Mrs. Holman
Hunt, Mrs. Percy Macquoid, the Marquess of Clanricarde, Viscount
Falkland, and Lord Fitzhardinge; also Herr James Simon, of Berlin, and
Lieut.-Col. G. B. Croft Lyons, who have presented me with photographs of
their jewels. Thanks are also due to Dr. Kitchin, Dean of Durham, for
the photograph of St. Cuthbert's Cross; to Dr. Spooner, Warden of New
College, for permission and aid in photographing the New College jewels;
to Dr. J. Anderson, Director of the National Museum of Antiquities of
Scotland, for the loan of blocks of two jewels in the Edinburgh Museum;
to Mr. F. G. Hilton Price, who enabled me to photograph the old ledgers
in Child's Bank; and to Mr. J. T. Herbert Baily, for leave to reproduce
illustrations to my articles on the King's gems and jewels at Windsor
Castle in the "Connoisseur" (1902-3). The names of many others, who
have kindly lent me jewels or photographs, will be found, attached to
the individual objects, in the List of Illustrations.
I would especially thank, amongst others, the following officers of the
Continental museums who have generously presented me with photographs of
articles of jewellery in the collections under their charge, or have
aided me with their advice:--Sir Henry Angst, K.C.M.G., British
Consul-General for Switzerland, late Director of the Zurich Museum; M.
E. van Overloop, Conservator of the Royal Museums, Brussels; Dr.
Lindenschmidt, Director of the Mainz Museum; Dr. Hermann J. Hermann,
Keeper of the Imperial Art Collections, Vienna; Dr. Wilhelm Behncke,
late of the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin; Dr. H. Graf, Director of the
Bavarian National Museum, Munich; Dr. L. Curtius, of the Antiquarium,
Munich; and M. J. de Foville, of the Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris.
Grateful acknowledgment is also due to the officers of the British
Museum for the help they have given me, particularly to Mr. Cyril
Davenport for numerous valuable suggestions. To my colleagues in the
Victoria and Albert Museum I owe cordial thanks for much encouragement
and help, particularly to Mr. A. Van de Put for his aid in reading
through the proofs of this volume; and above all to Mr. Martin Hardie,
A.R.E., who, besides executing the pen-drawings which illustrate the
text, has assisted me in various ways, and throughout the whole course
of the present work has favoured me with constant advice and
suggestions.
H. CLIFFORD SMITH
INTRODUCTION
The love of ornament prompted by vanity is inherent in the human race. A
most primitive instinct of human beings is to make their persons more
beautiful, more imposing, or more striking by ornamentation. This
inclination is as old as dress itself, nay, perhaps, dates even further
back. For there are tribes to whom climate and civilisation have not
yet suggested the necessity of clothing the body, but who nevertheless
possess ornaments of some degree of development. From the rudest of
beginnings up to the last refinements of art, jewelled ornaments have
ever the same purpose in view--to give prominence to individual parts of
the body by means of glittering, beautiful objects which involuntarily
draw the eye of the spectator in the desired direction.
Jewellery is not only worn with the purpose of attracting attention and
setting off the beauty of the person, but satisfies the desire, not less
deep-rooted in humanity, of establishing a distinctive mark of rank and
dignity. In fact the wearing of certain kinds of ornaments has at times
been fixed by legislation.
Among savages, and races not far removed from barbarism, it may be
observed that the love of ornament is chiefly characteristic of men. As
civilisation advances it is displayed more and more by women alone. Yet
even a century ago, among the most civilised nations of Europe, the
"beaux" and "macaronis" adorned themselves with jewellery of all kinds.
To-day, however, it is confined, and with greater propriety, almost
entirely to women. Desirous always of pleasing, the gentle sex has
ever sought to add to its charms by adorning itself with jewels.
Two methods of dealing with the history of the present subject
present themselves. One method consists in taking individual classes
of jewellery, tracing their complete development, and following the
changes they undergo during the various periods of civilisation. By the
other--the historical method--all types of jewellery in existence at a
particular time are examined side by side within the historical period
to which they belong. The general changes that take place at one epoch
find an echo in every piece of jewellery that belongs to that epoch. The
different classes of jewellery during every period all bear a distinct
relationship of style. For instance, the changes which take place in the
aspect of the necklace at a particular epoch will be found to occur at
the same time in that of the bracelet and girdle. But there may exist
the widest divergence in style and idea between a particular piece of
jewellery and its successor of a subsequent period. For these reasons
an historical and chronological mode of treatment has been adopted,
which will allow more completeness of observation, and fuller and more
scientific investigation of style and craftmanship. Certain difficulties
are nevertheless encountered, because periods and fashions naturally
overlap. This is particularly the case in times when communication was
not easy; since some people would cling to an old form of jewellery,
while others, more travelled or more fashionably minded, would prefer
a new.
In proceeding towards a systematic classification of personal ornaments
it may be advisable, instead of dealing with the separate ornaments of
each period according to their relative importance or prominence, to
follow a simpler and more natural plan. Thus, the ornaments dealt with
in each succeeding epoch will in every case be those worn: (1) on the
head--diadems, tiaras, aigrettes, hair-pins, jewels for the hat and cap,
and earrings; (2) on the neck--necklaces and neck-chains hung with
numerous varieties of pendants; (3) on the breast--brooches, clasps,
buttons; (4) on the limbs--armlets, anklets, bracelets, rings; and
(5) on the body and waist--girdles and their various attachments,
chatelaines, and miscellaneous pendent ornaments, such as pomanders,
scent-cases, rosaries, etc.
A few preliminary words may be said respecting the evolution of some of
the various ornaments employed on the different parts of the body.
The custom of decorating the head with jewelled ornaments was probably
suggested by the natural idea of encircling it with flowers in token of
joy or triumph. The use of diadems was in early times generally reserved
for those of noble birth. From the fillets employed for binding the
hair, developed circlets, which with the addition of precious stones
assumed the dignity of crowns.
The use of earrings as personal ornaments seems to have originated in
the East, where they have always been in favour. Earrings formed an
important article of jewellery during the classical ages, but they were
not commonly worn again in Europe until the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. At the present moment fashion does not decree their general
use.
The necklace--one of the most primitive of ornaments--is worn either
close round the throat, loosely round the neck, or low down upon the
breast. Occasionally, as among savage peoples, it takes the form of a
ring; but as a rule it is formed either of a simple cord, or a chain
formed by the appropriate linking together of rings, perforated discs,
or pierced balls. Artistic effects are produced by a regular alternation
of these details, as well as by the tapering of the chain from the
middle towards the ends. Neck-chains with symbolic elements are those
worn as orders and as signs of dignity.
The necklace may be further ornamented by a row of pendants, or more
generally a single pendent ornament. The pendant thus employed has
become, perhaps, the most beautiful of all articles of adornment. It
occupies a conspicuous position upon the person, and possibly for this
reason has evoked the greatest skill and refinement of the jeweller's
art. Its varieties are manifold--from the primitive charm, and the
symbolic ornaments of the Middle Ages, to the elaborate pendant, for
the most part purely decorative, dating from Renaissance times.
Next comes the important group of ornaments worn chiefly on the breast,
comprising brooches, clasps and pins, employed for fastening the dress.
All have their origin in the simple pin. To this class belongs the
hair-pin, of which the most handsome and varied examples are to be found
in ancient work. Unlike modern hair-pins which are provided with two
points, they have a single cylindrical or slightly conical stem,
pointed at one end, and terminated at the other with a knob or some
other finial.
A simple pin for the dress was uncommon in antiquity, and its general
use for this purpose belongs to comparatively recent times. Its place
was always taken, especially in early periods, by a brooch--an outcome
of the pin--which supplied the want of buttons. The brooch, an ornament
of very considerable importance, can be traced down from the earliest
civilisation, and is a valuable criterion in questions of ethnic
movements. The story, however, of the growth of each of the different
classes into which primitive brooches may be divided, the periods at
which these ornaments made their appearance, and the deductions of
ethnographical interest that may be drawn therefrom, must of necessity
lie outside the scope of the present work.
[Illustration: Safety pin.]
All brooches, as has been said, originated from the simple pin, which
itself was preceded by and probably derived from a thorn. At an early
period this pin, after having been passed through the garment, was for
greater security bent up, and its point caught behind the head. Later,
in order that the point might be held more securely in the catch, the
pin was given a complete turn, which produced the spring, as seen in the
common form of our modern safety-pin. Thus constructed, the brooch,
though in one piece, may be said to consist of four parts; (_a_) the
acus or pin; (_b_) the spring or hinge; (_c_) the catch or locking
apparatus, which forms the sheath of the pin; and (_d_) the bow or
back--the framework uniting the spring with the catch.
[Illustration: Romano-British brooch or fibula with bilateral spring.]
From this primitive safety-pin, which is the foundation form of all
brooches with a catch, developed the numerous varieties and patterns of
the brooch or fibula of succeeding ages. Amongst these is the Roman
fibula, which instead of being made of one piece of metal, is of two
pieces--the bow and the acus. The pin here works on a hinge--the result
of gradually extending the coils of the spring symmetrically on each
side of the pin into what is known as the double-twisted or bilateral
spring, and placing a bar through the coils thus made. From the brooch
hinged in this manner originated the Roman provincial fibula of the
#T#-shaped type common in France and Britain, and later the cruciform
brooch of Anglo-Saxon times. The brooch with with a hinge was
exclusively used until the revival of the "safety pin" with a spring,
patented as a new invention in the nineteenth century.
[Illustration: Brooch formed of double spiral discs of concentric wire
("Spectacle" fibula.)]
In addition to the above brooches or fibulæ (group 1)--all developments
of the safety-pin type--there are three other large groups of brooches:
(2) the circular disc type; (3) the penannular or Celtic brooch; and
(4) the ring-brooch. The first of these--the type generally worn at the
present day--may be described as a flat disc fitted with a hinged pin.
In cemeteries belonging to the Early Iron Age in Southern Europe
circular plates have been found fitted with a pin. These plates
appear[1] to have been developed by the conversion of a primitive disc
of spiral concentric wire into a circular plate. From the brooch of this
type sprang the circular brooch of the Roman period, often inlaid with
enamel, as well as the splendid circular brooches of Anglo-Saxon times,
and all other disc-shaped brooches. In all early periods, and even in
Roman times, the bow or safety-pin type of brooch was commoner than the
disc and also more practical, as it offered room for the gathered folds
of the garment. In modern times the disc-shaped brooch fitted with a
hinged or sometimes with a spring pin has been principally used.
[1] Ridgeway (W.), _Early Age of Greece_, p. 437.
[Illustration: Celtic brooch.]
[Illustration: Ring-brooch (Tomb of Queen Berengaria of Navarre,
wife of Richard Coeur de Lion, at Le Mans).]
The two remaining groups of brooches--(3) the Celtic brooch and (4) the
ring-brooch--are both developments of the simple pin in combination with
a ring--in the former case penannular and in the latter annular. The
Celtic brooch, with penannular ring and long pin, is apparently the
result of fitting a pin to a prehistoric form of fastening for the
dress--a penannular ring terminating with knobs, known as a mammillary
fibula. The ring-brooch with complete ring, and pin of the same length
as the diameter of the ring, which was popular in mediæval times, is
the outcome of fitting a complete ring of wire to a pin to prevent the
head of the pin from slipping through the material--which ring in course
of time became the more important member. It is improbable that the
Celtic brooch originated in the same way, from the union of a long pin
with a small ring. Nor is it likely that these two forms of brooches
were evolved the one out of the other by the shortening or lengthening
of the pins. As a matter of fact the two appear to have arisen
independently side by side.
Bracelets and armlets may be considered together, for though the
bracelet is properly only a decoration for the wrist, the term has
become descriptive of any ornament worn upon the arm. The bracelet,
together with the necklace, were the earliest ornaments used for the
decoration of mankind. Amongst savage tribes both were worn in some
form or another--the necklace as an ornament pure and simple, but the
bracelet serving frequently a practical purpose, sometimes as a shield
for the arm in combat, sometimes covered with spikes, and used for
offensive purposes. While used universally by women in the form of a
band, closed, or open on one side, or else in the shape of a spiral, or
fashioned like a chain, the bracelet has been worn from the earliest
times in the East by men also, especially by princes as one of the
insignia of royalty, and by distinguished persons in general.
Of all jewels the simplest and at the same time perhaps the most
interesting and important is the finger ring. It is universally employed
as an article of personal ornament, and has been worn by both sexes at
almost all times, and in nearly every country. Sometimes it is an
object of use as the signet ring, or a token of dignity as the bishop's
ring. Sometimes it has a symbolical significance, as the wedding-ring.
Sometimes it is purely ornamental. Most finger rings may be said to be
formed of two parts--the circular portion which surrounds the finger,
known as the hoop or shank, and the enlarged or upper portion which is
called the bezel. This latter term, applied to the upper side of the
ring, which is broadened to receive an ornament of some kind, generally
a stone, seems to have originally designated the basil or projecting
flange, that retained the stone in its setting. The term _collet_, also
used for the whole top including the stone or seal, is similarly derived
from the flange or collet in which the stone is set. From its box-like
shape this part of the ring is also called the _chaton_.
[Illustration: Buckle, with buckle-plate and tag. German, about 1490.
(Victoria and Albert Museum.)]
The belt or girdle was worn round the waist by men as a means of
suspending weapons, by women sometimes merely as an ornament, and
generally by both sexes for the practical purpose of confining the
clothing. It is commonly formed of a band of leather or textile
material. The part as a rule which receives particular attention is
the fastening. This is either in the form of a clasp, or more often a
buckle. The clasp consists of two parts, generally symmetrical, one of
which can be hooked into the other. The buckle, another combination of
a ring with a pin, is similar to the mediæval ring-brooch, but differs
from it in that while the pin of the brooch pierces the material twice,
that of the buckle pierces it only once. It may be described as a
rectangular or curved rim having one or more hinged pins or spikes
attached on one side of it or on a bar across its centre, and long
enough to rest upon the opposite side. The buckle is made fast to one
end of the girdle; whilst the other end, drawn through on the principle
of a slip knot, is kept fast by pushing the point of the pin or tongue
through a hole made in the material of the girdle. The girdle is
attached by means of sewing a fold of it round the bar or round one side
of the rim of the buckle. As a great strain was put upon the doubling of
the leather or stuff, this soonest gave way. Consequently a plate of
metal was passed round the bar or edge of the buckle, and the two
portions of it received the end of the strap between them. The whole was
then made fast with rivets. The plate is known as the buckle-plate. One
end of the girdle being thus furnished, the other was frequently made to
terminate with a metal chape to enable it to pass easily through the
ring of the buckle in the process of buckling and unbuckling. This chape
is known also as the _mordant_. The chief point of the girdle to be
decorated was the buckle-plate, which was often in one piece with the
buckle, or hinged to it. The _mordant_ or tag was commonly decorated
too, while ornaments of metal of similar design, sometimes jewelled,
were applied at regular intervals to the strap or band of the girdle. In
later years the girdle often took the form of a chain, on which, as in
the case of chains for the neck and wrists, artistic effects were
produced by a regular sequence of links. Fastened by a clasp, it was
worn by women chiefly as an ornament, or to carry small objects for
personal use. For the latter purpose it was subsequently supplanted by
the chatelaine.
[Illustration: Bronze fibula (Ireland).]
JEWELLERY
EARLY JEWELLERY
CHAPTER I
EGYPTIAN AND PHOENICIAN JEWELLERY
Most of the forms met with among the jewellery of the civilised nations
of later times are found represented in the ornaments of the Egyptians.
It is fortunate that important specimens of all descriptions of these
have come down to our days. This we owe to the elaborate care which the
Egyptians bestowed on the preservation of the dead, and to the strict
observance of funeral rites, which induced them to dress and ornament
their mummies with a view to future comfort both in the grave and in the
after life. The ornaments, however, buried with the dead were frequently
mere models of what were worn in life, and the pains taken in making
these depended on the sums expended by the friends of the deceased after
his death. While those who were possessed of means and were scrupulous
in their last duties to the dead purchased ornaments of the best
workmanship and of the most costly materials, others who were unable or
unwilling to incur expense in providing such objects were contented with
glass pastes instead of precious stones, and glazed pottery instead of
gold. With the exception of many finger rings worn by both sexes and
some female ornaments, the greater number of jewels discovered in the
tombs are of inferior quality and value to those which the deceased had
worn when living.
A peculiarity of the jewellery of the Egyptians is that, in addition to
its actual purpose, it generally possesses something of the allegorical
and emblematic signification, for which their mythology offered
plentiful material. Among the emblems or figures of objects which
symbolise or suggest the qualities of deities, the most favourite
is the _scarab_ or beetle, type of the god _Khepera_. The use of
scarabs in burial had reference to the resurrection of the dead and
immortality. Other important emblems include the _uza_ or _utchat_,
the symbolic eye--the eye of _Horus_, the hawk-god; the cobra snake,
the _uræus_--emblem of divine and royal sovereignty; the _tet_, the
four-barred emblem of stability, endurance, and lastingness; the
human-headed hawk, emblem of the soul. These and many others, as well as
figures from the animal world, were worn as ornaments, and especially as
amulets to bring good fortune or to ward off evil.
Colour plays an important part in Egyptian jewellery. This love of
colour was displayed in the use of glazed ware, incorrectly termed
porcelain, but properly a faience, much employed for all articles, as
necklaces, scarabs, and rings, and particularly for the various kinds of
amulets which were largely worn as personal ornaments. The most usual
and beautiful was the cupreous glaze of a blue or apple-green colour;
yellow, violet, red, and white are also met with, but less frequently,
and chiefly at later periods. But colour showed itself above all in the
surface decoration of jewellery, produced by the application of coloured
stones and the imitation of these inserted in cells of gold prepared for
them. The chief materials employed for the purpose were lapis-lazuli,
turquoise, root of emerald or green felspar, jasper, and obsidian,
besides various opaque glasses imitating them.
With the exception of enamel upon metal, which is only found in Egypt in
quite late periods, the Egyptians appear to have been acquainted with
all the processes of jewellery now in use. Chasing and engraving they
preferred to all other modes of ornamenting metal-work, as these methods
enhanced the beauty of their jewels while retaining a level surface.
They were also highly skilled in soldering and in the art of repoussé
work. The great malleability of gold enabled them to overlay ornaments
of silver, bronze, and even stone with thin leaves of this metal; while
ornaments were also composed entirely of plates of gold of extreme
thinness. In articles where frequent repetition occurs, for instance,
in necklaces, patterns were produced by pressure in moulds, and then
soldered together.
Examples of jewellery furnished by the Egyptian tombs are to be found in
the museums of almost every country. Undoubtedly the finest collection
is in the Viceregal Museum of Egyptian Antiquities at Cairo. It contains
jewels of the earliest dynasties, very few of which are to be found
outside it. Dating from the great Theban dynasties, the eighteenth and
nineteenth, when the jeweller's art reached its highest level, are many
beautiful examples, notably the famous set of jewels discovered in the
tomb of Queen [.A][=a]h-[h.]etep (1600 B.C.). Fine collections are also
preserved in the British Museum, in Berlin, Munich, and in the Louvre.
Following the sequence of ornaments from the head downwards, mention
must first be made of diadems or frontlets. These were composed either
of ring ornaments, set with precious stones and strung in a variety of
ways, which hung down over the temples, or of gold bands ornamented in
cloisonné inlay with the favourite allegorical representations of
animals in various arrangements. In the case of royal personages there
is a uræus in front.
Among all Oriental nations of antiquity of whom we have any accurate
knowledge, earrings have always been in general use by both sexes; but
as far as can be judged from monuments, these ornaments appear in Egypt
to have been worn by women alone. M. Fontenay[2] claims that the holes
visible in the ears of statues of Rameses II--such as the colossal
head in the British Museum, cast from the original in the temple of
Ipsamboul--have been pierced for earrings. But even so, earrings had
probably only a sacerdotal or sacred significance, and were worn by the
sovereign only, and on very exceptional occasions. Earrings, however,
found very little favour even among women until what in Egyptian
chronology are comparatively late times. Those that do occur are of the
simplest kind, formed of a ring-shaped hook for piercing the lobe of the
ear, hung with a blossom-shaped or symbolical pendant. Large penannular
rings of various materials were occasionally employed as ear ornaments;
the opening in them enabling them to be fitted on to the upper part of
the ear.
[2] Fontenay (E.), _Les bijoux anciens et modernes_, p. 98.
Necklaces appear to have played a very prominent part in Egyptian
ornaments. No tomb seems to be without them, and the wall paintings also
prove their very general use. Most frequent is a chain consisting of
various materials strung together, generally with a large drop or figure
in the centre, and pendent motives introduced at definite intervals. The
latter, of every imaginable variety of design, occur in rhythmical
alternation, and are occasionally introduced between two rows of beads.
The peculiarly severe and regular decorations of the Egyptians--more
particularly the various charming adaptations of open and closed
lotus flowers--are here found in the finest forms of application.
Especially is this shown on the ornament called the _usekh_ collar,
which figures on every mummy and mummy case. Formed of rows, generally
of cylinder-shaped beads with pendants, strung together and gathered up
at either end to the head of a lion or hawk or to a lotus flower, this
collar or breast decoration covered the shoulders and chest, and is
found in that position on the mummy, attached frequently to the
winding-sheet.
One of the most important Egyptian ornaments is the _pectoral_, which,
as its name implies, was worn on the breast, suspended by a ribbon or
chain. In all probability it formed a portion of the everyday costume of
men and women, but its symbolism points to its chief use as a mortuary
ornament, and it is found on almost every mummy. Pectorals are usually
in the form of a _pylon_ or shrine, in the middle of which is often a
scarab, the emblem of transformation and immortality, adored by the
goddesses _Isis_ or _Nephthys_.
These ornaments were made of metal--rarely gold, more often gilded
bronze--and very frequently of alabaster, steatite, and basalt
sometimes glazed, and of earthenware always glazed. In the Cairo
Museum is a pectoral of pure gold inlaid with carnelian, lapis-lazuli
and turquoises, which was found at Dashûr in 1894 in the tomb of the
Princess Set-Hathor (twelfth dynasty). Discovered at the same time was a
pectoral having at the top a vulture with outspread wings and below the
name of Usertsen III supported on either side by hawk-headed sphinxes.
The open-work pectoral of Queen [.A][=a]h-[h.]etep, of solid gold, also
at Cairo, is one of the most beautiful of all specimens of Egyptian
jewellery. Another golden pectoral, found in the tomb of Kh[=a]-em-uas,
son of Rameses II, is in the Louvre.
Somewhat similar to the pectorals are jewels in the shape of
conventional hawks. As emblems of the soul, they are found placed upon
the breast of the mummy. The finest are made of pure gold decorated with
cloisons shaped according to the natural formations of the body and
wings of the bird. The talons grasp a pair of signet rings. Allied to
these are ornaments known as _ægides_, which were occasionally also worn
on the breast. A very beautiful specimen, the _ægis of Bast_, is in the
Louvre.
Sculptures and paintings represent bracelets by bands of red or blue
colour on the arms, and show that the Egyptians wore four--one on the
wrist and one above the elbow of each arm. Some of the earliest are
composed of glass and gold beads threaded so as to form various
patterns. The more solid forms of bracelet are ornamented with inlaid
work. Rings for the arms, as well as the ankles, are generally of plain
gold--both solid and hollow--sometimes bordered with plaited chain-work.
Bracelets of thick and occasionally twisted wire, found as early as the
twelfth dynasty, usually have the ends beaten out into a thin wire,
which is lapped round the opposite shank so as to slip easily over the
wrist. Bracelets in the form of serpents belong to the Ptolemaic and
early Roman periods.
The commonest ornament is the finger ring. The ring was not only an
ornament, but an actual necessity, since it served as a signet, the
owner's emblem or badge being engraved either on the metal of the ring
or on a scarab or other stone set in it. There are three main types of
Egyptian rings. The first and simplest, composed of a seal stone with a
ring attached, is formed of a hoop with flattened ends, each pierced,
which grasp the scarab. Through a hole made in the scarab was run a
wire, the ends of which, passing through the extremities of the ring,
were wound several times round it. The revolving scarab exhibited its
back when worn on the finger and the engraved side when necessary to
use it as a seal. The general outline of the ring is like a stirrup, a
form which of course varied in accordance with the size of the scarab.
In a second type of ring the swivel disappears, and the ring is in one
piece. Its outline retains the stirrup form, but the inside of the hoop
is round and fits closely to the finger. Of this type are rings, dating
from the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasty, formed of two hoops united
at the top and having the names and titles of the owner deeply sunk in
hieroglyphics on oblong gold bezels. A third type, almost circular in
outline, is of similar form to the signet-ring of the present day. In
addition to those which were actually worn in life, are models of real
rings employed solely for funeral purposes to ornament the fingers of
the wooden model hands which were placed on the coffins of mummies of
the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. The model rings are made of
faience with fine glazes of blue, green, and other colours, with various
devices, incuse or in intaglio, upon the bezels, which are generally of
oval form.
PHOENICIAN JEWELLERY
As the inventors of methods and the creators of models which exercised
a widespread influence in the development of subsequent types of
ornaments, Egypt, and in a lesser degree Assyria also, occupies a
position of considerable importance. The chief agents in the spreading
of these methods and models were the Phoenicians, the first and
foremost navigators of the ancient world, who imported jewels among
other articles of trade, into Italy and into the islands and mainland of
Greece. Not by nature creative, but always copying those nations with
whom in their wanderings they came in touch, the Phoenicians produced
a native jewellery of composite type in which there is a perpetual
mixture of Egyptian and Assyrian forms. As they had imitated Egypt and
Assyria, so they began to imitate Greece as soon as they came into
contact with her. The Greeks in return made great use at first of
this composite style, but subsequently shook off its influence and
incorporated it only after many modifications into their own developed
art. The amphora--a form of ornament in goldsmith's work which can be
traced to Assyria--is one among many motives borrowed by the
Phoenicians, and transmitted by them to Greece.
From Egypt the Phoenicians acquired a high degree of technical skill
and mastery over materials. This finish was transmitted to the finest
Greek jewellery, and to the personal ornaments of the early Etruscans.
The art of soldering gold to gold, which was known in Egypt at an early
period, was greatly perfected and developed by the Phoenicians; and it
is generally believed that they were the inventors of the process of
decorating jewellery by granulation, that is by affixing to the surface
minute globules of gold--a process which attained its perfection in the
skilful hands of the Etruscan goldsmiths.
The jewellery of the Phoenicians must be sought for from one end of
the Mediterranean to the other, rather than in Phoenicia itself. It
occurs chiefly in their settlements on the shores and islands of the
Eastern Mediterranean, at Sardinia, Crete, and Rhodes, and on the
southern coasts of Asia Minor, but the best and most numerous specimens
have been found in Cyprus.
In addition to the actual ornaments, special value attaches also to
Phoenician sculptures, principally busts, both from Phoenicia itself
and from its colonies, owing to the care with which personal ornaments
and details of dress are represented. Several striking examples of these
are preserved in the galleries set apart for Cyprian and Phoenician
antiquities in the British Museum. The most famous of similar works,
which include the sculptures from the "Cerro de los Santos," near Yecla
in the province of Albacete in Spain, now in the museum at Madrid, is
the remarkable stone bust of a woman in the Louvre, known as the "Lady
of Elché," from a town of that name in the province of Alicante, where
it was discovered in 1897 (Pl. II, 9). The majestic character of this
figure, its sumptuous coiffure with clusters of tassels suspended by
ten chains, the wheel-like discs cover the ears, the triple row of
necklaces with their urn-shaped pendants--all unite to produce an effect
unequalled by any known statue of antiquity. Especially noticeable among
these ornaments is the diadem which encircles the forehead and hangs
down from each side in long pendants upon the shoulders. With this may
be compared the chains hung at the ends of the golden fillet at Berlin,
discovered by Schliemann at the pre-Mycenæan city of Hissarlik in the
Troad, the ornate tasselled appendages at St. Petersburg, found with the
famous Greek diadems in the tombs of the Crimea, and the elaborate head
ornaments with pendent ends worn by Algerian women at the present day.
The Phoenicians, as seen also by their sculptures, were addicted to
the barbaric practice of piercing the upper parts of the ears, as well
as the lobes, and attaching to them rings bearing drop-shaped pendants.
Rings were also attached to the hair on each side of the face. They
consist of a double twist which could be run through a curl of the hair,
and are ornamented at one end with a lion's or gryphon's head.
Of ordinary earrings worn by the Phoenicians the simplest is a plain
ring. In the majority of cases the simple ring was converted into a hook
and served to suspend various ornaments, of which baskets or bushels
with grain in them afforded favourite motives. Examples of earrings of
this kind, from Tharros in Sardinia, are in the British Museum.
[Illustration: _PLATE II_ PHOENICIAN JEWELLERY]
Statues, like the Lady of Elché, show that Phoenician women wore three
or four necklaces at the same time, one above the other; these vary in
the size of their elements, from the small beads about the throat, to
the large acorn-shaped pendants which hang low upon the breast. They
display a striking admixture of Greek and Egyptian motives. Gold beads
are often intermixed with small carnelian and onyx bugles, to which hang
amphoræ formed alternately of gold or crystal. The Phoenicians were
particularly skilled in the manufacture of glass: occasionally the sole
materials of their necklaces are beads of glass. A necklace from Tharros
in Sardinia, now in the British Museum, is formed of beads of glass and
gold; of its three pendants, the centre one is the head of a woman with
Egyptian coiffure, and the two others lotus flowers.
Finger rings are of all materials--gold, silver, bronze, and even glass.
They are usually set with a scarab or scaraboid, fixed or revolving on a
pivot. Silver is less common than gold; but in the British Museum is a
ring of almost pure Greek workmanship from Cyprus which is entirely of
silver, save for an exquisitely modelled golden fly that rests on the
bezel.
CHAPTER II
GREEK JEWELLERY
Before dealing with Greek jewellery of the classic period some reference
must be made to the primitive and archaic ornaments that preceded it.
The period and phase of Greek culture to which the primitive ornaments
belong is known widely as "Mycenæan"--a title it owes to the discoveries
made at Mycenæ, where in 1876 Schliemann brought to light the famous
gold treasure now preserved in the National Museum at Athens. A
characteristic motive of the decoration of these objects is the use
of spiral patterns almost identical with those employed on Celtic
ornaments. Besides these and other primitive exhibitions of decorative
skill, we find representations of naturalistic animal forms, such as
cuttlefish, starfish, butterflies, and other creatures. These are
displayed in repoussé patterns worked in low relief. Among the most
notable objects are a number of gold crowns usually in the form of
elongated oval plates ornamented with fine work chiefly in the shape
of rosettes and spirals.
Most numerous are the gold plates intended to be fastened to the
dress. They are ornamented with spirals and radiating lines, with the
above-mentioned animal forms, or with leaves showing the veins clearly
marked (Pl. III, 1). Specially worthy of note also are the finger rings
with the designs sunk into the oval surface of the bezel.
Ornaments of this same epoch, like those in the British Museum from
Ialysos in Rhodes, and Enkomi in Cyprus, have been discovered throughout
the whole Ægean district. They are likewise mainly in the form of gold
plates used for sepulchral purposes, ornamented with embossed patterns
impressed from stone moulds. Some of them are enriched with fine
granulation. This particular process, however, which abounds in Etruscan
work, is more frequent on Greek ornaments of the archaic epoch, which
dates roughly from about the seventh or eighth century B.C. The types of
these, generally semi-Oriental in character, show the influence of
Phoenician art, with its traces of Egyptian and Assyrian feeling.
Lions and winged bulls on some objects betray the Assyrian style; the
treatment of the human figure displays on others the influence of Egypt.
Among the best examples of this Græco-Phoenician jewellery are those
found at Kameiros in Rhodes, and now in the Louvre and the British
Museum. Between these and the fourth-century jewels from the Crimea to
be described next, the only known Greek jewels are the quasi-Oriental
ones from the tombs of Cyprus, which belong to about the fifth century.
The jewellery of ancient Greece, which requires more detailed
consideration, is that worn from the close of the fifth century onwards.
The jewellery of the Greeks at this epoch was, like all their other
works of art, of surpassing excellence. Gold was wrought with a skill
which showed how well the artist appreciated the beauty of its colour
and its distinctive qualities of ductility and malleability. The Greek
craftsman was ever careful to keep the material in strict subordination
to the workmanship, and not to allow its intrinsic worth so to dominate
his productions as to obscure his artistic intention. The Greek
goldsmiths excelled in the processes of repoussé, chasing, engraving,
and of intaglio cutting on metal, and brought to great perfection the
art of soldering small objects on to thin surfaces and joining together
the thinnest metal plates.
[Illustration: _PLATE III_ EARLY GREEK JEWELLERY]
Granulated work, in which they were rivalled by the Etruscans alone, the
Greeks practised with success, but preferred filigree ornamentation,
that is the use of fine threads of gold twisted upon the surface with
very delicate effect. Precious stones were very rarely used in the
finest work, though on many of the post-Alexandrine jewels, stones such
as garnets were frequently employed. Colour was obtained by a sparing
use of enamel. The value of Greek jewellery lies in the use of gold and
the artistic development of this single material. The minuteness of
jewellery did not lead the Greeks to despise it as a field of labour.
Whatever designs they borrowed from others the Greeks made their own and
reproduced in a form peculiar to themselves. In other respects they went
straight to nature, choosing simple motives of fruit, flowers, and
foliage, united with a careful imitation of animal forms and of the
human body.
The objects we have to consider fall into two classes, according as they
are either substantial articles for use or ornament in daily life, or
mere flimsy imitations of them made only to be buried with the dead. As
in the case of other nations of antiquity, the demands of Greek piety
were satisfied if the dead were adorned with jewels made cheaply of
leaves of stamped or bracteate gold. This course was followed mainly for
the purpose of lessening expense; but it served also to obviate the
chance of tombs being rifled by tomb-robbers or _tymborychoi_, who
practised a profession which was common in ancient times and offered
large and certain profits.
Jewels simply and entirely funereal occupy a prominent position in
every public and private collection of Greek jewellery. The rarity of
jewels for actual use may be further explained by the fact that articles
of that kind would only be associated with the grave of a person of
wealth and distinction, and that the more important graves were the
first prey of robbers.
The almost complete absence of specimens of jewellery from the mainland
of Greece is due to those acts of pillage which continually took place
at localities well known as cemeteries. Only in tombs concealed by their
environment, or lost to sight in semi-barbarous countries, have
sufficient ornaments been found for us to form an estimate of the
perfection which this branch of the industrial arts then attained. The
chief sources of these discoveries have been the Crimea, the Greek
islands, the west coast of Asia Minor, and Southern Italy--known in
ancient times as Magna Græcia. Of these districts by far the most
important was that on the northern shore of the Black Sea, called
formerly the Tauric Chersonese and now the Crimea, where in close
proximity to the warlike Scythian tribes a Greek colony had settled as
early as the sixth century before our era. Excavations made also in the
adjacent peninsula of Taman have revealed numerous articles of gold, all
belonging to the latter half of the century. The wealth of gold on the
shores of the Black Sea, which is the basis of the early Greek legends
of the Golden Fleece, had attracted merchant adventurers at an early
date. And the Greek goldsmiths who settled there forwarded their
productions both to their mother-country and to the neighbouring lands
of the barbarians. Excavations undertaken by the Russian Government near
Kertch, the ancient Pantikapaion, gave rise to an important discovery in
1831, when the opening of the celebrated tumulus Koul-Oba revealed a
magnificent display of Greek jewellery. These treasures, and others
which the enterprise of the Russian Government has brought to light,
are preserved at St. Petersburg in the Museum of the Hermitage.
Italy, less systematically ravaged than Greece, has proved exceedingly
rich in finds of antique jewellery. Except for a few scattered fragments
from Greece proper and the other sources mentioned above, public and
private cabinets, outside Russia, are made up almost exclusively of the
results of excavations in the burial-places of Magna Græcia.
In no ornament did the Greek jeweller exhibit his fertility of invention
to a greater degree than in the variety and beauty of the forms given
to earrings. They divide naturally into two classes. The first, the
earlier, are ring-shaped, of two halves formed in a mould and united
together. They terminate at one end with a human head--like that of a
Mænad in a specimen in the British Museum--or more usually with the head
of a lion, bull, or some other animal. To the second class belong those
attached to the ear by a hook masked by a rosette or disc. From this
hang one or more pendants of a variety of designs. In rare instances
these consist of beads hung to little chains; but the logical sense of
the ancients preferred for the purpose things that might be imagined as
floating, such as a little figure of Eros, or a tiny Victory bearing a
wreath. The place on the ring where the pendant is attached is almost
invariably made prominent by a saucer-shaped rosette, a mask, or similar
object ornamented with fine threads of gold. Opaque enamel, of white,
blue, or green, is sometimes found applied thinly to the surface of the
metal. Many earrings are of the most complicated design. When the
ear-pendant was confined to a ring with a crescent-shaped lower part,
this ornament would produce no effect except when the wearer was seen
in profile. In order to make the ornament visible from the front, the
idea suggested itself to hang the crescent ring on to a smaller one.
Wonderfully well executed are some of the later Greek earrings in which
small figures are attached directly to the hook which is inserted into
the ear. Among these are figures of Eros playing a musical instrument or
holding a jug as if pouring a libation.
By the amplification of the appendages we find the simpler earrings
assume such an immense increase in dimension as to make it impossible
that they were attached to the lobe of the ear. It may be assumed that
they were fastened to the diadem or frontlet, or to a plaited tress of
hair, and hung over the ear, or more to the front over the temples.
Naturally this species of ornament, owing to its weight and the many
separate pieces of which it was made, would prevent the wearer from
making any rapid movements, but was adapted to a slow and dignified pace
in walking. It would also have the additional motive of increasing the
commanding appearance of the individual. A splendid pair of head
appendages of this character discovered at Kertch are now at St.
Petersburg. They are composed of two large medallions representing the
head of Athene, whose helmet is adorned with sphinxes and gryphons. From
these are suspended several rows of amphora-shaped ornaments covered
with fine filigree decoration.
The decorating of the head with wreaths was a very common practice among
the ancients on festive occasions of every description. The wreaths with
which the dead were adorned for burial, made in imitation of natural
leaves, form a large portion of funereal jewellery. One of the most
famous of this species, found in 1813 at Armento (S. Italy), and
purchased about 1826 by Ludwig I, King of Bavaria, from Countess Lipona
(formerly Queen of Naples and wife of Joachim Murat) is now in the
Antiquarium at Munich. Here the wreath, formed of roses, narcissus,
myrtle and oak leaves, is enlivened by small figures of genii, while
on the top is placed a statue with an inscription underneath it. This
splendid specimen was probably employed for votive purposes. Dating from
the third century B.C., and also from Magna Græcia, is the gold crown in
the British Museum which was acquired from the collection of Count
Tyszkiewicz in 1898 (Pl. V, 1). Being of more solid construction, though
excessively light and elegant, this, and similarly elaborate crowns in
the Louvre, were probably worn by ladies of high rank.
[Illustration: _PLATE IV_ GREEK JEWELLERY
(EARRINGS, NECKLACE AND HAIR-PIN)]
In addition to these diadems composed of many minute parts, the simplest
and probably the most usual form is that of a flat band increasing in
breadth towards the middle, and ending there sometimes in a blunt point
marked by a palmette.
Pins that served the purpose of fastening up and decorating the hair
vary in style, their heads being formed sometimes of flowers, and
sometimes of animals or human figures, resembling those employed as
pendants to earrings. Probably the most important is the handsome pin
in the British Museum from Paphos in Cyprus (Pl. IV, 6). The head,
surmounted with a bead of Egyptian porcelain with a pearl above, is in
the form of a capital of a column. At the four corners are projecting
heads of bulls, and between these are open cups or flowers, towards
which four doves with outstretched wings bend as if to drink.
Typical necklaces of the best period consist of a chain about
three-eighths of an inch in width, of closely plaited gold wire. From
this are suspended numerous smaller chains, masked at the top by small
rosettes and hung below with vases, spindle-shaped pieces, or a
rhythmical combination of other ornaments covered with fine filigree.
The British Museum possesses several superb necklaces. To the finest
one, found in the island of Melos, colour is added by means of green
and blue enamel (Pl. V, 3).
Bracelets and armlets, which are rarer than necklaces, are of three
forms: a fine plaited chain, like that of the necklaces, united by a
clasp in the form of a knot; repoussé plaques hinged together; and a
circlet of beaten gold of more solid construction.
The primary object of the finger ring was its use as a convenient method
of carrying the engraved stone which was to serve as a signet. Hence in
early times more attention was paid to the engraving of the gem set in
the ring than to its mounting. Many early rings are entirely of gold and
made generally of one piece, with a large flat bezel engraved like a
gem. A great number of them, though apparently solid, are hollow, and
formed of gold leaf punched into shape and then filled up with mastic to
preserve the form. The ornamental rings of the later Greeks have been
found chiefly in the luxurious colonies of Magna Græcia. One of the most
charming designs is in the shape of a serpent which coils itself many
times round the finger, with its head and tail lying along the finger.
It is worthy of remark that though a number of Greek rings are in
existence, never in Greek art, as in Etruscan and Roman, do we find any
representation of the human figure with rings on the fingers.
In earlier times simple pins formed of gold wire appear to have been
often employed to fasten the dress. Bow-shaped brooches were also worn,
but few gold brooches are met with except those belonging to the later
Greek ornaments. These are characterised by a small arched bow and a
long sheath for the point of the pin decorated with designs in fine
filigree.
The goldsmith's art is much more limited in its application to girdles
than to head or neck ornaments; and yet, as is well known, girdles
formed an important item in the dress of men and women. The girdle over
which the long tunic hung in deep folds was often of simple cords with
tassels affixed to the ends: thus Homer speaks of Hera as wearing a
"zone from which a hundred tassels hang." Girdles appear to have been
mainly of soft ligaments, which probably, with the increase of luxury,
were adorned with gold ornamentations. It is remarkable, at all events,
that those species of gold ornament that can certainly be recognised as
girdles are obvious imitations of textile fabrics.
[Illustration: _PLATE V_ GREEK JEWELLERY
(CROWN, NECKLACES, BRACELET, RINGS)]
Corresponding to the ornaments found at Mycenæ which were employed by
the primitive Greeks for decorating their garments are thin plates of
gold, termed _bracteæ_, pierced with small holes, which served the later
Greeks for similar purpose. They are repoussé, and have clearly been
stamped with dies, for the designs on them show constant repetition.
They are of various sizes and shapes, and it is evident that some were
meant to be worn as single ornaments, while others, sewn on in lines,
formed regular borders or designs on the robes. It is possible that,
like the ball-shaped buttons met with in many fanciful formations, some
of more solid construction served the purpose of clasps that drew
together the dress at intervals along the arm, and acted as fastenings
at the neck or on the shoulder. Some attachments of this kind in the
form of round discs, with their gold surface richly ornamented with
filigree and also with enamel, may have been actual brooches and have
had hinged pins affixed below.
CHAPTER III
ETRUSCAN JEWELLERY
The Etruscans appear to have had a peculiar passion for jewellery.
Even in early times, when the excessive use of personal ornament was
considered a mark of effeminacy, they were famed for their jewels.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, speaking of the Sabines, says that "they
wore bracelets on their left arms, and rings, for they were a
gold-wearing nation, and not less effeminate than the Etruscans." Like
most other nations of antiquity, the Etruscans dedicated to the service
of the dead costly articles of adornment which they had worn when
living; though the greater number of these jewels are flimsy objects
made for mortuary purposes. On Etruscan sarcophagi the men have torques
about their necks, while the women have sometimes torques, sometimes
necklaces, long earrings, and bracelets, and both sexes have many rings
on their fingers.
Though systematically rifled in former times, Etruscan tombs have yet
preserved to the present day a large number of jewels, sufficient to
prove that the possibilities of gold were never more thoroughly grasped
than by the Etruscans. Their earlier jewellery--for the later is much
coarser--shows extraordinary fineness and elaboration of workmanship.
They possessed a peculiar art of fusing and joining metals by the use of
solvents unknown to us, which rendered invisible the traces of solder.
Surface decoration was produced by the interweaving of extremely
delicate threads of gold, by a sparing use of enamel, and particularly
by the soldering together of particles or globules of gold of such
minuteness and equality as to be scarcely perceptible to the naked eye.
Animal or human forms were skilfully executed in relief by repoussé, or
produced in the round with the assistance of solder. But the chief
characteristic of their jewellery, and that which mainly distinguishes
it from the Greek, is its ornamentation with grains of gold of
microscopic size.
The method of decorating the surface of gold with fine granules,
which is usually termed granulation, is one which was in favour
among all ancient gold workers in the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean. The "pulvisculus aureus," as it was called in Italy, came
into common use towards the close of the Mycenæan Age, at a time when
the Phoenicians were making their influence felt in Cyprus, Sardinia,
and Etruria, where examples of this method of gold working particularly
abound. We are probably right in assuming that this granulated work was
indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean, and that, as it has been found
upon jewels of undoubted Phoenician origin, the Phoenicians were not
uninstrumental in disseminating it along their trade routes. Cellini, in
his description of the process of granulation in his _Trattato dell'
Oreficeria_, speaks of each grain being made separately and soldered on,
a technique probably practised by the ancient jewellers. But in the case
of the minutest Etruscan work, it is not improbable that the grains--at
first natural, though subsequently artificial--were sprinkled like dust
over the parts of the surface which had to be covered. This fine
granulation belongs only to the early and best Etruscan jewels. Larger
grains were used for later work.
It is remarkable that the secrets of the old Etruscan goldsmiths have
never been wholly recovered in Europe. That the art of granulation,
though mentioned by Cellini, was not generally practised by the
goldsmiths of the Renaissance is evident from the examples of their work
that have survived. In recent years attempts have been made to revive
the art; but as the well-known productions of Castellani the elder, with
his Alessandro the connoisseur and Augusto, and of Carlo Giuliano, are
connected with the later history of jewellery, further reference will be
made to them subsequently.
As might be expected, important collections of Etruscan jewellery are
preserved in museums close to the sites where the objects themselves
have been discovered. One of the most extensive of such collections is
that in the museum of the Vatican, which was brought together by Pope
Gregory XVI from the districts which till 1870 formed part of the papal
domain. The British Museum, the Louvre, and the museums of Berlin and
Munich all contain a large number of ornaments from the old cemeteries
of the Etruscan races. The earliest Etruscan jewellery coincides roughly
with Greek work of the late Mycenæan period, and betrays, from the
religious symbols expressed on it, a marked Oriental or Egyptian
influence. At a somewhat later date, that is from about 500 to 300 B.C.,
it is evident that the Etruscans largely followed Greek models, or
imported from Greece, especially from Ionia, some of the finest artists
in the precious metals. Etruscan jewellery can then be divided into
three distinct styles: the primitive, somewhat Oriental in character,
and of fine but not artistically attractive work; the later, when the
primitive art had been subjected to Hellenic influence and produced work
of the highest artistic and technical excellence; and the latest style,
in which Greek art, still followed, but in a vulgarised form, results in
ornaments noticeable for their size and coarseness of execution.
[Illustration: _PLATE VI_ ETRUSCAN JEWELLERY
(PINS, NECKLACES, EARRINGS)]
The Etruscans appear to have paid particular attention to the
decoration of the head. Following a custom in vogue throughout Greece,
men as well as women adorned themselves with fillets; while women also
wore highly ornate hair-pins, with heads shaped like balls, acorns, and
pomegranates, decorated in granulation. Many of these pins must have
served to fix the diadems and fillets for which the Etruscans appear
to have had an especial liking. The latter are composed for the most
part of the foliage of myrtle, ivy, and oak, in accordance with the
symbolical ideas attached to these leaves. The greater number are of
plate of gold, so thin and fragile that they can only have been employed
as sepulchral ornaments--like the wreath of ivy leaves and berries of
thin gold still encircling the bronze helmet from Vulci in the Room of
Greek and Roman Life in the British Museum, and a similar wreath of
bracteate gold around a conical bronze helmet in the Salle des Bijoux
Antiques of the Louvre.
Earrings of the finest period bear a striking similarity to Greek
ornaments of the same date. The first type is penannular in shape, one
end terminating in the head of a bull or lion, and the other in a point
which pierces the ear. To this ring is next attached a pendant. In the
third type the hook which pierces the ear is hidden by a rosette or disc
from which hang tassel-shaped appendages, and in the middle between them
small animals enamelled white, such as the geese, swans, and cocks in
the British Museum, and the peacocks and doves in the Campana Collection
in the Louvre. Earrings of another class are saddle-shaped, formed like
an imperfect cylinder, one end of which is closed by an open-work rose
cap, which completely enclosed the lobe of the wearer's ear. The latest
Etruscan earrings, of pendant form, are mostly of great size and in the
shape of convex bosses.
In examining the very primitive necklaces and other ornaments that have
been discovered in various tombs in Italy, especially in Etruria and
Latium, the extraordinary abundance of amber at once attracts attention.
The amber of this ancient jewellery of Italy has accessories, sometimes
of gold, and more frequently of silver, or else of an alloy of gold and
silver termed _electrum_. A noteworthy early necklace of these materials
found at Præneste, and now in the British Museum, is composed of amber
cylinders, and pendent vases alternately of amber and electrum (Pl. VI,
2).
Though the majority of Etruscan necklaces aim at largeness of display,
some are as delicate and refined as the best Greek ornaments. From a
round plaited chain in the British Museum hangs a single ornament--the
mask of a faun whose hair, eyebrows, and wavy beard are worked with fine
granulation; another pendant is a negro's head on which the granules are
disposed with exquisite skill to represent the short woolly hair (Pl.
VI, 5). Finer even than either of these--and a remarkable example of the
combination of the two processes of filigree and granulation--is a neck
pendant in the form of a mask of Dionysos (Bacchus) in the Campana
Collection in the Louvre. On this the curls of hair over the forehead
are represented by filigree spirals, while the beard is worked entirely
in the granulated method.
A large number of necklaces have evidently been produced simply for
sepulchral purposes, for they are composed, like the majority of crowns,
of the thinnest bracteate gold in the shape of rosettes and studs strung
together.
The chief characteristic of Etruscan necklaces is their ornamentation
with pendent _bullæ_. The bulla, from the Latin word meaning a bubble,
was usually made of two concave plates of gold fastened together so as
to form a globe--lentoid or vase-shaped-within which an amulet was
contained. In Etruscan art both men and women are represented wearing
necklaces and even bracelets formed of bullæ. Occasionally, instead of a
bulla, is some such object as the tooth or claw of an animal or a small
primitive flint arrow-head, which served as an amulet.
[Illustration: _PLATE VII_ ETRUSCAN JEWELLERY
(BROOCHES, DIADEM, BRACELET, RINGS)]
Of bracelets of primitive work are a famous pair in the British Museum,
which were discovered in a tomb at Cervetri (Cære). They are composed
of thin plates of gold measuring 8 inches in length by 2¼ inches in
width, divided into six sections, ornamented with scenes thoroughly
Assyrian in character, indicated by lines of microscopic granulations
(Pl. VII, 4).
Etruscan fibulæ of gold are generally formed of a short arc-shaped bow
and a long sheath for the pin decorated with minute granular work. Upon
the upper surface are often rows of small models of animals. Upon the
sheath of a large early fibula found at Cervetri (Cære), and now in the
British Museum, is a double row of twenty-four standing lions (Pl. VII,
1). The bow of the later fibulæ is sometimes in the form of a single
figure, as that of a crouching lion. A considerable number of small
fibulæ of this type appear to have been worn in rows down the seam of
the dress. Two series of these, the one numbering twenty-one and the
other thirty-nine, both found in a tomb at Vulci, are in the Louvre.
The Etruscans appear to have had a special love for rings; every finger,
including the thumb, was covered with them, and a considerable number
have been discovered in the tombs. The majority are composed of scarabs
mounted much in the same style as those of the Egyptians. One of the
finest Etruscan rings in the British Museum is formed by two lions,
whose bodies make up the shank, their heads and fore-paws and supporting
a bezel in filigree which holds the signet stone--a small scarabæus
charged with a lion regardant. Another remarkable class of Etruscan
rings has large oval bezels measuring upwards of an inch and a half
across. These are set with an engraved gem, and have wide borders
ornamented with various designs. An example in the British Museum shows
a pattern formed of dolphins and waves.
CHAPTER IV
ROMAN JEWELLERY
The foundation of the designs of Roman jewellery is to be found among
the ornaments of the ancient Latin and Etruscan races which Rome
subdued. That there is considerable resemblance also between Roman and
Greek jewellery is natural, for the Romans, having plundered first
Sicily and Southern Italy, and then Greece itself, induced Greek workmen
with more refined instincts than their own to eke out a precarious
living as providers of luxurious ornaments. It is worthy of remark that,
owing to various causes, Greek and Etruscan jewellery has survived in
considerably greater quantity than has that from the much more luxurious
times of the Roman Empire.
It is customary to associate Roman jewellery with a degree of luxury
which has not been surpassed in ancient or modern times. Roman
moralists, satirists, and comic poets refer again and again to the
extravagance of their own day. The first named, from a sombre point of
view, condemn the present to the advantage of the past; and the others,
with a distorted view, study exceptional cases, and take social
monstrosities as being faithful representations of the whole of society.
Under the Republic nearly all ornaments were worn for official purposes,
and the wearing of precious stones was prohibited except in rings; but
in imperial times they were worn in lavish profusion, and successive
emperors, by a series of sumptuary laws, attempted to check the
progress of this extravagance. Many instances might be quoted of
excessive luxury in the use of precious stones, like that of the lady
described by Pliny, who at a simple betrothal ceremony was covered with
pearls and emeralds from head to foot. Yet Roman luxury was not without
its parallel in later ages. For in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries we read how at court the women carried their whole fortunes in
a single dress. Further, as far as can be judged, the personal ornaments
of the ancients were for the most part subject to much less frequent
change of fashion than is inevitable under the social conditions of more
modern times.
With regard to ornaments of the head, diadems and fillets were much
worn. Ladies of the Roman Empire dressed their hair in the most
elaborate manner, and adorned it with pearls, precious stones, and other
ornaments. For fixing their head-dresses, and for arranging the hair,
they made use of long hair-pins. A gold specimen preserved in the
British Museum is upwards of eight inches in length; it has an octagonal
shaft crowned with a Corinthian capital, on which stands a figure of
Aphrodite (Pl. VIII, 3).
Pearls were in particular favour as ornaments for the ears. Introduced
into Rome about the time of Sulla, pearls were imported in large
quantities during the Roman domination of Egypt. In Vespasian's time
Pliny, referring to earrings, says: "They seek for pearls at the bottom
of the Red Sea, and search the bowels of the earth for emeralds to
decorate their ears." Perfect spherical pearls of delicate whiteness
were termed _uniones_ (i.e. unique), since no two were found exactly
alike. Pear-shaped pearls, called _elenchi_, were prized as suitable for
terminating the pendant, and were sometimes placed two or three together
for this purpose. Thus worn, they were entitled _crotalia_ (rattles),
from the sound produced as they clashed together. "Two pearls beside
each other," Seneca complains, "with a third on the top now go to a
single pendant. The extravagant fools probably think their husbands are
not sufficiently plagued without their having two or three heritages
hanging down from their ears." Earrings with single pendants were called
_stalagmia_.
It is especially to be noticed that the shapes of all ancient jewellery
and ornaments, particularly those of the Romans, were in a great measure
decided by a belief in their magical efficiency. The wearing of amulets
was most frequent among the Romans of all classes. They were generally
enclosed in a _bulla_, and suspended from the neck. A remarkable
specimen of a _bulla_, found at Herculaneum, and presented by the Court
of Naples to the Empress Josephine, is now in the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford. The lentoid-shaped _bulla_ was worn almost entirely by children,
but other pendants, shaped like pendent vases, or in the form of a
square or cylindrical box, were a not unusual ornament of the necklace
of Roman ladies. They probably always possessed a symbolical meaning.
The simple neck-chain, whether supplied with the appendage or not, was
called a _monile_; the luxury of latter times doubled or trebled the
rows of chains. These were often of finely plaited gold or else of
links. Other necklaces were composed of mounted precious stones, the
fashion for which appears to date from the Oriental conquests of Pompey
in the first century B.C. Vast quantities of precious stones were
brought into Rome at that date; for the treasury of Mithridates,
captured at Talaura, contained, besides many other precious objects,
"jewels for the breast and neck all set with gems."
The Romans also wore necklaces (_monilia baccata_) composed of beads of
various materials, both precious stones and glass, of many colours and
various shapes. Amber was largely employed for the purpose, and held in
high estimation by Roman ladies, who regarded it not only as an
ornament, but as a talisman for protection against danger, especially
witchcraft. Amber in which small insects were enclosed was particularly
prized: "the price," says Pliny, "of a small figure in it, however
diminutive, exceeds that of a living healthy slave."
Both cameos and large intaglios were in frequent use as pendent
ornaments, and in the most recent pieces of Roman jewellery imperial
gold coins were employed for rings, bracelets, and especially for
pendants to necklaces. For the latter purpose they are not infrequently
found set in _opus interrasile_--the open-work characteristic of late
Roman jewellery. The best example of cameos and coins mounted thus is a
necklace in the Cabinet des Médailles at Paris.[3]
[3] Babelon (E. C. F.), _Catalogue des camées antiques de la
Bib. Nat._ (No. 367), p. 199.
In the case of bracelets (_armillæ_) which were favourite ornaments
among the Romans, two kinds have to be noticed. The first, termed
_dextrocherium_, was meant to be worn round the right wrist, and follows
the same rules of formation as the necklace, but no pendent motives are
introduced. Other bracelets are formed of two rounded halves of solid
character, hinged, and closed by a snap. The second kind of bracelet
or armlet, worn on the upper arm, was the _brachiale_ or _torques
brachialis_; another was the _spinther_, which kept its place on the arm
by its own elasticity. The difference, however, between the different
Latin terms for the armlet is somewhat obscure. Originally of pure gold,
bracelets were subsequently set with precious stones and engraved gems,
and, like the specimen in the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna, with coins
dating from the third century A.D. The serpent form appears to have been
a favourite one among Roman ladies, and a fine pair of armlets of this
design are in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Pl. VIII, 11).
[Illustration: _PLATE VIII_ ROMAN JEWELLERY]
The Romans appear to have been more extravagant in their rings than any
other people. Very few ornamental rings are earlier in date than the
time of the Empire, when the passion for gold rings adorned with
precious stones and engraved gems seems to have pervaded all classes;
and it reached such extravagance that Martial speaks of a man who wore
six on every finger, and recommends another who had one of monstrous
size to wear it on his leg instead of his hand. Some individuals, we
learn, had different sets of rings for summer and winter, those for
the latter season being too heavy for hot weather. Their weight was
sometimes very great, and it is not to be wondered that complaint was
made of their liability to slip off when the finger was greasy at a
meal.
Even until the latest times the ring retained its original purpose as a
means of distinction or of recognition, and was used by its wearer to
impress his seal on documents and private property. It continued also to
be associated with the idea of power and privilege especially bestowed
upon the individual. Thus the Roman paterfamilias wore on his finger a
ring with a small key attached. Every Roman appears to have chosen at
pleasure the subject or device for his signet--a portrait of a friend or
an ancestor, or some subject from poetry or mythology. Each of these
devices became associated with a particular person, and served, like the
coat-of-arms of later centuries, as a mark of identification.
The commonest variety of ring is formed of a plain band of gold which
widens and thickens towards the bezel, and is set with a small stone.
The latter is generally engraved, but is often quite plain. The
similarity of the convex sardonyx to an eye often struck the ancients,
and may account for this stone being frequently found unengraved in
rings, and set in a collet, itself shaped into the form of a human eye.
Such rings were no doubt worn as amulets. Rings containing stones set in
this manner have sometimes a flattened hoop and open-work shoulders.
Other distinctly ornamental rings, known by the Romans as _polypsephi_,
are formed of two or more rings united together.
A large number of Roman rings are of bronze, and the key rings referred
to are, with a very few exceptions, of this material. Iron and bronze
rings were not infrequently gilded. Such rings, according to Pliny, were
called Samothracian. Rings in the form of snakes were very popular,
as were those shaped like a Herculean knot. Like other articles of
jewellery, rings are sometimes set with gold coins of the late Empire. A
few ornamental rings have high pyramidal bezels which were sometimes
hollow, and were made to contain poison. Hannibal killed himself with
a dose of poison which he carried about with him in his ring; so did
the officer in charge of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. "Being
arrested," says Pliny, "he broke the stone of his ring between his
teeth and expired on the spot."
CHAPTER V
BYZANTINE JEWELLERY
The peculiar interest of Byzantine jewellery lies, not only in its own
composite nature, but in the great influence it exercised on European
ornaments during the greater part of the Middle Ages. Byzantine
jewellery is the result of a compromise between Oriental and Western
influences. It retains the craftsmanship of ancient Rome and the dignity
of classical traditions modified by Christian ideas, and to these it
unites the skill in patient and exuberant decoration in which the
Oriental workman excels.
The new era, inaugurated in 330 A.D. by the transfer by Constantine of
the seat of empire to the old colony of Byzantium, was marked at first
by a retention of the Greek and Latin influences; but the quantities of
pearls and precious stones that passed through Constantinople, the
highway of commerce between Europe and the East, soon rendered the
workmen of the Empire susceptible to the magnificence of Oriental
decoration. Owing to the irruption of Oriental ideas in the sixth
century consequent on the sack of Antioch by the Persians and the
conquests of Belisarius, splendour of material began to supersede the
refinement of classical times. This tendency is admirably displayed on
the rich mosaics of the period, especially those in the church of San
Vitale at Ravenna in Italy, which represent the Emperor Justinian and
his wife Theodora. The Empress and her attendants are clothed in robes
stiffened with gold and set with precious stones; pearls, rubies, and
emeralds encircle her neck and shoulders, and, entirely covering her
head, hang down from the temples in rich festoons upon the breast.
Justinian also has a diadem upon his head, and a purple and gold
embroidered mantle fastened with a monstrous fibula hung with triple
pendants.
The outbreak of iconoclasm in the eighth century had its influence
on jewellery in causing the banishment of forms ornamented with the
proscribed figures. But the iconoclastic movement was also of very great
importance, since many goldsmiths driven from their country by the
decrees of Leo III established themselves in Italy, Germany, and Gaul,
carrying with them the processes and designs of Byzantine art.
The restoration of images by Basil the Macedonian in the ninth century
opened an important period of revival of industry and art, which lasted
until the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204. The active
overland trade with India which had been kept up for many years, with no
small influence on the ornaments of the West, was much augmented; while
the commercial relations with Persia were maintained.
It was during the period from the tenth century onwards that the
influence of Byzantine art was most strongly felt in the West, owing
to the connection which was established between the German court and
Constantinople, through the marriage of the Emperor Otho II with the
Byzantine Princess Theophano, daughter of Romanus, in 972.
A considerable proportion of Byzantine ornaments, as shown by the
mosaics, consisted of gems sewn upon the dress. Actual specimens of
jewellery are naturally of considerable rarity. The British Museum
contains a small but representative collection.[4] They show a
difference from the jewels of classical times chiefly in the
substitution of coarse repoussé and open-work--the _opus interrasile_ of
later Roman work--for fine filigree and granulation; yet filigree was
employed with skill, and exercised a considerable influence on the work
of European craftsmen. In general form the ornaments of the Lower Empire
retained the character of ancient work, but added to it fresh designs to
suit the change of religion with its accompanying symbolism. Enamel and
coloured stones, employed with a reserve in antique ornaments, now
formed the chief artistic aspect of jewellery. Cloisonné inlay, that is
to say the incrustation of glass or garnet in cells, was made use of,
but cloisonné enamel was preferred. In the majority of ornaments,
however, precious stones appear to have predominated.[5]
[4] Dalton (O. M.), _Catalogue of early Christian antiquities
in the British Museum_. 1901.
[5] Cunynghame (H. H.), _European enamels,_ p. 40.
As ornaments for the head, wreaths were worn, especially upon festal
occasions. From the earliest Christian times the bride and bridegroom at
their wedding wore, as in some countries at the present day, crowns of
gold, silver, green leaves, or flowers, which were afterwards returned
to the church.
Early Byzantine earrings naturally follow the Roman patterns. Some take
the form of a penannular wire loop holding a thimble-shaped cage of
filigree, the flat end of which is closed, and has in the centre a
setting for a precious stone. The majority of Byzantine earrings are,
however, of a peculiar design. The most usual type, from the sixth
century onwards, is crescent-shaped, formed of gold repoussé and
open-worked in the form of a cross patée within a circle, supported on
either side by peacocks confronted. Dating from the finest period, i.e.
about the twelfth century, is a pair of earrings in the British Museum,
in the shape of a segment of a circle, ornamented on both sides with
figures of birds in blue, green, and white cloisonné enamel. Upon the
outer border of each segment are pearls fixed upon radiating pins,
alternating with pyramids of pellets; on the inner is a disc decorated
with similar enamels.
The cross is naturally the most favourite of pendants; yet this symbol
does not appear to have been commonly worn on the person till about the
fifth century. Among the most interesting pectoral crosses in the
British Museum is one inscribed with a text from Galatians VI. 14; upon
its arms and lower part are rings for pendent gems, and in the centre
the setting for a stone. Another cross, ornamented with nielloed[6]
figures of our Lord, the Virgin, and two angels or military saints, has
the name of its owner inscribed at the back. Both date from about the
tenth or eleventh century. One of the finest and the best known of such
ornaments is the gold and enamelled pectoral cross in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, known as the Beresford-Hope Cross. This remarkable
specimen of Byzantine jewellery, dating from about the eighth century,
is formed of two cruciform plates of gold, hinged so as to form a
reliquary, and set in a silver-gilt frame of later workmanship than the
cross itself. The figures upon it, executed in translucent cloisonné
enamel, represent on one part the Saviour on the cross, with busts of
the Virgin and St. John on either side, and on the other a full-length
figure of the Virgin and the heads of four saints (Pl. IX, 8). Jewellery
ornamented in this manner is of great rarity; being executed nearly
always upon pure gold, it has seldom escaped the crucible.
[6] Niello: a composition of lead, silver, sulphur, and borax.
Judging from the mosaics, as, for example, the portraits of Justinian in
the churches of San Vitale and Sant' Apollinare Nuovo at Ravenna,
brooches of the circular type appear to have been generally worn. Their
chief characteristic was the presence of three chains set with jewels
attached to them by loops. Coins, as in Roman times, were frequently
mounted as brooches in a beaded or open-work edging. Bow-shaped brooches
were worn, but not after the sixth century. Three inscribed examples of
the fourth century, one of them of gold, are in the British Museum.
[Illustration: _PLATE IX_ BYZANTINE JEWELLERY, AND ENAMELLED JEWELLERY
IN THE BYZANTINE STYLE]
Similar in workmanship to the crescent-shaped earrings described above,
and of about the same date, is a remarkable gold bracelet in the Franks
Bequest. It is formed of an open-work hoop decorated with swans and
peacocks enclosed in scrolls issuing from a vase. A circular medallion
with a repoussé bust of the Virgin forms the clasp.
Finger rings have survived in greater numbers than other Byzantine
ornaments. The majority are figured with the beautiful symbolism of the
Christian belief. Some are set with engraved gems, but on most the
design is produced by the more simple process of engraving the metal of
which the ring is composed. In early Christian times rings were often
offered as presents, and were engraved with expressions of good-will
towards the recipient, whose name is sometimes mentioned. The British
Museum contains a somewhat extensive collection of these rare objects in
gold. Bronze, often gilded, is naturally the commoner material. Silver
appears to have been scarcely ever employed. The interest of the
majority of Byzantine rings arises rather from the subjects with which
they are associated, than from the quality of their workmanship. There
is, however, in the British Museum a very beautiful example of pierced
gold work in the form of a key ring with projecting tongue, of a kind
much used in Roman times, which opened the lock by lifting a latch. Upon
the front of a wide hoop are the words _Accipe dulcis_, in letters
reserved in metal in a pierced ground. The remainder of the hoop
is divided into compartments, each containing one letter of the
inscription _Multis annis_. Above the inscription, in front, is a
rectangular projection, perhaps for insertion into a lock. It is finely
pierced with a design in the form of Greek crosses (Pl. IX, 10).
The sack of Constantinople by the French and Venetians dealt the
death-blow to Byzantine art. Until well into the thirteenth century the
Byzantine goldsmiths continued to exercise an important influence on
their contemporaries, and transmitted to the artists of mediæval Europe
such of the processes and designs of antique art as they had preserved.
Their intercourse was closest with Russia, whose jewellery for
centuries, even up to the present day, has followed the designs of the
old Byzantine workmen.
CHAPTER VI
PREHISTORIC (CELTIC) JEWELLERY
ROMANO-BRITISH JEWELLERY
The early ornaments of the greater part of Europe remained until late
times entirely untouched by the culture prevalent in Italy and Greece.
Though of great archæological importance, as revealing successive stages
of culture, they do not at the present demand very detailed
consideration.
The decoration of the earliest jewellery of Europe--that of the Bronze
Age, which dates roughly from about a thousand years before the
Christian era--is by means of spiral and zigzag patterns. Ornaments have
free endings, bent in spiral, snail-shell coils. The earliest were cast,
though the hammer was used towards the close of the period; solder was
unknown, and rivets alone employed. Gold and bronze were the only metals
employed, the latter being sometimes gilt by means of thin gold plates,
while amber is often found used as a jewel.
Some idea of these early ornaments can be formed from the discoveries of
objects worn by the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles. They are,
however, not very numerous or important until after the Bronze Age, and
until the Early Iron Age--known in England as the Late Celtic period--is
reached.
The ornaments of the Britons--that is to say the Brythons or iron-using
Celts--before they became subject to Rome are somewhat rare, for few
objects of value were buried in graves. Such as have been found comprise
bronze pins, brooches, torques, and bracelets; beads of amber, jet,
bone, and glass, and bracelets also of jet.
Golden ornaments, like those laid bare by Schliemann at Mycenæ,
concealed either as votive offerings or for the sake of security, have
been brought to light from time to time, occasionally in England and
more frequently in Ireland. Celtic literature and legend are full of
references to these golden ornaments, and classical writers often make
mention of them.
The simplest types of gold ornaments discovered in England are rings
formed of a rounded bar of equal thickness throughout, bent into a
circular form, and the extremities left disunited. Their material is
gold, so pure and flexible that the rings can be easily opened to be
linked into a chain or strung upon a thin gold wire. They were very
probably employed for barter, and are generally known as "ring-money."
Other rings, crescent-shaped, with ends tapering towards their
extremities, may have served both as ornaments and substitutes for
money. Others, again, are of gold wire shaped into a sort of rope, or
else formed of a simple bar twisted in an ornamental manner. It has been
suggested that the simple penannular rings were nose-ornaments, and when
linked or strung together were worn as necklaces; also that the more
decorative rings were earrings. But it is quite impossible to determine
their actual use as personal ornaments.
Massive torques employed by the Celts for the purpose of adorning the
neck are occasionally found of pure gold. They consist of a long piece
of metal twisted and turned into the form of a circle, with its ends
either terminating in a knob, or doubled back in the form of a short
hook, or swelling out into cup-like terminations. Some are formed of a
square bar of gold twisted spirally, others of a flat bar twisted in a
lighter manner, or of more than one bar twisted together.
[Illustration: _PLATE X_ PREHISTORIC GOLD ORNAMENTS OF THE
BRITISH ISLES]
Gold ornaments for the arms, known by the term _armillæ_, are sometimes
of the same thickness throughout. It is more usual to find them plain,
though twisted work was also applied to them. The majority have dilated
ends, or ends slightly concave. With others, again, these cavities
assume the form of a cup so expanded as to present the appearance of a
trumpet or the calyx of a large flower. On ornaments somewhat resembling
the latter the dilated extremities are flat plates, while the connecting
part, diminutive in proportion to their exaggerated size, is striated
longitudinally. These objects are usually described as dress-fasteners,
but the exact purpose for which they were employed is still a matter of
doubt.
Advanced skill in the art of enamelling is one of the most notable
features of the Late Celtic period, which itself extended from the
prehistoric Age of Iron and over the period of the Roman occupation.
This enamel, executed by the champlevé process on copper and bronze,
served for the decoration of massive bronze penannular bracelets, and
for bronze pins with wheel-shaped heads. In addition to brooches--all of
the safety-pin type--of an immense variety of design, other primitive
bronze ornaments, usually of the spiral form characteristic of Celtic
work, include torques, armlets, and anklets. The torques are mostly
penannular and have enlarged terminals; the armlets are often complete
rings.
For the most extensive representation of the prehistoric gold ornaments
of the British Isles one must look, not to England whose inhabitants
generally assumed the types of ornament in use among their Roman
conquerors, but to Ireland, where the Celtic traditions were continued,
and which has revealed vast hoards of golden treasure. In Celtic England
during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages the majority of personal
ornaments are of bronze; in Ireland, however, at the same periods the
greater number are of gold. The objects belonging to the Royal Irish
Academy in the Dublin Museum--perhaps the largest collection in Europe
of prehistoric gold ornaments--represent merely a fraction of what,
during the last few hundred years, has been discovered and consigned to
the crucible.
Usually described as head-ornaments are certain crescent or moon-shaped
plates of thin gold, generally decorated with engraved designs in
parallel lines, with angular lines between them, and having their
extremities formed into small flat circular discs. These gold _lunettes_
or _lunulæ_ are considered to have been worn upright on the head and
held in position by the terminal plates set behind the ears,[7] but they
were very probably worn round the neck. The finest at Dublin is of pure
gold, weighing upwards of sixteen ounces, and is richly ornamented with
rows of conical studs.
[7] Wilde (W. R.), _Cat. of antiquities of gold_, p. 12.
Torques are the most frequent of ancient Irish ornaments. The largest
known, over 5 feet long and upwards of 27 ounces in weight, is supposed
to have been worn over the shoulder and across the breast. It is the
property of the Royal Irish Academy. In addition to torques and gorgets,
neck-ornaments were also formed of beads of gold, and some of these have
been found accompanied by beads of amber. Besides torque-shaped armlets,
are bracelets composed of perfect rings; but the penannular type,
terminating mostly with bulbous or cup-like ends, is commonest.
A considerable number of the prehistoric dress-fasteners, known
as _mammillary fibulæ_, have been discovered in Ireland. A slight
enlargement of the ends of the penannular ring develops into a cup-like
expansion, which increases to such a size that the ring becomes simply
the connecting link between the terminations. The latter when flat are
generally plain, and when cup-shaped are often highly ornamented. The
finest of these fibulæ at Dublin is 8-3/8 inches long, and is of the
extraordinary weight of 33 ounces.
Among other gold ornaments are certain circular flat plates of thin
gold, usually about 2¼ inches in diameter, somewhat similar to the
plates discovered at Mycenæ, in that they were evidently employed for
sewing upon the dress. In the middle of the plates are small holes as if
for attachment. As regards "ring-money," and similar rings employed
possibly as ornaments for the ears or fingers, nothing more need be
said, as they usually follow the designs of those in use among the Celts
of Britain.
In a country like Ireland, which is famed for its golden treasures, many
strange stories of discoveries have been recorded, yet few have excited
greater interest than the now famous Limavady treasure, which in the
year 1896 was ploughed up at Broighter, near Limavady, in the county of
Londonderry, in a field not far from the shores of Lough Foyle. This
hoard--probably the most important which has ever been unearthed of
objects of this period--has been fully described by Dr. A. J. Evans in
Vol. LV of _Archæologia_. It includes the following personal ornaments:
two gold chains, a torque formed of thick twisted wires, and collar of
very remarkable workmanship. This collar consists of a hollow cylinder
formed of two plates soldered together, and fastened at the end by a
#T#-shaped projection and slot. The ornament is repoussé work, in the
trumpet pattern of the Late Celtic period. The style of work upon these
ornaments, particularly that of the collar, associates them with an
artistic period which probably dates from the first century A.D.
The year following its discovery the whole find was purchased by the
British Museum, where its presence at once figured as "another injustice
to Ireland"; while through the Press and in Parliament numerous attempts
were made to obtain its removal to Dublin. The Irish claimed it as
treasure-trove and maintained that its legal home was the National
Museum at Dublin. The British Museum authorities replied that Dublin had
missed an opportunity of obtaining it in open market, while they
themselves, having acquired it in the ordinary course of business, were
precluded by statute from parting with it. They further contended that
the ornaments were not necessarily of Irish workmanship, but might with
equal likelihood have been produced in Britain. Thus for several years
the dispute dragged on, until in the summer of 1903 the case came up in
the Chancery Division of the Courts of Law (Attorney-General _v._
Trustees of British Museum. _The Times Law Reports_, XIX, p. 555.)
Notwithstanding the ingenious defence of the British Museum, judgment
was given that the ornaments were treasure-trove, and by virtue of the
Prerogative Royal must be surrendered to the King. They were accordingly
delivered to the Crown authorities and presented to the Irish National
Museum by His Majesty.
ROMANO-BRITISH
Whatever races settled under the banner of Rome, they accepted
unreservedly its ornaments, dress and manners, as well as its language
and its laws. Hence the jewellery which dates from the Roman occupation
of Britain (i.e. from about 43 A.D. to about 410 A.D.) follows for the
most part the Italian designs, and at the same time differs but little
from that brought to light among the remains of Roman colonisation
elsewhere.
The majority of Romano-British personal ornaments are of bronze--in
most cases probably once gilt. Comparatively few objects of gold have
been found. Among the articles of female adornment that occur in the
greatest abundance are pins, which were used for fixing the hair in a
knot behind the head, though some may have been employed as dress-pins.
They range from 3 to 9 inches in length, and have heads of various
designs, terminating in some instances in a bust or in a figure. The
majority are of bone, many are of bronze, and a few are composed of
coloured glass or jet.
A few necklaces of gold and bronze have been found, but by far the
greater number appear to have been composed of beads of glass--in the
manufacture of which the Romans displayed remarkable skill. These
necklaces differ considerably in form and colour. The commonest beads
are spherical and pierced with a large hole. They are usually of one
colour, generally blue, but some are of compound colours exquisitely
blended, and a few have a serpentine ornament fused into the glass.
Beads of amber, pearls, and glazed earthenware have also been found.
A characteristic of Roman jewels executed in Britain is their
ornamentation with enamels. The metal employed is generally bronze, the
surface of which is ornamented by the champlevé process; that is to say,
it is incised or grooved out (though sometimes stamped or cast) in such
a manner as to leave floral or geometrical patterns in relief, and into
the sunk spaces thus formed are fused opaque enamels, principally red,
yellow, green, blue, and white.
This enamelling is generally found upon brooches both of the circular
and of the bow-shaped type. The fronts of the circular brooches are
flat, or raised like a shield into several compartments of different
colours. The pin, which is hidden, moves freely on a pivot, and its
point is held by a catch. The finest specimen, discovered in London, was
formerly in the collection of Lord Hastings, from whom it was acquired
by the British Museum. It is a circular flat plaque, the pattern on
which consists of four quatrefoils with blue centres on a red ground,
and four small circles of yellow enamel between them. In the centre is
the revolving figure of a dolphin (Pl. XI, 7). Brooches enamelled in a
somewhat similar manner have been found in France at Mont Beuvray, near
Autun, and are preserved in the Musée des Antiquités Nationales at St.
Germain.[8]
[8] Bulliot (J. G.), _Fouilles de Mont Beuvray (ancienne
Bibracte) de 1867 à 1895_. 1899.
Quite different are certain ornaments set with slices cut from rods of
millefiori glass, which were executed for the most part during the
decline of the Roman power. One of the most elaborate is a brooch found
at Pont-y-Saison, near Chepstow, Monmouthshire, in 1861, and preserved
among other Romano-British antiquities in the British Museum. It has an
elaborate pattern of chequered squares of red, white, and blue (Pl. XI,
6). Brooches of the Gallo-Roman and early Merovingian period appear to
have been also decorated in this manner.
Of bow-shaped brooches, or fibulæ, there exists a considerable number of
varieties. Among these we may distinguish the #T#-shaped fibula with
long cylindrical head, and a wide flat bow with sunk designs filled with
enamel. In another variety the bow passes through a horizontal disc in
its centre and assumes a form resembling a tassel. Another common
variety is the crossbow form, either with a spiral or hinged head. In
many Roman fibulæ the pin works on a hinge, but in the variety known as
the harp-shaped, the sheath of the pin is filled in with a triangular
plate, pierced or solid, and the head is slightly expanded to suit the
coils of a spring.
In addition to the more formal types of brooches, many fancy devices,
probably of Celtic origin, appear to have been in vogue among the Roman
colonists of Great Britain. These are in the shape of birds, fish, and
all kinds of animals, brilliant with various coloured enamels, which are
often so disposed as to indicate the spots or markings of the animals. A
remarkable series of brooches of this kind is in the possession of Sir
John Evans.
Bracelets and armlets, usually of bronze, have survived in large
numbers. They consist generally of a simple narrow ring, such as could
be slipped over the wrist. Some are pennanular with tapering ends,
others are closed with a hook and eye, while a few have their ends so
twisted together that they can slide over one another and so be taken on
and off. Armlets of glass, chiefly of a deep transparent blue, have also
been found.
Most of the varieties of finger rings already recorded appear to have
been worn in Britain. The extent of the Roman civilisation can be
measured by the number of engraved stones enclosed in their settings or
found apart, the majority of which must have been executed by lapidaries
on the spot.
Many articles, such as rings, armlets, beads, buttons, and amulets, were
formed of jet or Kimmeridge shale, turned on a lathe. In the Island of
Purbeck round flat pieces of jet have been found pierced with holes,
which are clearly refuse pieces of the turner--the nuclei of rings and
other articles. This material appears to be the same as that termed by
Pliny _gigates_. According to him, it was supposed to possess the virtue
of driving away serpents; and personal ornaments made of it were
particularly prized. There seems little doubt that the use of ornaments
of Kimmeridge coal or shale by the Romano-Britons was nothing more than
a survival of the Neolithic or Stone Age. "Great Britain," writes M.
Fontenay in 1887, with reference to the ancient practice of wearing
ornaments of jet, "remains faithful to its early customs; for at the
present day English ladies delight in adorning themselves with jet
jewellery." Fashion changes rapidly, but it will be long, one hopes,
before it again decrees the general use of ornaments of this
unattractive material.
CHAPTER VII
BARBARIC JEWELLERY OF EUROPE
(THE GREAT MIGRATIONS)
During the period of the great migrations, when hordes of barbarians
swept like waves across Europe over the tracks of Roman civilisation,
all traces of classical art rapidly vanished, save in Constantinople,
which remained, as it were, a corner of the antique world. The forms of
classical jewellery in natural course either totally disappeared or
underwent a complete transformation, and there appeared instead a new
process for the decoration of personal ornament, which in earlier times
was practically unknown, save to the goldsmiths of ancient Egypt.
Just as the desire to imitate precious stones led to the introduction of
enamel, so the Gothic nations who hailed from the south-east corner of
Europe brought into jewellery the Oriental love for colour. Coloured
stones, usually garnets, or red glass, cut in slices, were inlaid
on a metal surface, or were placed side by side, separated only by
intervening strips of metal. This process of inlay or incrustation is of
great importance, since almost every species of jewellery in Europe from
the third till about the eighth century is thus decorated.
The Goths invented no new jewellery, but adapted a style which had long
been in existence. And though the forms of their jewellery may be due to
the growth of local traditions, its decoration is clearly the result of
influences connected in some way with the East. Originating, as it
doubtless did, in Persia or in the further East, this process of inlay
was adopted by the Gothic nations during the earlier centuries of the
Christian era, and made its first appearance among them in the districts
of the Caucasus and in the Crimea. From thence it passed to the Lombards
in Italy, to the Burgundians in Austria and Switzerland, the Visigoths
in Spain, the Merovingians in Gaul, the earlier Scandinavians in
Denmark; and by the Saxon tribes in Northern Germany it was carried to
England, where it attained its highest perfection in the superb circular
brooches that have been brought to light in Kent.
By the discovery of specimens of Asiatic and Germanic jewellery
ornamented in this manner, the path of the migratory tribes can thus be
traced right across the Continent. Yet for the reason that conditions of
property and nationality became altered from one generation to another,
the question to which of the nations numerous pieces of jewellery are
to be ascribed, is difficult to solve. They are often connected with
misunderstood Hellenistic and Asiatic traditions, while at the same time
showing workmanship with barbaric ideas of form.
There are, as has been pointed out,[9] two very distinct forms of
inlay, one of which is possibly the outcome of the other. One has
been termed _plate inlaying_, the other _cloisonné inlaying_. The
first is represented in the east of Europe by the fibulæ and gorget
in the celebrated treasure of Petrossa, and in the west by the crown of
Svinthila in the equally famous treasure of Guarrazar. In these objects
a gold plate is pierced, and into the holes thus formed stones are fixed
by mastic, and supported from behind by a second plate of gold. This
form of inlaying seems to merge naturally into the other, for at a
certain point it may have occurred to the goldsmith to abandon the
continuous upper sheet of metal and to cut it into strips to be placed
edgewise between the stones. Thus appeared the second form of inlaying,
in the cloisonné manner. It is represented in its journey from the
East by the "Oxus treasure." In Europe it is illustrated by numerous
specimens of Teutonic jewellery from Southern Europe, by the ornaments
discovered in the tomb of Childeric I, and finally by the splendid
Anglo-Saxon jewellery from the Kentish cemeteries. Numbers of articles
of jewellery dating from the fifth century until the general
introduction of Christianity have been discovered in various localities
in Europe. But the above-mentioned hoards of treasure demand special
consideration, as being, not only the most characteristic examples of
the methods of inlay, but also types of the utmost luxury of the period
in the way of personal ornaments. Beyond these no general account of
European jewellery need here be given, since excavations in the
Anglo-Saxon graves have revealed examples of jewellery which may be
taken as fairly representative of the articles then in use upon the
Continent as well.
[9] _Archæologia_, LVIII, p. 240, 1902.
A description may now be given of some of the principal and most typical
of these European treasure-hoards, dating from what are known as the
"Dark Ages." But attention must first be drawn to the important Asiatic
treasure found near the River Oxus, in Bactria, in 1877. This "Oxus
treasure,"[10] belonging for the most part to the fourth century B.C.,
seems to supply the missing link in the chain of evidence which unites
the ornamentation of European jewellery with clearly defined Oriental
methods. The chief articles of jewellery in the hoard are two massive
penannular bracelets of gold, one in the British Museum, the other at
South Kensington. They are ornamented at each end with a winged monster
or gryphon in full relief. The surface of the wings and necks of the
figures is covered with gold cloisons, once set with coloured stones or
pastes. The form and decoration of these and the other articles of the
treasure in the Franks Bequest in the British Museum seem to indicate
the Persian origin of this inlaid work.
[10] Dalton (O. M.), _The treasure of the Oxus, 1905._
The "treasure of Petrossa," dating from the fourth century A.D.,
contains some of the earliest examples of inlaid jewellery in Europe.
Few treasures of which record has been preserved are equal to it in
archæological interest. It was discovered in 1837 by peasants on the
banks of a tributary of the Danube, near the village of Petrossa, about
sixty miles from Bucharest. Much of it was broken up shortly after its
discovery. What remained was seized by the Government and conveyed to
the Museum of Antiquities at Bucharest, where it is now preserved. The
treasure includes a gold torque with hooked ends, like the Celtic
torques from the British Isles; a crescent-shaped collar or gorget of
gold with its surface pierced in the manner of plate inlay, and set
with garnets and other stones; three bird-shaped fibulæ; and a larger
ornament, also in the shape of a bird, intended probably as a
breast-plate. The heads and necks of the birds are inlaid in the
cloisonné manner; their lower parts are ornamented with plate inlay.[11]
[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.
Dating from the Merovingian period are the treasures of King Childeric I
in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. The founder of the Merovingian
dynasty died in 481, and was buried at Tournai, in Languedoc, surrounded
by his treasures and robes of state. In the year 1653, when all memory
of the place of his interment had perished, a labourer accidentally
uncovered the royal grave and brought to light the treasure it
contained. The regalia consisted of a sword, a bracelet, fibulæ,
buckles, about three hundred gold bees--the decoration of a mantle--and
a signet-ring of gold. This ring was not set with a gem, but had its
oval gold bezel engraved with a full-faced bust holding a spear. It bore
the legend CHILDIRICI REGIS. On the night of November 5, 1831, the
Bibliothèque was broken into by burglars. An alarm being given, they
fled, and threw their spoil, which included, amongst other objects,
Childeric's regalia, into the Seine. The river was dredged, and a great
part of the treasure was recovered. The ring, however, was never found;
but its design is preserved in Chiflet's _Anastasis Childerici I_, while
the signet itself has been reconstructed from an impression of the seal
in wax, found in the Bodleian Library in a copy of Chiflet's work, once
the property of the great antiquary, Francis Douce. Except on this
jewel, the traditional surface decoration of Teutonic jewellery is
admirably represented. Every item of the treasure is inlaid with thin
slices of garnet or red glass, arranged in the cloisonné manner between
gold partitions.[12]
[12] Abbé Cochet, _Le tombeau de Childéric I^e^r_, 1859.
The most wonderful, probably, of all treasures-trove is the famous
"treasure of Guarrazar," discovered in 1858 at a place called La Fuente
de Guarrazar, near Toledo.[13] It included eleven crowns of pure gold
set with precious stones. The peasants who unearthed the treasure broke
up the crowns and divided the spoil. But the story of the discovery
became known; and having been pieced together, most of the crowns were
conveyed to the Musée Cluny at Paris, and the remainder placed in the
Real Armería at Madrid. The most important of those at Madrid is the
crown of King Svinthila (621-631). Its surface is pierced with holes
arranged in rose-shaped patterns, and set with large pearls and cabochon
sapphires. From the lower rim hangs a fringe of letters set in the
cloisonné manner with red glass paste, suspended by chains. The letters
form the inscription SVINTILANUS REX OFFERET. The chief crown in the
treasure at Paris is that of King Reccesvinthus (649-672). It consists
of a broad circle of gold, 8 inches in diameter, mounted with thirty
huge Oriental pearls and thirty large sapphires, all set in high collets
and separated by pierced open-work. The margins are bands of cloisonné
work with inlays of red glass. Suspended below by twenty-four chains are
letters of gold inlaid like the borders forming the words [Symbol:
cross pattée] RECCESVINTHUS REX OFFERET. Attached to each letter is a
square collet hung with a pear-shaped sapphire. The crown is suspended
by four chains from a foliated ornament encircled with pendent pearls
and sapphires, and surmounted by a capital of rock crystal. A massive
cross 4¼ inches long and 2½ inches wide hangs below the crown. It
is set with eight enormous pearls and six large and brilliant sapphires,
the latter mounted in high open bezels. From its foot and limbs hang
three paste imitations of emeralds, with pear-shaped sapphires below.
The combination of the pure gold with the violet sapphires and the
somewhat faded lustre of the pearls produces an exceedingly harmonious
effect of colour.
[13] Lasteyrie (F. de), _Description du trésor de Guarrazar_, 1860.
The majority of these crowns were votive offerings to a church, to be
hung above the altar; the larger ones may have been actually used at
coronations, and afterwards suspended in some consecrated building and
the dedicatory inscriptions attached in remembrance of the ceremony.
They certainly appear to be native work of the Spanish Visigoths,
executed under the influence of the style prevailing in the Eastern
Empire. At a date not long after their production, the use of this
particular species of decoration of jewellery, owing probably to the
revival of the art of enamelling, rapidly declined in western Europe;
and though it continued to be practised in the East, it had virtually
disappeared at the close of the Merovingian period--by about the year
800, when Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West.
CHAPTER VIII
ANGLO-SAXON JEWELLERY (FIFTH TO SEVENTH CENTURY)--MEROVINGIAN JEWELLERY
Upon the invasion of Britain by the Teutonic races in the fifth century
personal ornaments lost their Roman character, and assumed a peculiar
type which betrays the impress of a fresh nationality on design and
workmanship.
A near alliance by origin and geographical position existed between the
Jutes, Angles, and other kindred tribes commonly known as the Saxons,
who settled in Britain, and the Franks, who stationed themselves in
Gaul. The ornaments of all these tribes bear on this account a close
similarity. Hence Anglo-Saxon jewels may for the most part be taken as
representative of all the rest; and the only contemporary Merovingian
ornaments to be noticed will be those that differ from the Anglo-Saxon
types.
In England as well as in France this remarkable group of jewellery
belongs to the period which immediately followed the extinction of the
Roman power in both countries, and extends from the fifth to the middle
of the seventh century. Personal ornaments in England were the last in
Europe to receive a characteristic species of surface decoration: for
Kent and the Isle of Wight form the extreme limit of the geographical
area in which jewellery ornamented with cloisonné inlay has been found.
The process attained here the highest point of excellence.
Anglo-Saxon jewellery occupies an exceedingly important position in the
history of the goldsmith's art. Its beauty lies in its delicate goldwork
and peculiarly harmonious blending of colours. So remarkable is the
fertility of fancy with which each jewel is adorned, that scarcely any
two are exactly identical in ornamentation. However complicated the
system of knotwork, and however frequently the same form might require
filling in, each workman appears to have been eager to express his own
individuality, and to originate some fresh method of treatment or new
variety of design.
In common with other Teutonic nations, the Anglo-Saxons were peculiarly
fond of personal ornaments. They held in high esteem both the smith--the
producer of weapons--and the goldsmith who manufactured the rings and
bracelets employed as rewards of valour. A passage in the "Exeter Book,"
which dilates on the various stations in life and the capacities
required for them, refers thus to the goldsmith: "For one a wondrous
skill in goldsmith's art is provided: full oft he decorates and well
adorns a powerful king's nobles, and he to him gives broad land in
recompense."
The graves or barrows of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors have proved
singularly prolific in personal ornaments. Extensive cemeteries have
been discovered in the midland, eastern and southern counties, and
particularly upon the downs of Kent, Sussex, and the Isle of Wight. The
barrows of Kent have revealed personal ornaments of greater wealth and
refinement than those of any other parts.
The majority of Anglo-Saxon pins were no doubt employed for fastening up
the hair. They often have as a head the figure of a bird or grotesque
animal, ornamented with garnets, like similar pins from the Continent.
One of the best, which comes from the Faversham graves in Kent, is in
the Gibbs Bequest, now in the British Museum. It is of silver, formerly
gilt; its upper part is flat and in the form of a bird set with cut
garnets. Gothic tribes had a great predilection for the bird as a
decorative subject.[14]
[14] De Baye (J.), _The industrial arts of the Anglo-Saxons_, p. 45.
A certain number of earrings have been found, but they are not common.
They are generally a ring of silver wire, plain, or twisted into a
spiral form, and hung sometimes with beads of coloured glass or clay.
The earrings worn by the Franks during the contemporary Merovingian
period are of a type unrepresented in Anglo-Saxon jewellery. They
differ in size, but are nearly all of the same pattern, and have a
plain hoop. One end is pointed to pierce the ear, and on the other
end is a polygonal metal cube, each side of which is set with a slice
of garnet or red glass.
Anglo-Saxon necklaces are composed of beads of many varieties. The
commonest, of glass, of numerous colours and shapes, are very similar to
the Roman beads. Beads of amethystine quartz, probably of Transylvanian
or German origin, and particularly beads of amber from the Baltic, are
found strung on necklaces, or were hung singly from the neck. When one
remembers the superstitious respect which was universally paid to
precious stones, and especially to amber, in early times, it is probable
that these were regarded as amulets. The more sumptuous necklaces, which
must have been worn by ladies of rank, are composed of gold beads or of
precious stones in delicate settings of twisted or beaded gold.
The pendent ornaments hung to the necklaces are very beautiful. Some are
formed of large, finely coloured garnets cut into triangle or pear
shapes and mounted in gold. Others, generally circular, are of pure gold
worked in interlaced or vermiculated patterns and set with precious
stones. A striking group of pendants is formed of coins of foreign
origin, Roman or Byzantine, or rude copies of them made in England by
Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths. In the British Museum is an elaborate necklace
of glass and terra-cotta beads with pendent gold coins of the seventh
century, which was found, together with a splendid brooch, at Sarre, in
Kent. Three of the pendants are coins of Emperors of the East--Mauricius
and Heraclius--and the fourth is a coin of Chlotaire II of France. The
central pendant, also circular, is ornamented with a section from a rod
of Roman millefiori glass set in gold.
Besides coins--the frequent use of which in late Roman jewellery has
already been noticed--there exists a well-known class of personal
ornaments known as _nummi bracteati_, bracteate coins, and sometimes as
"spangle money." They are thin discs of metal stamped in a die, so that
the design appears in relief on the face and incuse on the back. They
are generally of gold, have a beaded edging, and are supplied with
loops, also of gold, for suspension.
Fibulæ or brooches are the most numerous of all Anglo-Saxon ornaments.
They are remarkable both for their beauty and their excellence of
workmanship. Probably more than one was usually worn; and four or five
have been found in the same grave on different parts of the body. The
different types of brooches from various districts of England are
sufficiently clearly marked to permit their classification as the
ornaments of distinct peoples. For the present purpose it is convenient
to divide them into three main classes, each class consisting,
naturally, of many varieties. (1) Circular jewelled brooches found among
the remains of the Kentish Saxons, and of the Jutes of the Isle of
Wight. (2) Brooches of the sunk or concave circular type worn by the
Saxons of Berks, Oxford, and Gloucestershire. (3) Cruciform brooches--a
type of the elongated form of brooch. They are peculiar to the Angles
who formed the population of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria.
(1) The circular jewelled brooches found in the cemeteries of Kent and
sometimes in the Isle of Wight, but scarcely ever in other parts of
England, may be subdivided again into three classes. The first of these,
and the most numerous, is composed of a single piece of metal decorated
with chased work and set with jewels. The second group comprises those
formed of a disc of bronze or silver, decorated with a disc of gold foil
covered with inlaid cells forming triangles and circles, with three
bosses grouped round a central boss. This type is rarer than the first,
and is often of great beauty. The third group, the finest and rarest, is
distinguished by being formed of two plates of metal joined by a band
round the edges, the upper part being prepared in the cloisonné manner
for the reception of stones or pastes, while the pin or _acus_ is fixed
to the lower. Brooches of this type, in which the stones, mostly
garnets, are set upon hatched gold foil between delicate gold cloisons,
represent at its utmost perfection the process of inlaying already
described. Three of the finest circular jewelled brooches are: the
Kingston brooch in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool, the Abingdon
brooch in the Ashmolean Museum, and the Sarre brooch in the British
Museum. The first, which is certainly the most beautiful, is 3-3/16
inches in diameter. The front is divided into compartments subdivided
into cells of various forms, enriched with vermicular gold, with
turquoises and with garnets laid upon gold foil. Concentric circles
which surround a central boss are treated alternately in coloured
stones and worked gold.[15] The Abingdon brooch is divided into four
compartments, each decorated with interlaced gold wire, and mounted with
a boss of ivory, horn or shell, with a fifth boss in the centre of the
brooch. The rest of the ground is decorated with garnets upon hatched
gold foil.[16] The Sarre brooch, 2-5/8 inches in width, is ornamented in
a similar manner, and has a large central and four smaller bosses
composed of a substance resembling ivory, set with carbuncles[17]
(Pl. XI, 1).
[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.
[Illustration: _PLATE XI_ ANGLO-SAXON AND ROMANO-BRITISH BROOCHES,
ETC.]
(2) The next main class of brooches comprises the concave circular,
known also as the cupelliform or saucer-shaped, found in the West Saxon
cemeteries. They are of bronze or copper, thickly gilt, and very rarely
decorated with jewels. They have a plain edge, and a centre covered with
interlaced and other ornamental patterns.
(3) Cruciform brooches form the last and most widely distributed group.
They have trefoil or cruciform tops; but must not be held to have any
connection with Christianity because they approach the form of a cross,
for they are found in purely pagan graves. Some varieties are found in
other parts of England besides Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria, but
they are rare in Kent. These cruciform Anglian brooches are of cast
bronze, generally gilt, but sometimes plated with silver. They are often
of enormous size, and covered with rude and elaborate patterns such as
are found upon early Scandinavian objects. Since the patterns were
added after the brooches were cast, it happens that, though forms are
frequently identical, decorations differ on nearly every specimen. With
the rarest exception, they are never garnished with precious stones.
This kind of brooch appears to have been evolved about the fourth
century.
There are other brooches somewhat of the same form, but not usually
found in England. Amongst these is a type which, instead of having a
trefoil ornament at the top, is square-headed. Though not unknown in
France and Germany, brooches of this design are chiefly Scandinavian. An
important series of both of the types last mentioned is preserved in the
British Museum; while the fine collection belonging to Sir John Evans
contains many splendid specimens.
Another variety is known as the "radiated" brooch, from the fact that
its upper part, which is rectangular or semicircular, is ornamented with
obtuse rays. The finest example of this type, and the largest known (it
measures 6¼ inches), is in the Bavarian National Museum at Munich. It
dates from about the sixth century; and was found in a rock tomb near
Wittislingen on the Danube in 1881. It is silver, gilt upon the upper
side, enriched with a cloisonné inlay of garnets in a variety of
patterns, and further ornamented with interlaced gold filigree
(Pl. XII, 7). A Latin inscription on the under side contains the name
UFFILA. Radiated brooches, which Mr. Roach Smith[18] considers to be
prior in point of date to all other Anglo-Saxon types, extend over the
greater part of Europe. But they are rare in England, though a few have
been found in Kent and are preserved among the Gibbs Bequest.
[18] _Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon antiquities_, p. xv.
There is yet another type of Anglo-Saxon brooch, annular in shape. It
consists of a plain ring, with a pin travelling round it attached to a
small cylinder. This annular brooch is comparatively rare in Saxon
times. Its interest lies in the fact that it is the parent of a much
more important brooch worn throughout the Middle Ages.
In common with all primitive peoples, the Saxons held rings in less
esteem than other ornaments. The few that have been found are simple
bronze hoops. Rings were more frequent, however, among the Merovingians.
The chief feature in Merovingian rings, which are often of gold, is that
the bezel is for the most part large and circular. It is either
roughly engraved in the manner of Childeric's signet, or else is
ornamented with cloisonné inlay. Other rings have a high projecting
bezel.
[Illustration: _PLATE XII_ ANGLO-SAXON AND FRANKISH JEWELLERY
(5TH-7TH CENTURIES)]
Buckles of gold, silver, and bronze, used to fasten the belt or girdle,
or employed on some other part of the dress, are particularly abundant
in Kentish graves. They vary considerably, many being of particularly
good design, set with garnets and ornamented with gold filigree. The
largest examples can be assigned to the girdles of men, the smallest and
richest to those of women. Some of the best are in the Gibbs Bequest.
One of the finest examples of Anglo-Saxon jewellery is the magnificent
gold buckle discovered in a grave near Taplow, Bucks, and now in the
British Museum. The base of the tongue and the oval ring are inlaid with
glass pastes upon gold foil; while the buckle plate, enriched with three
garnets, is bordered with many graduated rows of finely twisted gold
wire, and has its centre filled with a sort of vermiculated pattern upon
repoussé ground (Pl. XII, 6).
Women's graves have generally yielded a number of objects of personal
use as well as of adornment. Articles of toilet, such as tweezers,
etc., are found by the side of the skeleton, and resemble the modern
chatelaine. There exist, in addition, curious bronze pendants sometimes
shaped like a pot-hook, which, found in pairs near the waists of female
skeletons, are known generally as girdle-hangers. Their exact purpose
was for a long time a mystery, but archæologists are now mostly of the
opinion that they were fastenings for bags or purses suspended from the
girdle.
With the exception of the brooch-pin, which is always made of iron,
Anglo-Saxon jewellery is almost invariably composed of gold, silver, or
of some alloy, and is very rarely of iron like the buckles found in the
Frankish cemeteries. These iron buckles, owing to the perishable nature
of their material are often much disfigured by rust, but many are
sufficiently well preserved to exhibit a beautiful and elaborate inlay
of silver, sometimes accompanied by gold. Many examples of them
are preserved in the museums of France and Germany. Some are of
extraordinary size. The buckle and plate alone of one in the museum at
Berne measures no less than 8-5/8 by 4½ inches and half an inch in
thickness. Buckles of this kind have never been found in England.
CHAPTER IX
LATE ANGLO-SAXON JEWELLERY (SEVENTH TO NINTH CENTURY)
After the landing of St. Augustine in 597 and the baptism of Ethelbert,
King of Kent, the conversion of the upper classes in England appears to
have been rapid, and by the third decade of the seventh century the
greater part of the country had accepted Christianity. Old customs,
however, with regard to burial and the adornment of the corpse, were
slow in disappearing, and even as late as the time of Charlemagne
(742-814) we hear of orders being issued that the Saxons were no longer
to follow the pagan mode of burial, but to inter their dead in
consecrated ground.
The general abandonment of the custom of burying ornaments with the dead
is responsible for the small number of the later Anglo-Saxon jewels now
extant. But the few examples surviving from the period which terminated
at the Norman Conquest are of exceptional merit.
There can be no doubt that the introduction of Christianity produced a
profound change in the character of personal ornaments. New forms and
methods, due to closer association with the Continent, were introduced
into the goldsmith's productions by the Church, which at the same time
fostered the splendid traditions of the older English jewellers.
The characteristic of the finest pieces of Saxon jewellery of the
Christian period is their ornamentation by means of cloisonné enamel. It
has already been noticed that Anglo-Saxon jewels were decorated with
gold wires, some twisted or beaded, or rolled up and plaited together,
and soldered on to a thin gold plate; while others were flattened into
strips forming compartments, which were filled with pieces of garnet or
coloured glass cut to shape. When the spaces between strips, so disposed
as to make up the outlines of figures or ornament, were filled with
enamel paste and fired, the result was enamel of the cloisonné type.
This cloisonné enamel naturally resulted as soon as the Saxon jeweller
had mastered the art of fusing vitreous colours upon metal. From whom
did he learn this art? Was enamelling introduced by the followers of
Augustine from Rome or Byzantium, or did the Irish missionaries bring
afresh into England an art of which the Celts were past masters? The
question is one that cannot be answered; but it is not without interest
to note the great influence of the Irish craftsmen on the art
productions of the time.
A remarkable development of goldsmiths' work in Ireland succeeded the
introduction of Christianity. Enamel was largely employed in the
decoration of early objects of ecclesiastical metal-work, and attained
perfection in the translucent cloisonné enamel of the Tara brooch and
the Ardagh chalice. The far-reaching influence and extraordinary
activity of the Irish missionaries, many of them no doubt skilled
goldsmiths, are well known. "Irish missionaries laboured among the Picts
of the Highlands and among the Frisians of the northern seas. An Irish
missionary, Columban, founded monasteries in Burgundy and the Apennines.
The canton of St. Gall still commemorates in its name another Irish
missionary."[19] The processes of their artistic metal-work must have
made themselves felt wherever these Irish missionaries penetrated. The
wandering scholars and artists of Ireland left both their books and
their art-apprentices in England, as they had left them along the Rhine
and the Danube. At Glastonbury, St. Dunstan, the patron saint of English
smiths, lingered as a youth among the books with which the Irish
missionaries had endowed the monastery, and associated doubtless with
the monastic craftsmen who had learned the arts of their Celtic
predecessors.
[19] Green (J. R.), _Short history of the English People_
(1875 ed.), p. 21.
Every priest was trained in some handicraft, and many monks became
excellent goldsmiths. St. Dunstan (924-988), like St. Eloi of France
(588-659), at once a goldsmith and a royal minister, himself worked in
the precious metals; and he appears to have been a jeweller as well, for
we find in old inventories, entries of finger rings described as the
productions of the great prelate. In the Wardrobe Account of Edward I,
in 1299 (_Liber Quotidianus_, p. 348), is "Unus anulus auri cum saphiro
qui fuit de fabrica Sancti Dunstani ut credebatur"; and in the inventory
of that mediæval fop, Piers Gaveston, 1313 (Rymer, _Foedera_, II, i.
p. 203), is: "Un anel d'or, à un saphir, lequel seint Dunstan forga de
ses mayns."
The artistic traditions of the old Saxon jewellers became almost the
sole property of the clergy; and the Venerable Bede, writing at the
commencement of the eighth century, alluding to the monastic jewellers
of his day, describes how "a skilled gold-worker, wishing to do some
admirable work, collects, wherever he can, remarkable and precious
stones to be placed among the gold and silver, as well to show his skill
as for the beauty of the work." The description of these stones as
"chiefly of a ruddy or aerial colour" would seem to indicate that
garnets and turquoises had not even then been entirely supplanted by
enamels. Certain it is that the earlier Christian jewels retained for a
time the technique of those of pagan Saxondom. For example, the gold
cross of St. Cuthbert (d. 687), discovered in his tomb in Durham
Cathedral in 1827 and now preserved in the Cathedral Library, is inlaid
with garnets in the cloisonné manner (Pl. XIII, 3).
The internecine wars of the Saxons and the early ravages of the
Norsemen, from which England was delivered by Alfred during the ninth
century, can have left the country little repose for the cultivation of
the jeweller's art. Yet, in spite of the unhappy condition of England,
the art, judging from inscribed jewels noticed hereafter, was still
practised, and needed only some presiding genius to awaken it to new
life.
There is little reason to doubt that jewellery was among the foremost of
the arts which Alfred is known to have encouraged; indeed, his interest
in such work is asserted by a well-sustained tradition. And if the
world-famed jewel to be described is, as seems probable, to be
associated with Alfred of Wessex, he must then have personally
supervised the production of other contemporary jewels. The Alfred
jewel, the finest example left of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship, and the
most famous of all English jewels, is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum
at Oxford. It was found in 1693 at Newton (or Petherton) Park, three
miles from the Isle of Athelney, Somerset, whither Alfred had fled from
the Danes in the year 878, and was presented to the museum in 1718 by
Thomas Palmer, grandson of Colonel Nathaniel Palmer, near whose estate
it was found. The jewel is 2 inches long, 1-1/5 wide, and half an inch
in thickness. It somewhat resembles a battledore in shape; it is flat
front and back, while the other parts of its surface are rounded.
The obverse is of rock crystal, beneath which is a plaque of
semi-transparent cloisonné enamel of blue, white, green, and brown,
representing the figure of a man. Upon the reverse is an engraved gold
plate. The smaller end of the oval is prolonged into the form of a
boar's head, from the snout of which projects a hollow socket. Around
the sloping sides of the jewel, from left to right, runs the legend
AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN (_Alfred ordered me to be made_), in gold
letters, exquisitely chiselled in open-work upon the band which
encircles the enamel and its crystal covering. The whole of the goldwork
is beautifully executed in filigree and granulation (Pl. XIII, 1, 2).
[Illustration: _PLATE XIII_ LATE ANGLO-SAXON JEWELLERY
(7TH-9TH CENTURIES)]
There is considerable doubt as to the actual use of this precious jewel.
Professor Earle has placed it among the category of personal ornaments,
and holds that it was executed under the personal supervision of Alfred
the Great, and formed the central ornament of his helmet or crown.[20]
The enamelled figure is probably intended for that of Christ,
represented, as is frequently done in early ecclesiastical art, holding
two sceptres. The gold setting of the jewel, it is generally agreed, was
made in England, and in the opinion of many the enamel is of native
origin.[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.
Somewhat similar in shape to the Alfred jewel, and probably employed for
the same purpose, is a jewel known as the Minster Lovel jewel, which was
found half a century ago in a village of that name near Oxford, and is
now preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. It is 1¼ inches in length,
circular above, with a projecting socket below. The upper part is
ornamented with a cross-shaped design in cloisonné enamel.
Another remarkable jewel, preserved in the British Museum, is termed the
Dowgate brooch, or the Roach Smith nouche (or brooch), in memory of the
learned and energetic antiquary whose property it once was. The brooch
was found near Dowgate Hill in Thames Street, London, in 1839. It is
composed of a circular enamel representing a full-faced head and bust,
enclosed in a border of rich gold filigree covered with beaded ornament
and set at equal distances with four pearls. The fine cloisons of the
enamel work are arranged so as to mark the outlines of the face, a crown
upon the head, and the folds of the drapery of a mantle or tunic. The
dress is classical in appearance, and seems to be fastened on the right
shoulder[22] (Pl. XIII, 4).
[22] _Archæologia_, XXIX, p. 70, Pl. x.
Two other enamelled brooches of the same kind of workmanship, also in
the British Museum, are the Townley brooch, also known as the Hamilton
brooch, which is said to have been found in Scotland, and the Castellani
brooch, formerly in the collection of Signor Castellani, and stated to
have been found at Canosa, Italy (Pl. IX, 9, 11).
The latter brooch is set with a circular enamel representing the bust of
a royal personage wearing large earrings, and upon the front of the
dress a circular brooch with three pendants hanging below it. At the
lower part of the gold and enamel frame of the Castellani brooch itself
are three loops, which must have held pendants exactly similar to those
attached to the brooch worn by the enamelled figure. Pendants of this
kind are represented, as has been seen, on the Ravenna mosaics, and
appear to be characteristic of Byzantine brooches. And it is probable
that this, as well as the Townley brooch, as explained in the
_Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries_ (2nd Series, Vol. XX,
p. 64), is of Continental origin.
Though similar in some respects to the other enamelled jewels, these two
brooches differ considerably from them. "These differences," says a
recent writer, "seem to accentuate the difficulty of tracing the origin
of this enamelled work. It may well be that some of it was executed in
this country by the craftsmen in the employ of King Alfred; but it may
fairly be assumed that on the journeys to Rome and elsewhere, undertaken
by Ethelwulf, Alfred, and Ethelswitha, they and their suites would
acquire jewellery of this class, which must have been comparatively
common in Rome, and in other important centres at that time."[23]
[23] _Catalogue of the Alfred the Great millenary exhibition in
the British Museum. 1901._
The rings dating from the time of pagan Saxondom are few and
unimportant; those, on the other hand, that belong to this later period,
though rare, are more numerous, and are of considerable historical and
artistic interest. It is somewhat curious that the finest date almost
exclusively from the ninth century, and that most of them are inscribed.
It is to this fact, doubtless, that they owe their preservation.
No Anglo-Saxon rings, as far as we are aware, are ornamented with
enamel. Many are enriched with inlays of niello. Gold rings thus inlaid
sometimes have the appearance of having been enamelled, for the niello
seems to have a bluish tinge, but this may be due, as Mr. Davenport
suggests (_Anglo-Saxon Review_, Vol. V), to some optical effect caused
by the yellow gold.
The most important inscribed Saxon rings, three in number, are
historical relics of the highest order. They belonged respectively to
Alhstan, Bishop of Sherborne (824-867); Ethelwulf, King of Wessex
(836-858), father of Alfred the Great; and Ethelswith, Queen of Mercia,
and sister to King Alfred.
The ring of Alhstan, at once the earliest episcopal finger ring and the
first in chronological order of these inscribed gold rings, was found in
1753 at Llys-fæn, in the county of Carnarvonshire. It was one of the
chief treasures of the famous collection of finger rings formed by the
late Edmund Waterton, and is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The initials of its owner are inscribed in niello upon four circular
compartments, separated by four lozenge-shaped compartments also inlaid
with niello (Pl. XIII, 9).
The most famous of all English rings--"une pièce excessivement
précieuse," says M. Fontenay, "par son originalité et son caractère"--is
that of Ethelwulf, King of Wessex. It is in the form of a bishop's mitre
with only one peak, and bears the inscription ETHELVVLF Rx, above which
are two peacocks pecking at a tree. The legend and subject are reserved
in gold upon a nielloed ground. The ring was picked up in its present
bent condition in 1780 by a labourer in a field at Laverstoke, near
Salisbury, where it had been pressed out of a cart-rut. It is now in the
British Museum (Pl. XIII, 5).
The third of this remarkable series of inscribed rings is that of
Ethelswith, Queen of Mercia, daughter of Ethelwulf. It has a circular
bezel, in the middle of which is a rude representation of an _Agnus Dei_
engraved in relief with a background of niello. The inner side of the
bezel is incised with the inscription [Symbol: cross pattée] EATHELSVITH
REGNA. This beautiful ring was found near Aberford, in Yorkshire, about
the year 1870, and came into the possession of Sir A. W. Franks, who
bequeathed it to the British Museum (Pl. XIII, 7).
Several other Saxon rings are preserved in the British Museum. Among
them is one with a plain hoop and beaded edges, bearing around it in
gold letters on a nielloed ground an inscription recording the name of
the owner, Ethred, and the maker Eanred. It was found in Lancashire, and
bequeathed to the museum by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753. Another ring (found
near Peterborough in the River Nene) is peculiar for having two bezels
opposite each other. Both sides of the hoop and each bezel are engraved
with interlaced designs inlaid with niello. The bezels are each flanked
by three small beads of gold--a characteristic ornamentation of a
certain class of Teutonic and Merovingian rings, termed by the French
_bagues à trois grains_. In the Victoria and Albert Museum is a silver
ring of unusual form. It has an oval bezel 1¼ inches in length,
engraved with convoluted ornament in five divisions, the centre being
filled with a serpent-headed monster. It was found in the Thames at
Chelsea in 1856. A type of ring which occurs more than once is formed of
a hoop, which widens gradually into a large oval bezel ornamented with
bands of rich plaited goldwork. One of these rings, found at Bossington,
near Stockbridge, is in the Ashmolean Museum. It has in the centre a
male portrait surrounded by the inscription, NOMEN EHLLA FID IN XPO (My
name is Ella; my faith is in Christ).
More remarkable, perhaps, than any of the above, on account of the
peculiar beauty of its workmanship, is a gold ring in the possession of
Lord Fitzhardinge, and preserved, together with the Hunsdon jewels, at
Berkeley Castle. It has a large bezel of quatrefoil form. In the centre
is a raised circular boss ornamented with a cross or wheel-shaped design
in beaded gold. Radiating from this centre are four heads of monsters,
inlaid with thin lines of niello, and having projecting eyes formed of
dots of dark blue and dark brown glass or enamel. The hoop of the ring,
of considerable girth, is hexagonal in section. At the junction of its
ends at the back of the bezel, immediately behind the monsters' ears, it
is finished with a graduated wire of filigree, terminating with three
small balls. The ring dates from about the tenth century. Nothing is
known concerning its discovery. It is probably Saxon, but may be of
Irish origin (Pl. XIII, 10).
Beyond these finger rings and the enamelled jewellery, we possess few
other examples of later Saxon ornaments; yet there exist a small number,
which, though executed somewhat after the manner of the older jewels,
probably belong to this later period of Saxon art. Among such ornaments
is a necklace from Desborough, Northants, and now in the British Museum.
It is formed of beads of spirally coiled gold wire. Circular pendants,
having one side convex and the other flat, alternate with gold pendants
of various shapes and sizes, set with garnets. From the centre of the
necklace hangs a cross (Pl. XII, 1).
One other ornament in the British Museum, particularly worthy of
attention, is a beautiful set of three ornamental pins of silver gilt,
which were found in the River Witham, near Lincoln. The three pins have
heads in the shape of circular discs, and are connected together by two
oblong pieces of metal with a ring at each end. The pins average four
inches in length. The interlaced ornament on their circular heads
(described in detail in the _Reliquary_, 2nd Series, Vol. X, p. 52), is
arranged in four panels separated by radial divisions.
The penannular brooch, known as the Celtic brooch, so common in other
parts of the British Isles about this period, has rarely been found
in England. A few examples occur in close proximity to undoubted
Anglo-Saxon remains, but they are confined mostly to the north of
England. Its extreme rarity leads one naturally to the conclusion that
it found but little favour in England. In Scotland and Ireland, however,
where it was almost universally worn, this type of brooch attained, as
will shortly be shown, the highest degree of excellence both in design
and workmanship.
CHAPTER X
THE CELTIC BROOCH
In order to understand the condition of the arts in the more remote
parts of the British Isles, subsequent to the introduction of
Christianity towards the middle of the fifth century, one must remember
the situation created by the invasions of the Teutonic tribes, whereby
nearly the whole of northern and western Europe relapsed into paganism,
while Ireland and the western highlands of Scotland alone remained
faithful to the Christian Church. During the earlier centuries of this
period, the designs and processes of the Celtic crafts, nurtured in
these parts of the British Isles by the Church, undisturbed by invaders,
and free from outside influences, were brought to a state of high
perfection.
The introduction of Christianity into Ireland by St. Patrick, who
doubtless brought with him European craftsmen, had greatly encouraged
the production of metal-work; and though changes in design resulted,
the spiral patterns characteristic of Celtic art were retained for a
considerable length of time--longer in fact than in any other quarters.
It is unfortunate, however, that while a number of objects of early
Christian art from Ireland and the Scottish highlands have survived,
there is scarcely a single article of jewellery which is prior in date
to about the ninth century A.D.
The chief personal ornaments belonging to this later period, i.e.
the ninth century onwards, are a number of remarkable objects known
as Celtic brooches. The Celtic brooch, as far as its origin and
development are concerned, shows no kinship with the bow or disc-shaped
brooches already described, though, like them, it probably originated
among the primitive Celts of the Danubian region. One theory derives its
evolution from what is known as a ring-pin, that is a simple pin, the
head of which, primarily solid, was afterwards pierced and fitted with
a ring, which in course of time increased in size and became highly
ornamented. Another theory traces the Celtic brooch from a combination
of a long pin with the ancient dress fasteners--penannular rings
furnished with knobs--such as are found in prehistoric graves, and are
even now worn by the natives of West Africa. This penannular brooch has
been found not only in Scotland and Ireland, but as far east as Livonia,
and is actually still in use in Algeria at the present day. Its
peculiarity consists in the great size of its pin--one in the British
Museum measures 22½ inches--the length of the pin being supposed to
have corresponded to the rank of its owner.[24] In some of the earlier
forms the ring is of the same breadth all round, and merely cut across
in one place for the passage of the pin. But as a rule this penannular
ring terminates in knobs, and when the pin which travels round the ring
has pierced the portions of the garments it is intended to unite, the
ring is pushed a little to one side and prevented by the terminal knobs
from becoming unloosened.[25]
[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.)
The developments in the form of this brooch show its evolution from a
penannular to an annular ring. In some--probably the earliest--examples,
the ring and the head of the pin terminate in bulbous knobs, or in
spherical ends ornamented with Celtic designs and animals' heads. In
others the ends of the rings and the pin-heads are broadened, in order
to provide space for an elaborate surface decoration of interlaced work
and zoomorphic and anthropomorphic designs similar to those upon the
Irish manuscripts. Finally, the opening is closed and the ring becomes
annular.
The finest examples of these brooches are preserved in the museum of the
Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, the National Museum of Antiquities of
Scotland in Edinburgh, and the British Museum. Among the earliest--which
are not, however, prior to the later Anglo-Saxon period, and make their
appearance about the ninth century--are those with a plain penannular
ring, formed of a solid cylindrical rod of silver, terminating with
bulbous knobs furnished with expansions, and often covered with a
peculiar prickly ornamentation like thistle-heads. Specimens of this
style of brooch have been found in Ireland, Scotland, and in the north
of England.
The simplest of the silver penannular brooches with discoidal
terminations in the museum at Edinburgh is one from Croy in
Inverness-shire. It has ends expanding into circular discs with amber
settings. The most elaborate, one of two known as the Cadboll brooches,
found at Rogart in Sutherlandshire, has four raised heads of birds,
two upon the circumference of each disc, and two upon the ring. The
collection in the Royal Irish Academy contains several splendid brooches
of a similar type, notably the Kilmainham brooch from Kilmainham, Co.
Dublin, the surface of which is ornamented with compartments of thin
plates of gold tooled with interlaced patterns.
The terminations of the penannular ring soon become so expanded that
they fill up exactly half the ring. Upon these flattened plaques, which
have just space enough between them for the pin to pass, a serpent or
dragon form is a frequent ornament, as well as the intertwined triple
ornament, or _triquetra_, while the surface is set at intervals with
bosses of amber. The most remarkable examples of this type are the
University brooch in the collection of Trinity College, Dublin, and the
Clarendon brooch found in Co. Kilkenny, and now in the museum of the
Royal Irish Academy.
The main characteristic of the Celtic brooch is that it is penannular,
that is, its ring has an opening, if not real, at least apparent,
between its two ends. For even when the narrow opening left between the
enlarged ends is closed by a bar, or is finally closed altogether, the
flattened plaques are ornamentally treated as if they were still
disunited. Of this class of brooches with continuous rings there have
survived two world-famed examples, one from Ireland and the other from
Scotland. The first of these, known as the Tara brooch, was found in
1850 on the seashore near Bettystown, Co. Louth, and received the title
of "Tara" on account of its beauty, and after the celebrated hill of
that name. It is composed of white bronze thickly gilded. The ring and
expanded head of the pin are divided into a number of panels ornamented
with examples of nearly every technical process, being enriched with
enamel-work, niello, and inlaid stones; while the metal is hammered,
chased, and engraved, and filigreed with extraordinary delicacy. The
enamels, of the cloisonné kind, have been made separately and mounted
like gems. Attached to the brooch on one side is a finely plaited chain;
a similar chain upon the other side has been lost. The reverse of the
brooch is unadorned with settings, but decorated with a divergent spiral
ornament known as the Celtic trumpet pattern, executed with very great
perfection. The probable date of this extraordinary jewel is the tenth
century. It is now the chief treasure of the museum of the Royal Irish
Academy, for which it was bought in 1867 for the sum of £200.
[Illustration: _PLATE XIV_ THE TARA BROOCH
(NATIONAL MUSEUM, DUBLIN)]
The finest after the Tara brooch, and the most famous of Scottish
brooches, is known as the Hunterston brooch. It was found in 1826 on the
estate of Mr. Robert Hunter, of West Kilbride, Ayrshire, and is now in
the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. It is somewhat similar
to the Tara brooch, and of the same gilt metal, but rather less ornate,
and unprovided with enamels, glass pastes, or chain. Its main
ornamentation consists of varieties of interlaced work in fine gold
filigree, of singularly beautiful design and of remarkable execution.
The back is decorated with the trumpet pattern, and engraved with Runic
characters.
The presence of the trumpet pattern upon the backs of these two famous
brooches determines their date as prior to the eleventh century; for the
old Celtic pattern disappears from brooches and from most Irish and all
Scottish metal-work after the year 1000 A.D., and is succeeded by
varieties of interlaced work and zoomorphic designs.[26] The later
Celtic brooches differ besides in form, for the pin is longer in
proportion to the size of the ring, and its head is hinged upon a
constriction of the ring, which itself becomes partly filled up.
[26] Anderson (J.), _Scotland in early Christian times_,
2nd Series. 1881.
The Celtic brooch is distinct in itself, and does not merge into any
other form. It disappears entirely about the thirteenth century, and is
succeeded by a totally different type of brooch, which belongs to the
ornaments of the later Middle Ages.
THE JEWELLERY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
(TENTH TO FIFTEENTH CENTURIES)
CHAPTER XI
MEDIÆVAL JEWELLERY
INTRODUCTION
To the student of jewellery the Middle Ages offer far greater problems
than the periods of classic antiquity. The main reason for this is to be
found in the fact that throughout mediæval and later periods ornaments
were more closely associated with dress, and dress itself became subject
to the most marked changes and constant divergences of fashion. In the
days of antiquity, so far as our knowledge goes, the idea of fashion, in
the present sense of the term, did not exist. But in the Middle Ages, as
Luthmer points out, it becomes an important factor in the history of
civilisation. The duration of each prevalent fashion tended to become
shorter and shorter, and the new mode was usually an absolute contrast
to the preceding one. Though ornaments, owing to their higher material
value, did not alter with each successive change in dress, nevertheless
they underwent rapid variations of style.
The custom of burying objects in graves, which continued for a
considerable time after the introduction of Christianity, affords a
tolerably clear idea of the various ornaments worn during the earlier
periods of the Middle Ages. Coming to a later period, from the time of
the first Crusade onwards, discoveries in the graves are extremely
rare, and one has to look in many directions for information respecting
the articles then in use. Though there seems to have been an immense
production of personal ornaments throughout the whole of Europe, their
intrinsic value has been too great to allow of their preservation; and
the artistic qualities of those that have survived cause one to regret
all the more the wholesale destruction that must have occurred. The
jewels of the period are, in fact, so few in number, and furnish such
striking varieties, that it is impossible to give an exhaustive synopsis
of the different changes that took place in their form. The utmost that
can be attempted is to take single characteristic pieces and allow them
to stand as types of the whole epoch.
Personal ornaments at this time began to have a wider significance than
that of being merely decorations pleasant to the eye. Their material
value comes more in the foreground. They began to form the nucleus of
family and household treasures. The uncertain conditions of life made
it desirable for the individual to have his most precious possessions
in a portable form. An unfortunate war or royal displeasure might cost
a prince or baron his land or his castles; but his movable goods,
consisting of precious stones and gold and silver ornaments, were not
so easily exposed to the vagaries of his superiors. Thus the numerous
inventories of household goods that have come down from those times show
an astounding increase in the matter of jewels and treasures among the
great and lesser grandees, both secular and ecclesiastical; while there
is a corresponding advance at the same time in craftsmanship. To this
change in the significance of ornaments is to be attributed their rarity
in graves. Jewellery had, in fact, assumed the character of money passed
from hand to hand, and was constantly, so to speak, recoined; for even
if held in steadfast possession it had to submit to changes of fashion
and undergo frequent resetting.[27] Particularly was this the case at
the period of the Renaissance, when almost everything Gothic was
remodelled.
[27] Luthmer (F.), _Gold und Silber_, p. 50.
Tombs, then, supply little or no information; and for the present
purpose one may make shift to use the chance descriptions of romancers,
and such pictorial representations of jewellery as are presented by
effigies on brasses, tombstones, and other monumental sculpture, and
also by illuminated manuscripts. Monumental effigies show a number of
accurately executed personal ornaments, which, belonging as they do
mainly to sovereigns and individuals of wealth and distinction, may be
taken as the highest types of those then worn. The miniatures and
decorations of manuscripts executed towards the end of the period under
review also afford considerable assistance; for illuminators were
intensely fond of introducing jewels among the plants, flowers, birds,
and butterflies minutely depicted on ornamental borders. The inventories
of personal effects made for various purposes, and often full of
graphic details, throughout the whole of the period supply absolutely
trustworthy evidence as to contemporary ornaments. Pictures, which are
among the chief sources of information, are not at one's disposal until
towards the termination of this epoch, but such as were produced during
the later Gothic style, particularly in Italy, Germany, and the Low
Countries, furnish numerous examples of jewellery painted with loving
care and minute detail.
Even from these sources of information, however, one could form but an
inadequate idea of the precise character of mediæval jewellery. But,
while the various reasons mentioned have resulted in the general
destruction of articles made for secular use, among precious objects
consecrated to religious uses a small number of personal ornaments have
been preserved. This may be due, perhaps, to the sanctity of the places
containing them, or perhaps to the precautions of their guardians,
who have hidden them in time of trouble. They have survived many and
strange vicissitudes, and their safety is now secured by a new-created
archæological value, in place of the religious devotion which was
their former guardian. In the treasury--an edifice attached to the
church--there was kept in early times, among the vestments and plate
used in its services, a vast collection of reliquaries and jewels
gradually brought together, and preserved as memorials of the piety of
the faithful. In numerous cases the treasury must have constituted a
veritable museum, exhibiting examples of jewellery of each successive
style. Some idea can be formed of the immense scope, as well as of
the magnificence of its contents, from the early inventories which
archæologists of recent years have taken pains to gather together and
publish.
The relative abundance of jewellery of Merovingian and Frankish times,
and the great rarity of jewellery from the ninth century onwards, are
phenomena observable in every museum. The reason for this lies in the
fact that until the time of Charlemagne (742-814) the dead were buried
with their weapons and with every article of jewellery. The Emperor
forbade this mainly as a heathen practice, but largely because he saw
the disadvantage of so many costly objects being withdrawn from
circulation, with consequent loss to the national resources.
This almost complete absence of examples renders it difficult to
estimate precisely the style of ornaments then in use. But as far as can
be judged, Byzantine influence seems to have affected all forms of
jewellery. It is known, at all events, that until about the twelfth
century active commercial transactions between France and Germany on the
one hand, and Byzantium on the other, were carried on by way of Venice.
Not only did Byzantine workmen settle in the great seaport of the
Adriatic, but imitations of work from the Eastern Roman provinces were
probably made there at an early date by native artists. Such traffic
appears to have been particularly active during the Carlovingian period;
while the close friendship of Charlemagne with Haroun al-Raschid, the
celebrated caliph of the Saracens, renders it further probable that
models of Oriental art abounded in the West in the ninth century. These
were not merely confined to articles of jewellery and other goldsmith's
productions, but included also sumptuous dress materials interwoven with
threads of gold, embroideries studded with gems and pearls, and other
objects which the splendour of the rulers of the West and the princes of
the Church borrowed from the magnificence prevalent in the East and at
the Byzantine Court.[28]
[28] Luthmer, _op. cit._, p. 72.
The Eastern influence which during the fourth and fifth centuries had
come westwards by way of Byzantium, and had acquired new power owing to
the sovereignty of the Arabs in Spain and Sicily during the eighth and
ninth centuries, increased considerably at the time of the Crusades. The
knights and princes of the West brought back not only impressions of
culture from Syria and Palestine, but also actual specimens of gold
ornaments and precious stones. There then began an invasion of skilled
workmen from the towns of Asia Minor, and a regular importation of such
treasures by the merchants of the Italian republics, to wit, Venice,
Genoa, and Pisa, who, under the banner of the Cross, re-established
their trade with the East.[29]
[29] _Ibid._, p. 50.
Until about the twelfth century ornaments followed for the most part the
style of those in use in the Eastern Roman provinces. Some were adorned
with cloisonné enamel introduced from Byzantium, and first executed by
Continental workmen about the eighth century. Cloisonné, however, was,
in turn, abandoned for champlevé enamel, the manufacture of which upon
the Lower Rhine had been encouraged by the Church, through the
instrumentality of the Greek monks.
By the beginning of the twelfth century, the West seems to have become
lastingly independent of the East, even with regard to its ornaments, as
may be inferred from various remarkable productions in gold and silver,
and particularly in gilded copper adorned with champlevé enamel, such as
shrines and other sacred objects. Many of these are still preserved in
the ecclesiastical treasuries of Germany, while museums at home and
abroad all possess beautiful examples.
Though the personal ornaments of this period are now almost entirely
lost to us in the original, there has yet been preserved a treasure of
inestimable value in the form of a technological manual handed down
from the Middle Ages. The work referred to is the famous treatise of
Theophilus entitled _Schedula Diversarum Artium_, which describes the
technical processes of almost all the industrial arts cultivated eight
centuries ago--the treatise being written shortly before the year
1100.[30] After describing his workshop, Theophilus mentions his tools,
and proceeds to describe minutely the various processes necessary for
the metal-worker to understand; and shows how the goldsmith was required
to be at the same time a modeller, sculptor, smelter, enameller,
jewel-mounter, and inlay-worker. Altogether, to judge from the
directions there given, more especially those relating to the technical
work of the goldsmiths, these _Schedulæ_ would seem to reflect the
ancient knowledge and practices of Byzantine workmen, of which, however,
the goldsmiths of the twelfth century appear to have become completely
independent.
[30] Ilg (A.), _Theophilus Presbyter_, p. xliii.
The perfection of artistic work attained by the monasteries led to the
production of sumptuous objects to meet the requirements of the Church
in connection with its services, while costly shrines were made to
contain the numerous relics brought home by pilgrims from the Holy Land.
During the period of the Romanesque and early Gothic styles personal
ornaments became objects of lesser importance than articles for
ecclesiastical use.[31] The enamel-work for the decoration of ornaments
was mostly executed at Limoges, which was then rising to importance as
the chief centre for the production of enamels. The process employed
was champlevé, generally upon copper. Such ornaments as buckles, and
brooches or morses, for the belts of knights or the vestments of
ecclesiastics, were produced in considerable numbers at Limoges, and
found their way all over the north-west of Europe. The trade-guilds of
Limoges were probably more active in this kind of enamel than those
situated upon the banks of the Rhine, whose work seems to have been
devoted principally to shrines and objects for the use of the Church.
Ornaments of the above types were executed during the greater part of
the twelfth century and throughout the thirteenth, but their manufacture
ceased in the century following, when Limoges was sacked by the Black
Prince.
[31] Cunynghame (H. H.), _European enamels_, p. 69.
From the beginning of the thirteenth century a change takes place with
the appearance of the Gothic style. Forms become slighter and more
elegant, and exhibit greater delicacy and detail in their workmanship.
Hitherto goldsmith's work, however beautiful from the cumulative effect
of precious stones and enamels, was little more than conventional, nay,
almost barbaric, in its representations of the human figure; but the
revival in the art of figure sculpture led to a considerable use being
made of the human figure executed in full relief. Just as in the
Romanesque period, so during the time when Gothic art reigned supreme,
architecture left its impress on every work of art; and jewellery and
other goldsmith's work, as well as ivories, seals, and even shoes,
were ornamented with the designs of Gothic architecture and with
pierced open-work patterns, like the window tracery of the great
cathedrals--termed "Paul's windows" by the masses. Improved skill in
design and workmanship became incompatible with the retention of the
older and coarser enamel-work, and without relinquishing a medium which
by the brilliancy of its colouring was eminently suited to the works of
the goldsmith, the thirteenth-century craftsman obtained the desired
result by the use of translucent enamel upon metal, usually silver,
chased and modelled in low relief.
The beauty of this _basse-taille_ enamel, producing, as it were,
transparent pictures, enabled the artist frequently to dispense with
coloured gems, and retain only pearls, whose delicate hues harmonised
better with his work. Occasionally, however, pearls, precious stones,
and translucent enamels were employed together with brilliant effect.
Gothic ornaments of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries show a
peculiar love for figurative and architectural motives which exhibit
astonishing technique and beauty of form. Towards the middle of the
fourteenth century there came into use enamel on full relief (_émail en
ronde bosse_). In the inventories of the time, where it is frequently
mentioned, this enamel, usually opaque white, is termed _émail en
blanc_. So charming was the contrast of white, marble-like figures by
the side of gold, bright coloured stones, and polychrome enamels, that
for upwards of three centuries goldsmiths continued to apply this
species of enamel to jewels. It was particularly characteristic of the
fifteenth century. Several brooches ornamented with it will be referred
to later (p. 143); but the most remarkable example of its use is the
wonderful votive jewel of French workmanship termed "Das Goldene
Rössel," in the treasury of the abbey church of Altoetting, in Bavaria,
which dates from about 1400.[32] The minute repoussé figures on
sixteenth-century jewels were usually coated with white enamel; and
jewellery _émaillée de blanc_ is often alluded to in inventories. This
species of enamel was discarded in the seventeenth century, when figures
in relief went out of fashion for jewellery.
[32] _Kunstdenkmale des Königreiches Bayern_, I, iii, p. 2364. 1903.
Though towards the close of the Middle Ages the art of cutting precious
stones and even diamonds was certainly practised, yet it is to be
observed that throughout the whole period jewellery is set as a rule
with stones _en cabochon_, i.e. with their surfaces rounded and polished
in a convex shape, but not faceted. The stone treated thus preserves its
own character and individuality; and much of the charm of early
jewellery is due to this very fact.
From the middle of the thirteenth century enamel in general, though
applied to jewels of commoner kinds, is chiefly limited to the more
sumptuous ornaments of the clergy. But with the beginning of the
fourteenth century the delight in jewellery enriched with enamels and
precious stones is again revealed in the costumes of the laity. At the
French Court of John II (_le Bon_, d. 1364) and Charles V (d. 1380),
where the princes of the royal blood strove to outrival one another in
luxurious display, personal adornments attained an extraordinary degree
of splendour, and were worn to an excess of ostentation.[33]
[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.
This extravagance of fashion declined for a time owing to the wars
with England, but attained its full development in the dress of the
Burgundian Court. The splendour of the Burgundian dukes, outshining that
of their feudal lieges the kings of France, and casting into the shade
the rude grandeur of the German emperors, gave a new impetus to the use
of articles for personal decoration, and for a time set the fashion for
every country of northern Europe in all matters of style as well as of
ornament. Outside of Italy, which perhaps excelled in point of culture,
the Court of the dukes of Burgundy during the fifteenth century was the
richest and most luxurious in all Europe. The sway of this powerful
House extended over the Low Countries, whose ports after Venice were the
centres of Oriental commerce and whose inland towns, such as Arras,
Brussels, and Ghent, vied with one another in weaving the products of
the East into all manner of rich stuffs. Not only silks, but pearls and
precious stones of all descriptions, found an entrance through the great
port of Bruges; and hardly a garment is depicted by the Flemish masters
which, particularly in the case of the ecclesiastics, is not thick-sewn
with Oriental pearls and stones. A survey of records containing
descriptions of personal property,[34] and an examination of
contemporary pictures--always the most fascinating document in regard to
personal ornament--reveal a widespread luxury. Not only at Court, but in
the everyday life of street and mart, costumes formed of magnificent
stuffs were habitually worn, which required to be set off by jewels of
an equally rich description. The warmth of the Italian climate demanded
no such wealth of apparel as was essential to comfort in the more
northerly countries; hence profusion of personal ornament was less
generally indulged in throughout Italy during the same period. This
special love of jewellery and consequent taste and skill acquired by the
goldsmiths was shared by the painters of the day. With a high degree of
finish and brilliancy, they introduced into their pictures faithful
representations of all the rich ornaments then in vogue. Unfortunately
actual examples of the splendid jewels of this time are now of the
utmost rarity, but such as have survived, chiefly in the form of rich
enamelled brooches, reflect in their execution the technical perfection
and in their design the whole-hearted realism which display themselves
to the full in the paintings of the early Flemish school.
[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.
[Illustration: Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, made in
1432 by John Peutin of Bruges, jeweller to Philip the Good, Duke
of Burgundy. (From the portrait of Baldwin de Lannoy by John van
Eyck at Berlin.)]
CHAPTER XII
MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND
A few brooches and finger rings are almost the only surviving examples
of English jewellery of the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. Yet
there is evidence from existing records of an abundance of the most
beautiful objects as accumulated in the ecclesiastical treasuries, and
the great shrines, like that of St. Thomas of Canterbury, or of Our Lady
of Walsingham Priory, which not even the Santa Casa at Loreto, or the
shrine of St. James at Compostella, could surpass in renown, or equal in
the reception of rich and costly gifts. Vast quantities of jewelled
objects, which must have been in great part native productions, have
also been tabulated in the inventories of our monarchs, princes, guilds,
and corporations. Judging from extant examples of English painted glass,
sculpture, and particularly embroidery, some estimate can be formed of
the high quality of the goldsmiths' work, which was scarcely excelled in
the Middle Ages by that of any other country in Europe. The English
goldsmiths, in fact, after the Norman Conquest seem to have lost none
of the skill which is displayed on their earlier productions.
[TN: no footnote marker in the text for this footnote]
De Mély and Bishop, _Bibliographie générale des
inventaires imprimés_, 1892-95.
A love of finery seems to have characterised the Court of William the
Conqueror and his successors. The jewellery of the ladies became
exceedingly extravagant, and is bitterly inveighed against by the
religious satirists. Neckam, an Anglo-Latin poet, towards the close of
the twelfth century, accuses them of covering themselves with gold and
gems and of perforating their ears in order to hang them with jewels.
Henry I had the tastes of a collector. That he collected gems is known
from a letter written by a prior of Worcester to Edmer, Anselm's
biographer, in which he suggests that for money Henry might be persuaded
to part with some pearls.[35] King John was greatly attached to his
jewels, and their loss in the Wash is commonly supposed to have hastened
his death. The record is preserved concerning the loss on an earlier
occasion of certain of his precious stones "which we are wont to wear
round our neck." The stones must have been credited with miraculous
powers, for their finder was very liberally rewarded.[36] Henry III, one
of the most indigent of monarchs, made such extravagant presents of
jewellery to his wife, that he was afterwards obliged to pawn not only
his regalia, but a considerable portion of the jewels and precious
stones accumulated at the shrine of Edward the Confessor at Westminster
Abbey.
[35] Bateson (M.), _Mediæval England_, p. 13.
[36] _Ibid._, p. 148.
Dating first from about this period are a number of inventories of
personal ornaments; and it is by a perusal of the inventories of the
most wealthy, and particularly those of sovereign princes, that an
estimate can be obtained of the nature of every type of ornament in use
at the period, in its most elaborate form. Among the earliest and most
important royal inventories that have been published are those preserved
in the Wardrobe Account (_Liber Quotidianus_) of Edward I, for the year
1299.[37] The jewels (_jocalia_) include a large number of morses or
clasps (_firmacula_) given by the king to bishops, and restored after
their deaths, and similar objects offered by the king or queen to
various shrines; while among other jewels are brooches or nouches
(noucheæ), many rings (_anuli_), a pendant (_pendulum_), belt (_zona_),
bracelet (_braccale_), and baldrick (_baudre_). About this time masses
of precious stones, the spoils of the Crusades, began to find their way
into this country, and to be employed for "broidering" or sewing upon
the garments. Edward II and his extravagant favourites, such as the
worthless Piers Gaveston, loaded themselves with precious stones. Lists
of jewels belonging to Gaveston on his attainder in 1313,[38] and to the
king in 1324, show the magnificence of their ornaments, and the vast
sums at which they were valued. The king's jewels,[39] described in
considerable detail, are inventoried under the following headings:
(_a_) Stones and other objects, (_b_) Crowns of gold and silver,
including _cercles_ and _chapeletz_, (_c_) Brooches (_fermails_)
of gold, (_d_) _Fleures de liz_, (_e_) Rings (_anelx_) of gold,
(_f_) Girdles (_ceintres_) and diadems (_tressoures_). From this time
onward there is an increase of such documents and of wills, and also of
sumptuary laws specially connected with personal ornaments.
[37] Published by the Society of Antiquaries in 1789. pp. 332-353.
[38] Rymer, _Foedera_, II, 1, pp. 203-205.
[39] _Kalendars and Inventories of the Exchequer_, III, p. 137.
The brilliant reign of Edward III[40] was favourable to the full display
of jewellery. New luxuries were imported in great abundance, and there
was hardly a lady of position who had not in her possession some portion
of the spoils of plate and jewels from cities beyond the sea; while
those who, like the Knight of Chaucer, had been at Alexandra "when it
was won," returned with cloth of gold, velvets, and precious stones. In
the thirty-seventh year of this reign (1363) the Parliament held at
Westminster enacted several sumptuary laws against the extravagant use
of personal adornment. These state what costume is suited to the
various degrees of rank and income, and are of value for the information
they supply on the prevailing fashions in jewellery. Restrictions of
this kind, re-enacted from time to time, and apparently of little
effect, seem to have been intended not so much to prevent the
gratification of an instinctive desire for bravery and splendour, as to
make different classes proclaim their rank and station by their dress.
[40] See list of his jewels in _Inventories of the Exchequer_, III,
p. 166, and his Great Wardrobe Accounts (_Archæologia_, XXXI, p. 55).
Chaucer in the Prologue of his _Canterbury Tales_ affords in a charming
manner additional information about the personal ornaments of the
different grades of English society of his time. He gives detailed
description of the brooch of the yeoman and the nun, and pictures the
merchant with his richly clasped shoes, the squire with short knife and
gypcière (purse) at his girdle, the carpenter's wife with her collar
fastened by a brooch as "broad as the boss of a buckler," and various
tradesmen who, in spite of sumptuary laws, wore pouches, girdles, and
knives of silver:--
Hir knives were ychaped not with bras
But all with silver wrought ful clene and wel
Hir girdeles and hir pouches every del.
The passion for personal ornaments, or "bravouries" as they were termed,
reached its zenith in England during the reign of the elegant and
unfortunate Richard II, whose courtiers outvied one another in such
extravagances. An anonymous writer of the period quoted by Camden in his
_Remaines concerning Britain_ speaks of hoods, even those worn by men of
moderate means, as commonly set with gold and precious stones, while
"their girdles are of gold and silver, some of them worth twenty marks."
The king, in constant want of money, was obliged on several occasions to
deposit the royal jewels with the Corporation of London as security for
loans, and detailed lists of the objects selected for the purpose are
preserved in the inventories of the Exchequer, and among the city
archives.
In spite of attempted restrictions, and notwithstanding the disastrous
Wars of the Roses, immense demands appear to have been made upon the
productive powers of the jewellers throughout the whole of the fifteenth
century. The remarkable list of Henry IV's jewels in the inventories of
the Exchequer, and the most important of royal English inventories of
the Middle Ages, that taken after the death of Henry V in 1422 (_Rotuli
Parliamentorum_, IV, pp. 214-241), serve to show that until the end
of the century, which may serve as the termination of the period,
extraordinary extravagance in the style and nature of ornaments as
well as of costume was the order of the day.
Every one who had acquired wealth, or even a modest competence only,
displayed a magnificence far beyond his means. It was a time when wealth
was required in a compact and tangible form. Owners did not hesitate to
melt down their jewels when desirous of employing them for other
purposes. The change of taste which shortly came about tended towards
similar destruction; while the Wars of the Roses involved the breaking
up of much that was most sumptuous in material and beautiful in
workmanship.
* * *
Throughout the whole of the Christian Middle Ages the highest efforts
of the goldsmith were directed to the enrichment of the Church and the
adornment of its ministers, and the magnificence which the ritual of
the Church fostered found expression in the jewelled ornaments of
ecclesiastic vestments. In Norman times ecclesiastical jewellery was
extremely luxurious and costly, and the illuminations of the period show
the cope and chasuble richly bordered with precious stones. St. Thomas à
Becket wore an extraordinary profusion of jewels, and descriptions are
preserved of the magnificence of his own person and of his attendants
during a progress he once made through the streets of Paris. Innocent
III, memorable in this country as the Pope to whom the pusillanimous
John surrendered his crown, is recorded to have commented on the
richness of the costumes and ornaments of the English clergy, with a
hint at the possibility of extracting further sums for the increase of
the papal revenue. The early inventories all record the splendour of the
vestments used in public worship, and show how pearls, precious stones,
and even ancient cameos, all rendered more beautiful by exquisite
settings, were employed for their enrichment. No bishop, indeed, was
suitably equipped without a precious mitre with delicate goldsmith's
work and inlaid gems, without a splendid morse or brooch to fasten his
cope, and without a ring, set with an antique gem or a stone _en
cabochon_, to wear over his embroidered glove.
Of all these rich ornaments scarcely any examples have survived save a
number of rings recovered from the graves of ecclesiastics. All the more
precious, therefore, are the jewelled ornaments bequeathed in 1404 by
William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, to New College, Oxford, where
they are still preserved as relics of its munificent founder. These
unique examples of mediæval jewellery date from the closing years of
the fourteenth century--the period of transition from Decorated to
Perpendicular architecture: a time when Gothic art had reached its
climax; and not only the architect, but the painter and the goldsmith
were still devoting their utmost efforts on behalf of the Church, the
centre of the whole mediæval system.
[Illustration: _PLATE XV_ WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM'S JEWELS NEW COLLEGE,
OXFORD]
The New College jewels originally decorated William of Wykeham's
precious mitre (_mitra pretiosa_). Portions of the groundwork of the
mitre sewn with seed pearls, and its original case of _cuir bouilli_
or boiled leather, stamped with fleurs-de-lis and bound with iron
straps, are still preserved in the College. Among the jewelled
fragments are hinged bands of silver gilt, formed of plates of
basse-taille enamel representing animals and grotesques, which alternate
with settings of dark blue pastes and white crystals surrounded by
radiating pearls. These bands probably went round the lower part of the
mitre, and also perhaps ran up the middle of it, before and behind. The
crests of the mitre were edged with strips of exquisitely chased
crocketing in gold. The other fragments include two rosettes of
beautifully executed Gothic foliation set with white crystals, together
with two quatrefoils in silver gilt and a cruciform gold ornament set
with turquoises.
The chief treasure of the New College collection is an exquisite gold
jewel, a monogram of the Blessed Virgin, the patron saint of the
"College of St. Mary of Winton in Oxford." It is a crowned Lombardic M;
and might be the rich capital of some mediæval manuscript, with its
gorgeous colouring faithfully translated into gold, enamel, pearls, and
precious stones. In the open parts of the letter are figures of the
Virgin and the Angel of the Annunciation in full relief, the angel's
wings being covered with enamel of translucent green. The space above
the head of each figure is occupied with delicate architectural work of
open cuspings. In the centre of the jewel is a large ruby in the form of
a vase, from which spring three lilies with white enamelled blossoms. On
each side of the vase are three small emeralds. Remarkable taste is
shown in the arrangement of the precious stones: fine emeralds and
rubies, _en cabochon_, mounted alternately in raised settings round the
jewel. Two stones, a ruby on the left and an emerald on the right, are
missing. The rest of the mountings are Oriental pearls somewhat
discoloured by age (Pl. XV, 1).
It is generally considered that the jewel adorned and occupied a central
place on the mitre, and its dimensions (2 by 2¼ inches) render its
employment in that position probable. As, however, there are no
indications of such an ornament on contemporary representations of
mitres, and above all on the mitre figured on the founder's own tomb at
Winchester, there remains the possibility of the jewel having been
employed as a brooch or nouche on some other part of the vestment.
This remarkable jewel stands quite alone in point of excellence. It goes
far to justify the contention that English jewellers at this period, as
well as in Saxon times, equalled, if they did not outstrip, the
craftsmen of other nations in the successful cultivation of the
goldsmith's art.
[Illustration: Interior of a jeweller's shop. From _Kreuterbuch_
(Frankfort, 1536).]
CHAPTER XIII
THE MYSTERY OF PRECIOUS STONES
One of the most curious and interesting facts in connection with the
jewellery of the Middle Ages is the peculiar respect which seems to have
been paid to precious stones. "In a scientific age," says Mr. Paton, "it
is difficult to apprehend and sympathise with the state of mind which
endowed natural objects with the properties of charms and fetiches.
Before it was the habit to trace phenomena to natural causes, faith in
occult powers was strong, and credulity exercised a marked influence on
the habits and actions of the people."[41] Precious stones, on account
of the mystery and romance attaching to most things of Eastern origin,
had long attracted to themselves a superstitious reverence; so that
their choice and arrangement, which appear to us merely arbitrary
nowadays, had in the Middle Ages a distinct meaning consecrated by
traditions dating back from very ancient times. Every stone, like those
which enriched the breast-plate of the High Priest, and those which in
St. John's vision formed the foundations of the Heavenly Jerusalem, was
supposed to possess special powers and virtues. Abundant proof of this
is exhibited in the mediæval inventories, where the beauty or rarity of
a stone counted for infinitely less in the estimation of its value than
the reputed talismanic virtue, such as the toadstone, for example, was
supposed to possess. The mediæval literature of precious stones,[42]
wherein is expounded their medicinal virtues or their supernatural
powers in baffling evil spirits, is based on a classical poem of about
the fourth century A.D., entitled _Lithica_, which claims to be a
statement of their magic properties made by the seer Theodamas to the
poet Orpheus. Similar belief in the virtues of precious stones was still
in existence in the sixteenth century, and finds an exponent in Camillus
Leonardus, physician to Cæsar Borgia, in his work entitled _Speculum
Lapidum_, published at Venice in 1502. Even as late as the following
century the use of precious stones as charms was more than half
sanctioned by the learned, and in his _Natural History_ Bacon lays it
down as credible that "precious stones may work by consent upon the
spirits of men to comfort and exhilarate them." The learned lawyer and
philosopher, indeed, was not in this much superior to the plain and
simple folk who still imagined that every precious stone had some mystic
value communicable to the wearer. About the same time De Boot, or
Boethius, the learned physician to the Emperor Rudolf II, published his
famous Lapidary, which Mr. C. W. King recommends as a work worthy of
especial study for the properties of stones, and mentions how it "draws
a distinction that curiously illustrates the struggle then going on
between traditional superstition and common sense."[43]
[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.
With the advance of Christianity the representation of the subjects of
pagan mythology was forbidden by law; but the old ideas were retained
for many years, and small objects like cameos or intaglios were carried
about concealed upon the person. Later on, when all knowledge of
classical art had sunk into oblivion, such stones became prized not only
for the subjects engraved on them, which their mediæval owner seldom
understood, but also for the fact that they were supposed to possess
special talismanic virtues. The majority of these gems were mounted as
rings or as seals of secular and ecclesiastical personages of rank.
Preserved among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum is a
thirteenth-century MS. (quoted by Mr. Wright in _Archæologia_, Vol.
XXX), which contains instructions for the wearing of various stones, and
for the composition of the different metals of the rings in which they
were to be set. A proof of the firm establishment of the Romans in
Britain is afforded by the number of their gems brought to light in
mediæval times; while the decay of the art of gem-engraving in the
Middle Ages is shown by the fact that the Harleian MS. always refers to
these gems as objects "to be found and not made.... A stone engraved in
one manner you should suspend about the neck, as it enables you to find
treasures, the impression in wax of another stone will cause men to
speak well of you." The engraving of a dove with a branch of olive in
its mouth should be mounted in a silver ring, and another gem should be
placed in a ring of lead.
From these and similar writings it is clear that one of the objects
aimed at by the mediæval authors was to define the different virtues of
the sigils engraved upon precious stones. Such ideas, not previously
unknown, as, for example among the Gnostics, were no doubt stimulated by
the Crusades, whereby the study of alchemy and the interest in Oriental
mysteries became spread throughout Europe. Leonardus, as late as the
sixteenth century, observes that stones "if engraved by a skilful
person or under some particular influence, will receive a certain
virtue.... But if the effect intended by the figure engraved be the same
as that produced by the natural quality of the stone, its virtue will be
doubled, and its efficacy augmented." We see thus that the talismanic
ideas respecting precious stones were attached as much to their
engraving as to the stones themselves.
Owing to the complete decline of the glyptic art in the Middle Ages,
antique cameos and intaglios, on account of some fancied assimilation
in subject or idea to Christian symbolism, were occasionally used for
devout subjects. Together with the general ignorance of classical
art, and the consequent attempts that were made to give the pagan
representation upon antique gems a Christian signification--frequently
in a very forced and curious manner--there appears to have been a
certain appreciation of their beauty. When small relics, such as
particles of the wood of the cross, or larger relics, as bones of the
saints, were enclosed either in portable reliquaries or in costly
shrines, such receptacles were not infrequently encrusted with ancient
cameos and intaglios, as representing the very choicest objects which
the fervent devotion of the age could select for this sacred purpose.
The Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne[44] and the Treasure of
Conques[45] are still enriched with many fine examples of the
gem-engraver's art, and the magnificent gold shrine of Edward the
Confessor in Westminster Abbey, long since despoiled, was formerly
mounted with numerous cameos, all probably antique.[46]
[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.
[Illustration: _PLATE XVI_ ANTIQUE CAMEOS IN MEDIÆVAL SETTINGS]
The history of the glyptic art has been sufficiently encroached upon
here to demonstrate the prominent place occupied by antique gems in
the personal ornaments of the Middle Ages. Their use for signet rings
will be referred to again; but attention must be drawn to the three
most remarkable examples of their application to other articles of
jewellery--the Jewel of St. Hilary and the Cameo of Charles V in the
Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, and the Schaffhausen Onyx, preserved
among the archives of the town of Schaffhausen in Switzerland (Pl. XVI).
The Jewel of St. Hilary contains a fine cameo head in profile of the
Emperor Augustus on a sardonyx. It is enclosed in a frame of silver gilt
set with large rubies, sapphires, and pearls. The jewel was formerly
employed as a pectoral or breast-ornament upon a silver reliquary bust
of St. Hilary preserved in the Treasury of St. Denis. On the dispersal
of the Treasury in 1791, the jewel was removed to the Bibliothèque
Nationale. The framework dates from the twelfth century. It measures
3½ by 2½ inches.[47] The Cameo of Charles V of France, a sardonyx
of three layers, dating from Imperial Roman times, represents a full
length figure of Jupiter. It is mounted in the gold frame in which it
was presented to the Treasury at Chartres by the King. Such prophylactic
verses[48] as are found frequently side by side upon amulets and in
cabalistic formulæ of the Middle Ages, are inscribed round its edge on
a ground of blue and red enamel, together with the opening words of
St. John's Gospel, which were supposed to serve as a protection,
particularly against demons and thunder. The figure of Jupiter with the
eagle probably passed for a representation of the evangelist. At the
lower part is a crowned escutcheon bearing the arms of France, and on
the crown is an inscription recording the presentation of the jewel by
Charles V in the year 1367.[49] This beautiful example of French
jewellery of the fourteenth century is 6 inches in length and 3 in
width.
[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.
Of slightly later date than the Jewel of St. Hilary, and of far more
elaborate workmanship, though perhaps less well known on account of its
somewhat remote situation, is the Schaffhausen Onyx. The stone, a fine
sardonyx, is a Roman cameo of a female figure carrying a cornucopia
and caduceus, and intended to represent Peace. Its setting, a superb
specimen of mediæval goldwork, is mounted with figures of eagles and
lions, chased in full relief and arranged in regular order between high
bezels set with garnets, sapphires, pearls, and turquoises. The outside
measurement of the jewel is 6 by 5 inches, and that of the stone 3½
by 3.[50]
[50] For a full description of this jewel, see a monograph by
J. J. Oeri, entitled _Der Onyx von Schaffhausen._
The large part played by superstition in the ornaments of the Middle
Ages need not be further enlarged on. The virtues of charms were not
only associated with gems and precious stones; for mystic letters,
cabalistic inscriptions, and other devices were among the chief features
of mediæval jewellery. Such devices lingered long after the Renaissance
of learning had partially dispelled the mysticism of the Middle Ages;
while similar superstitions in respect to precious stones are even now
not entirely extinct, in spite of the assurances of modern science.
[Illustration: Gold ring engraved and enamelled with figures of the
Virgin and Child and St. John the Evangelist. Scottish, fifteenth
century (Nat. Mus. of Antiq., Edinburgh).]
CHAPTER XIV
MEDIÆVAL HEAD-ORNAMENTS AND NECKLACES
Head-ornaments from the tenth to the sixteenth century belong for
the most part rather to the general history of costume than to that
of jewellery proper; and it will be unnecessary to follow those
extravagances of fashion which, especially during the fifteenth century,
were presented by the head-dress of women. More germane to the subject
are the fillets, bands, and chaplets worn throughout the Middle Ages by
women when their heads were uncovered, and during a more limited period
by men also. The original form of these was a ribbon, which encircled
the brow, held back the hair from the face, and adjusted the veil; while
wreaths, either of natural flowers or of plain gold, were a frequent
decoration for young women. Hence the bands or chaplets, which took
their motives from those more simple ornaments, were made either wholly
of metal (_cercles_), or of gold flowers sewn upon an embroidered band
(described in inventories as _chapeletz_), both forms being enriched
with pearls and precious stones. The fillet later on became a heavy band
composed of separate pieces of metal joined by hinges, and showed such
close resemblance to the broad belts of the knights, that in the
inventory of Edward II, quoted above, _tressoures_ and _ceintures_ are
entered together under one heading. The wearing of such head-ornaments
was not confined exclusively to the nobility, for the receipt of a sale
of jewels by Agnes Chalke, spicer of London, to a certain John of
Cambridge in 1363, includes a "coronal of gold, wrought with stones,
that is to say, with rubyes, saphirs, emeralds, and pearls."[51]
Exquisite circlets set with these gems are worn by the choir of singing
and music-making angels on the wings of the Van Eycks' famous "Ghent
Altar-piece" in the Berlin Museum. The fillet, whether a complete circle
or hinged, received about the fourteenth century additional enrichments
in the form of trefoils, fleurs-de-lis, crosses, and foliations, erected
on cuspings upon its upper edge. A simple but charming example of a
circlet, dating from the fourteenth century, is preserved in the Musée
du Cinquantenaire at Brussels. It is of silver gilt, formed of hinged
plaques, each mounted with from three to four collets set with pearls,
and with pastes in imitation of precious stones, while additional
ornaments in the form of fleurs-de-lis are fixed erect upon it
(Pl. XVII, 9).
[51] Riley (H. T.), _Memorials of London_, p. 313.
From the diadem of this character originated the coronets worn by those
of high or noble rank; the use of these, amid the ceremonies of later
courts, crystallised into a system of class privilege. Such diadems or
coronets approach the form of the regal crown, which in England, as
early as the eleventh century, was enriched with rays and floriations.
The regal crown, with which we are not immediately concerned,[52] by the
addition of arches, was converted about the fifteenth century into what
is technically known as the "close" crown.
[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_.
Round the helmets of knights in the fifteenth century ornamental wreaths
called _orles_ were worn; these, originally composed of two bands of
silk twisted together were afterwards richly jewelled. One of the most
famous of jewelled hats was that of Charles the Bold, thickly encrusted
with huge pearls and precious stones, which was captured by the Swiss
after his death at the battle of Nancy in 1477.[53]
[53] Lambecius, _Bib. Caes. Vindobon._, II, p. 516; Laborde,
_Ducs de Bourgogne_, Pt. 2, II, p. 113, no. 3100.
Of female ornaments of the same period it need only be stated that
the elaborate head-dresses, such as the _cornette_, _escoffion_, and
_henin_--it is sometimes difficult to imagine how women had sufficient
strength to keep them balanced on their heads--were profusely adorned
with pearls, gold spangles, and precious stones, and in some cases with
crowns or crown-shaped combs of elaborate goldwork enriched with gems.
The Italians, with more refined taste, seem, as will be observed
(p. 171), to have escaped from such extravagances sooner than the rest
of Europe, and to have been content for the most part with a simple
_bandeau_ encircling the forehead.
Among the most interesting varieties of personal ornaments in the Middle
Ages are certain jewels or brooches worn in the hat and known as
_enseignes_. From the lead signs or ornaments worn by pilgrims there was
gradually evolved a special class of jewels on which the great artists
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries exercised their utmost skill,
and which at the present day are among the most highly prized of all
early articles of personal jewellery.
Rivers near large cities have supplied us with much of the knowledge we
possess of the manners and habits of those who in former times dwelt
upon their banks. Whenever dredging or digging disturbs the beds of such
rivers, objects of antiquity, which seem to have gravitated there, are
sure to be discovered. The municipal museum of many a city of ancient
foundation preserves choice works of antiquity recovered from its
river's bed.
Among the most remarkable objects brought to light in this manner are
certain curious mediæval ornaments, which belong to the age that has
bequeathed exceedingly few examples of articles for personal use. The
ornaments referred to are the small badges or signs of lead, given or
sold, as tokens, to mediæval pilgrims to the shrines of saints or
martyrs, and known as "Pilgrims' Signs." They were obtained from the
attendants at shrines and exhibitions of relics, who kept ready a large
variety bearing the effigy or device of some particular saint, or the
symbol that had reference to his acts of worship. Each sign or token was
pierced with holes, or more frequently had a pin cast in one piece with
it, making it available as a brooch. It was thus fastened to the hat or
other portion of the pilgrim's dress as a testimony of his having
visited the particular shrine indicated by the token. These badges,
which date from about the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, were
manufactured at the churches or monasteries to which pilgrimages were
made. Moulds for casting them are preserved in the British Museum and
the Guildhall Museum; and a forge was found at Walsingham Priory where
the sacristan melted the metals employed for their manufacture.[54]
[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.
It will be outside the present purpose to enumerate all the varieties
of form assumed by these interesting and historically most valuable
objects. Important collections of them are preserved in the British
Museum and Guildhall Museum in London, and in the Musée Cluny, Paris
(Pl. XVII, 1-4).
In England the most popular relics were those of Our Lady of Walsingham
Priory, and particularly those of St. Thomas of Canterbury, whose
signs, according to a statement of Giraldus Cambrensis, were worn as
early as the twelfth century. The anonymous author of the supplement
to Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ speaks of the purchase of signs by
Chaucer's party on the occasion of their pilgrimage to Canterbury, and
remarks that on their departure from the Cathedral "they sett their
signys upon their hedes, and som upon their capp." And Erasmus, in his
_Colloquy of the pilgrimage for religion's sake_, notes that pilgrims
were "covered on every side with images of tin and lead." Judging from
the number and variety of the badges relating to the murdered
archbishop, Becket, his shrine must have enjoyed a widespread
popularity, though the scallop-shell of St. James of Compostella was
perhaps more universally recognised as a pilgrim's sign than any other.
These signs or _signacula_ were worn not only on a pilgrimage, but also
formed a customary decoration for the hat. Some, even in early times,
perhaps as early as the thirteenth century, though partaking of a
religious character, do not seem to have had reference to any particular
shrine, and referred simply to incidents in popular religious legends.
Others were merely symbols or emblems; yet, like the majority of
mediæval trinkets, they nearly all displayed religious motives and
were supposed to possess talismanic powers. Louis XI, the cruel and
superstitious King of France, commonly wore such signs, particularly
those of the celebrated Notre-Dame d'Embrun, stuck round his hat; and on
a visit to Henry, King of Castile, he wore, so Philip de Comines informs
us, a very old hat with leaden images upon it.
It is very evident that we have here the origin of the hat-ornaments or
_enseignes_ of gold and silver, and enriched with precious stones and
enamels, which, coming first into use in the fifteenth century, became
extremely popular in the sixteenth, and were worn on almost every man's
hat, and sometimes on those of women, until the middle of the
seventeenth century. Like those obtained at the shrines, they bore at
first the figure of a saint--generally a patron saint--or a figure of
the Virgin. Of signs such as these, some came to represent the actual
badge of the wearer or of some one to whom he was affectionately
attached, while others took the form of badges of livery, and were worn
in the hats of the retainers of great families. Philip de Comines
records that Lord Bourchier, Governor of Calais, 1470, wore a ragged
staff of gold upon his bonnet. This was the badge of the Earl of
Warwick, and all his attendants had ragged staves likewise. A leaden
enseigne of a bear and ragged staff (the House of Warwick), a crowned
ostrich feather (Duke of Norfolk), a hound (Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury),
and a dolphin (badge of the Dauphin--afterwards Louis XI--and his
faction, the Armagnacs), together with others of a similar nature, are
in the British Museum (Pl. XVII, 5-8). The badges of the Kings of
England were employed in the same manner: and among the British Museum
collection is a hart lodged--the badge of Richard II, and in the
Guildhall a broom-pod (_genista_) of the Plantagenets, and a crown of
fleurs-de-lis--the badge of Henry V.
A considerable number of small shield-shaped bronze and copper pendants,
enamelled with coats of arms, and having a ring above for suspension,
seem also to have served as badges. There is the possibility that some
were worn by the servants of nobility as enseignes upon the hat, or
perhaps on the left arm or breast. But the majority appear to have been
employed for the decoration of horse-harness.[55]
[55] Compare, An "Esmail d'Arragon," by A. Van de Put
(_Burlington Magazine_, VIII, p. 421, 1906; X, p. 261, 1907).
[Illustration: _PLATE XVII_ MEDIÆVAL HEAD-ORNAMENTS]
Mediæval hat-badges of gold are of extreme rarity. The Franks
Bequest in the British Museum contains a choice example. It is a
fifteenth-century Flemish jewel of gold, representing a "pelican in her
piety" standing upon a scroll, and set with a ruby and a small pointed
diamond (Pl. XVII, 11). In the Victoria and Albert Museum is a circular
gold enseigne of open-work enriched with Gothic foliations. The outer
rim is set with seven small rubies. In the centre is an antique onyx
cameo representing a lion. It is Spanish work of the second half of the
fifteenth century (Pl. XVII, 10).
These two jewels are clearly hat-ornaments; but it is often difficult
to distinguish between a brooch or _nouche_ intended to be worn upon
the dress and a hat-brooch, though the latter can, as a rule, be
distinguished by its form or by its subject. The enseigne was sometimes
employed like a brooch for fastening a plume decoration, but as a rule
served as an independent ornament, and appears on the paintings,
sculpture, and tapestry of the fifteenth century attached to the side
of the head-gear. It became a jewel of still greater importance in the
sixteenth century, and will be further dealt with among the jewellery of
the Renaissance.
The talismanic properties associated with the _signacula_ procured at
the shrines were extended to many objects of base metal, as brooches and
finger-rings, which had been placed in contact with relics of saints, or
blessed at their shrines. Brooches and rings also of gold and silver
bear talismanic inscriptions. A common inscription is the names of the
Three Kings--as on the Glenlyon brooch--which originated in pilgrimages
to the shrine of the Kings of the East in the church of Sant' Eustorgio
at Milan, or more probably to that in Cologne Cathedral. The names of
the "Three Kings of Collein" were considered to be a charm against
epilepsy or the "falling sickness." Many personal ornaments of base
metal, however, are quite unconnected with any religious practice or
with pilgrims' signs; for objects of pewter are often merely replicas
of more precious jewels in gold and silver, and must have been worn by
the poorer classes. The fact that several are plated or washed with
silver shows that they were intended to pass for the real objects. Yet
they are of considerable importance, since we find among them types of
ornaments which do not exist in the precious metals. It may be suggested
that some were made as models for real articles of jewellery; but we
are, unfortunately, not in possession of evidence (such as can be
produced in connection with the jewellery of the Renaissance) which can
offer any likelihood that this is actually the case with these mediæval
ornaments.
EARRINGS
Though common in the Merovingian and Carlovingian epoch, earrings
appear to have been worn only to a limited extent, and that at the
commencement of the period at present under discussion. Pendants formed
of quadrilateral prisms set on each side with cabochon garnets and hung
with small strings of garnet beads are attached to the ears of the
tenth-century figure of St. Foy in the treasury at Conques; though it is
not impossible that these, like many of the gems that adorn the statue,
may be of earlier workmanship. That the Byzantine style of earring, of
crescent form, was worn during the eleventh and twelfth centuries is
evident from a twelfth-century bronze ewer, in the shape of a head of
a woman, of Flemish work, in the Museum of Budapest.[56] Earrings,
however, enjoyed no great popularity during the Middle Ages, and the
cause of this must be traced to the fashion which prescribed for women
a style of coiffure by which the hair fell down at the sides, or was
covered by a veil, which would have effectively hidden any ornaments
for the ear. It was only at the end of the fourteenth century that
fashion again allowed the hair to be worn high. Pendent rings of gold
for ladies' ears are mentioned in the _Roman de la Rose_, and statues
occasionally exhibit short earrings, pearls attached to the lobe of the
ear, or stones in the form of drops. Earrings, indeed, did not come into
very common use until the close of the fifteenth or the beginning of the
sixteenth century.
[56] Figured in _Exposition de Budapest, 1884, Chefs-d'oeuvre
d'orfévrerie_, I, Pl. I. There is a reproduction of this remarkable
specimen of _Dinanderie_ in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
NECKLACES AND COLLARS
The custom of wearing necklaces and neck-chains was much more limited
during the Middle Ages than it had been in antiquity and at the time of
the great migrations. Women's necklaces can hardly be proved to have
been in general use before the end of the fourteenth century, and during
the Middle Ages seldom attained the exaggerated style they exhibited at
the period of the Renaissance. They consisted mostly of plaited cords of
gold wire, and probably of single or double chains of pearls. These
originally encircled the throat, but at a later date were worn more upon
the breast. Though many forms of personal ornament are mentioned in
early wills and inventories, we rarely meet with a reference to the
necklace until the fourteenth century; nor is it pictured on monumental
effigies or brasses until the beginning of the century following. If
worn at all prior to this date, it must simply have served the purpose
of supporting pendants of various forms known as _pentacols_.
These neck-chains, or collars as they were termed, soon began to receive
additional enrichment, and the inventories of the fifteenth century
contain frequent descriptions of necklets adorned with enamels and
precious stones. Eleanor, Countess of Arundel (1455), bequeathed to her
daughter "a golden collar for the neck, with a jewel set with precious
stones hanging thereat." The fashion for rich necklaces was especially
in vogue at the luxurious Court of the Dukes of Burgundy; nor had the
Court of Richard II been behindhand in the display of this species of
ornament, for the magnificent wedding presents of his wife, Isabella of
France, included a collar of gold set with precious stones of immense
value.
The word _carcanet_ seems to have come into use about this time for rich
necklaces of precious stones, and to have been applied a little later to
the bands of jewels commonly entwined in ladies' hair.
Though never so generally worn as in the sixteenth century, a
considerable number of these jewelled ornaments are represented in the
exquisite paintings of the fifteenth century. One of the most elaborate
of all is the superb gold necklet, brilliantly enamelled with small
and many-coloured flowers, shown on the portrait of Maria, wife of
Pierantonio Baroncelli, in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence, by an unknown
Flemish painter of the latter part of the fifteenth century. Close by,
in the same gallery, is Van der Goes' celebrated triptych, presented to
the Spedale di Santa Maria Nuova by Tommaso Portinari, agent of the
Medici in Bruges. Upon the right wing is Maria, wife of the donor, with
her daughter. The former wears a magnificent necklace of exquisite
design, its interlacing goldwork shaped into the form of roses enamelled
red, white, and blue, each set respectively with a sapphire, a ruby, and
a large pearl. The latter is adorned with a necklace composed of a
double row of pearls connected by oval jewelled ornaments; beneath is
hung a trefoil-shaped pendant set with rubies, to which is attached a
large drop-pearl (p. 117). A precisely similar ornament is seen in
another work by Van der Goes, painted about 1473--the well-known
portrait of Margaret, queen of James III of Scotland, now at
Holyrood.[57] This picture was probably executed in Flanders from
material supplied by the donor, and the artist appears to have adorned
Queen Margaret with the same beautiful necklace, probably of Florentine
workmanship, which he had seen round the neck of Signorina Portinari.
[57] Shaw (H.), _Dresses and decorations_, Pl. 60.
Jane Shore, the beautiful and unfortunate mistress of Edward IV, and
wife of the rich jeweller of Lombard Street, is represented in her two
portraits, one at King's College, Cambridge, and the other at Eton,
wearing elaborate necklaces. Around her throat are two strings of
pearls, with a necklet below of circular pieces of Gothic pattern,
supporting a lozenge-shaped pendant of similar design adorned with
pearls. Among sculptured representations of the necklet the most
interesting is that on the monument of Sir John Crosby (d. 1475) and his
wife in St. Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, where the latter wears a very
handsome necklace of roses, to which is attached a cluster of three
roses with three pendants below. Sir John's collar is somewhat similarly
formed of rosette-shaped ornaments. An early instance of a heavy
neck-chain of gold, worn upon the breast, is to be seen upon the famous
tapestry, considered to represent Henry VI and his Queen, in St. Mary's
Hall, Coventry.
Collars of extraordinary richness seem to have been worn by Henry IV;
for among the miscellaneous documents preserved at St. Paul's
Cathedral[58] is a list of various jewels set with diamonds both large
and small, with balas rubies, sapphires, and clusters of pearls, which
were to be employed for making collars for the king and queen. The
Inventories of the Exchequer contain frequent reference to what is
termed the _Iklyngton Coler_. This magnificent collar, which was
frequently pawned by Henry VI, was enriched with four rubies, four large
sapphires, thirty-two great pearls, and fifty-three pearls of a lesser
sort.[59]
[58] _Hist. MSS. Comm._, IX, p. 56.
[59] _Kalendars and Inventories_, II, p. 165, etc.
In addition to the purely ornamental necklaces, collars or chains of
"livery"--bearing the heraldic devices of the day--were assumed by
various royal and noble families, and were bestowed as marks of favour
or friendship on persons of various ranks, and both sexes, who wore them
as badges of adherence to those families. An instance of the bestowal of
a chain of this kind occurred in 1477 after the siege of Quesnoy by
Louis XI, who, witnessing a great feat of gallantry on the part of Raoul
de Lannoy, is reported to have placed on his neck a chain of great
value, and to have thus wittily addressed him: "Mon ami, vous êtes trop
furieux en un combat; il faut vous _enchaîner_, car je ne veux point
vous perdre, désirant me servir encore de vous plusieurs fois."
Richard II, as shown by the Earl of Pembroke's remarkable picture of
that monarch at Wilton, wore, in addition to his device the white hart,
a collar of broom-pods. Henry IV employed the well-known collar of SS,
derived from his father John of Gaunt. The collar of Edward IV was
composed of two of his badges, the sun in its splendour, and the white
rose; while a third, the white lion of March, was added as a pendant.
Richard III retained the Yorkist collar, substituting for the lion
pendant a boar.[60] Private family collars were also worn, and an early
instance of one occurs in the brass of Thomas Lord Berkeley (1417) in
the church of Wootton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire; the band round the
neck being charged with mermaids, the badge of the Berkeleys.
[60] _Archæologia_, XXXIX, p. 264.
The SS collar is the best known of all. It is composed of the letter S
in gold repeated indefinitely, either fixed on velvet or some material,
or forming the links of a chain. The letters are generally united by
knots; they sometimes terminate with portcullises and have a pendent
rose. The collar is still worn by the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Mayor
of London, and the chief heralds--that belonging to the Lord Mayor being
an original and beautiful example of English jewellery of the sixteenth
century. Despite all that has been written upon the SS collar no
conclusive explanation has been offered as to its origin and
meaning.[61] Several representations of livery collars appear upon
monumental effigies of the latter half of the fifteenth century, and
there is frequent mention of them in the inventories of the same period,
but, with the exception of the SS collar, they are not met with at all
in the sixteenth century.
[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.
[Illustration: Necklace worn by the daughter of Tommaso Portinari in
Van der Goes' triptych in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.]
CHAPTER XV
MEDIÆVAL PENDANTS, ROSARIES, AND POMANDERS
The wearing of religious emblems in the form of pendants by the
Christians of the Middle Ages was possibly, in the first place, the
unconscious perpetuation of pagan superstition. The demand for a
convenient mode of carrying a reliquary may account in some degree for
the use of necklaces in early times.
Relics of the saints and of the Passion of our Lord were most eagerly
sought after by mediæval Christendom, and whenever a relic of unusual
importance was obtained, all the resources of the art of the time were
employed to give it a worthy setting. The most famous of early pendent
reliquaries was that worn by the Emperor Charlemagne, which contained
relics from the Crown of Thorns and the True Cross, presented to him by
Haroun al-Raschid. The reliquary was buried with him in 814, and found
at the opening of his tomb at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1169. In 1804 it was
given to the Emperor Napoleon by the clergy of Aix, and was afterwards
the property of Napoleon III; but it disappeared during the troublous
times that terminated the Second Empire. The relics were enclosed under
a large sapphire magnificently set in gold and precious stones[62]
(Pl. XVIII, 4). Another historical relic of the early Middle Ages was the
enamelled gold cross suspended from a chain, which was stolen from the
tomb of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey in 1685 and given to
James II. It was only lost sight of in the early part of the nineteenth
century.[63]
[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.
Portable reliquaries in former times were often made of two plates of
rock crystal or other transparent stones hinged together so as to form a
box. An exquisite example of this style of ornament, and one of the most
remarkable mediæval jewels, is the so-called reliquary of St. Louis in
the British Museum. It is of gold, set with two large bean-shaped
amethysts which act as covers to an inner case with a lid, enclosing
what purports to be a spike from the Crown of Thorns. The back of this
receptacle, as well as the insides of the covers, is enriched with
minute translucent enamels representing the Crucifixion and other scenes
from the Passion and the life of Christ (Pl. XVIII, 5). The jewel is
said to have been given by St. Louis (who bought the Crown of Thorns
from Baldwin, King of Jerusalem) to a king of Aragon, but the style of
the work is somewhat later than the time of St. Louis, and dates from
about the year 1310. It was formerly in the collection of Baron Pichon,
and was presented to the British Museum by Mr. George Salting in 1902.
The pendent ornaments of the Middle Ages not only served as receptacles
for relics but also took the form of crosses, medallions, votive
tablets, and monograms. Though these do not attain the same importance
as the pendants of the Renaissance, their extraordinary variety is
proved by the inventories of the thirteenth to the fifteenth century,
while their beauty is attested by the few examples that have fortunately
been preserved. Small votive tablets, that is to say diptychs or
triptychs with hinged wings, were exceedingly popular as personal
ornaments, judging by their frequent occurrence in the inventories under
the title of _tableau_ or _tabulet_. They were suspended from the girdle
or neck-chain. Some are painted with delicate translucent enamels,
others contain figures in high relief wrought in metal, or carvings in
boxwood of minute dimensions. The last are generally Flemish, while the
others of which there are several splendid examples in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, are mostly of French or of English workmanship. A very
remarkable silver-gilt pendant in the form of the Devil of temptation,
with the forbidden fruit in one hand and a crozier, signifying power, in
the other, is shown on Plate XIX, 9. It is Burgundian work of the second
half of the fifteenth century, and is the property of Mrs. Percy
Macquoid.
An interesting class of pendants is formed by a somewhat extensive
series of silver and silver-gilt ornaments produced by German craftsmen
of the fifteenth century. The National Museum at Munich, where several
fine examples of this kind are preserved, possesses one of more than
ordinary interest. It is of silver-gilt, about five inches in length,
composed of elaborate Gothic tracery, in shape not unlike the tall
Gothic tabernacles of South Germany, of which that by Adam Kraft in St.
Lawrence's Church at Nuremberg is perhaps the finest example. A niche on
each of its four sides contains the figure of a saint and above, half
hidden among the tracery, are four female figures. The jewel is
surmounted by the Virgin and Child, and has three rings above for
suspension and one below (Pl. XIX, 1). Other examples of South German
goldsmith's work of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century take the
form of small pendent charms picturing some religious theme. The figure
of a saint was naturally a favourite subject, since it was supposed to
possess special prophylactic powers. The variety of the subjects thus
represented can be admirably judged from an important series of such
pendants at South Kensington. In addition to these, which are mostly of
cast silver, other pendants of the same period include silver plaques,
nielloed, engraved, or in relief; and likewise fine cameos or reliefs of
mother-of-pearl, and carvings in ivory and wood, set in coronets of
silver-gilt.
[Illustration: _PLATE XVIII_ MEDIÆVAL PENDANTS (RELIQUARIES, ETC.)]
Mediæval neck-pendants were, as has been observed, known as _pentacols_.
In the inventory of Edward III in 1339[64] we find a pentacol composed
of a large Scotch pearl (_perle d'Escoce_) and an image of Our Lady in
enamel; and "_un pentacol dor od. iiij. petites ameraldes et iiij.
petites rubies environ, et une camahue en mylieu_." In mediæval
inventories and wills the Latin word _monile_ signified not only a
necklace, but jewels hung at the neck. The same term was also employed
for the morse, particularly when the latter had a ring for suspension.
Many pendants generally provided with quatrefoil rings, come from
South Germany (like one shown on Plate XVIII, 1) and especially from
Bohemia--there is a good collection of them in the cathedral treasury
of Prague.[65] The majority are silver-gilt, and set with a plaque of
mother-of-pearl or crystal, and are usually hollow, to contain relics.
The term _monile_ was further applied to brooches or _nouches_; and the
nouches described in such detail in the English inventories of the
fifteenth century, which will be mentioned later when the subject of
brooches is dealt with, may in part have been employed as ornaments for
the necklace.
[64] _Kalendars_ etc., III, pp. 185, 188.
[65] Podlaha (A.), and Sittler (E.), _Der Domschatz in Prag_,
pp. 113-132. 1903.
Various _monilia_ or pendants, containing small relics, verses from the
Bible, the names of Christ or the Virgin written upon vellum or upon
metal, and perhaps also ancient magic spells--all possessing the virtues
of talismans, were worn by chains or cords round the neck, and in some
instances very likely hidden under the upper garment. The early Church,
in many an edict, declared itself against this form of superstition, yet
such pendants or phylacteries--a term applied to any amulet worn about
the person against evil of all kinds--appear to have been extensively
used. Another and popular pendant from the fourteenth to the sixteenth
century, which is frequently cited in inventories, but now rarely met
with, takes the form of a small circular box or capsule bearing in front
an _Agnus Dei_ in niello or repoussé, surrounded by a corded edging.
Such boxes were intended for the preservation of a roundel of wax
moulded from the remains of the Paschal candle at Rome with an
impression of the sacred Lamb, and blessed by the Pope for distribution
to the faithful. The cases, of silver-gilt, have occasionally a covering
of transparent horn on the back and front. An example of this kind, of
fifteenth-century German workmanship, is in the Victoria and Albert
Museum (Pl. XIX, 3). The wax it contains bears the name of Pope Urban VI
(1378-1389). An original stamp of bronze, of Italian origin, dating from
the fourteenth century, which was used for making these wax impressions,
is preserved in the British Museum along with other moulds for casting
medals and small articles of jewellery.
In addition to the precious and semi-precious stones already mentioned,
other objects, accounted specially efficacious for certain purposes,
were worn. The _peres de eagle_, also called _ætites_, supposed to be
found in the nest of the eagle, were particularly valuable during
childbirth. _Glossopetræ_, the fossilised teeth of certain kinds of
shark, which passed as serpents' teeth, were much used, as well as
primitive arrowheads. They were hung round the neck of infants in the
belief that they assisted dentition and kept off frights. Of great value
also was the bezoar stone, which, like glossopetræ, at one time occupied
a prominent place in pharmacopoeia. Coral, which has always been
popular, is first mentioned in English wills and inventories in the
fourteenth century. It was used for rosaries, and, above all, as a
charm--a ring of gold or silver being attached to its stalk. The Romans
tied little branches of it round their children's necks to ward off the
evil eye; and the infant Saviour in many an early Italian picture is
represented wearing a piece of coral in a similar manner.[66]
[66] A relic of this superstition still exists in the coral baubles
hung with bells, with which infants are aided in cutting their teeth.
A fear of poison, common for centuries in royal courts, was responsible
for the custom of testing meats and drinks by methods founded upon
certain ancient and groundless beliefs. In order to neutralise or detect
the presence of poison, certain objects were placed in contact with food
or were dipped into liquids. The touching-pieces (_tousches_) or proofs
(_espreuves_) employed for the purpose, and considered especially
efficacious against poison, were toadstones, glossopetræ, serpentine,
jasper, agate and particularly the unicorn's horn. What was foisted upon
the credulous public as the horn of the fabled animal was in reality the
horn or tusk of a fish--the narwhal or sea-unicorn of the northern seas.
Being an object of very great value, the horn was only occasionally kept
entire, like the one preserved to this day at New College, Oxford. It
was more usually cut into pieces and used as "proofs."
An angry unicorne in his full career
Charge with too swift foot a jeweller
That watched him for the treasure of his brow,
And ere he could get shelter of a tree,
Nail him with his rich antler to the earth.[67]
[67] Quoted from Bussy d'Amboise (1607) by Malone, commenting on the
passage, "Unicorns may be betray'd with trees" (_Julius Cæsar_, II, i).
These and other objects, when worn upon the person, as was generally the
practice, were mounted at one end, or surrounded by a claw-like band of
silver.
Another object which occupied an important position in the Middle Ages
and often received special attention at the hands of the goldsmith was
the rosary. It was suspended occasionally from the neck, but was more
often worn upon the wrist, at the girdle, or attached to a finger ring,
and was formed of a string of beads of various sizes and materials
representing Aves, Paternosters, and Glorias: each bead receiving the
name of the prayer it represented. The rosary, as at the present day,
was divided into decades of Aves, each decade being preceded by a
Paternoster and followed by a Gloria. The materials of which they were
composed are well illustrated in the inventory[68] of the jewels
belonging to Adam Ledyard, a London jeweller in 1381. It includes:
"4 sets of paternosters of white amber; 16 sets of paternosters of amber;
5 sets of paternosters of coral and geet [jet]; 6 sets of aves of geet,
and paternosters of silver-gilt; 38 sets of aves of geet, with gaudees
of silver-gilt; 14 sets of aves of blue glass, with paternosters of
silver-gilt; 28 sets of paternosters of geet; 15 sets of paternosters of
mazer; and 5 sets of paternosters of white bone for children."
[68] Riley (H. T.), _Memorials of London and London life_, p. 455.
The makers of these beads were termed paternosterers; and Paternoster
Row and Ave Maria Lane were so called from the "turners of beads"
who resided there. In Paris, as early as the thirteenth century, the
commerce in rosaries was a most flourishing one, and it was customary
there to divide the makers or dealers in these articles into three
categories--paternosterers of bone and horn, of coral and
mother-of-pearl, and of amber and jet. In England the rosary makers
do not seem to have been so specialised.
[Illustration: _PLATE XIX_ MEDIÆVAL PENDANTS]
The larger beads were sometimes of gold, silver, and silver-gilt, of
open-work, beautifully chased and engraved, and of boxwood and ivory
exquisitely carved. The "gaudees" or "gauds" in the above quotation,
the ornaments or trinkets attached to the rosary, were commonly in the
form of a crucifix, while the small German charms mentioned above (p.
120) were mostly employed for the same purpose. Of the spherical-shaped
gauds or nuts pendent to the rosary, called in French _grains de
chapelet_ and known in Germany as _Betnüsse_, many fine examples exist
in boxwood. They have often an open-work case which opens with a hinge,
and displays two hemispheres filled with a number of carved figures of
minute proportions.
Among the many forms assumed by mediæval pendants were those of
fruits--generally apples or pears. These fruit-shaped pendants,
containing either figures or relics, were exceedingly popular. They were
carried in the purse or attached to the rosary or to the girdle, or in
the case of men, were hung from the neck by a cord or chain; and were
constructed so as to be opened during devotions. One of the most
remarkable examples is in the Waddesdon Bequest at the British
Museum.[69]
[69] Read (C. H.), _Catalogue of the Waddesdon Bequest_, No. 231.
The use of perfumes prevailed at all periods of the Middle Ages. They
were enclosed in various receptacles, and especially in those shaped
like a pear or apple. These pendent scent cases or _pomanders_, worn
like other pendants of the same form, were in general use throughout the
whole of the period extending from the fourteenth to the seventeenth
century. Pomander in early inventories is often spelt _pomeambre_,
indicating its derivation from _pomme d'ambre_, a perfume apple or ball;
the word _pomme_ being used for any object resembling an apple in shape,
and _ambre_[70] for perfume in general. Primarily the pomander seems
often to have designated a ball composed of various highly scented
substances which served the purpose both of counteracting the smells
which must have been particularly general and offensive in olden days,
and also of protecting against infection. It was enclosed in a rich
metal case, opening across the centre, and perforated so as to allow the
scent to escape. The title "pomander"--originally meaning simply a scent
or perfume ball--was given to the case which contained it. In many
instances, the perfumes, instead of being mixed together into a ball,
were placed in the pomander case each in a separate compartment, the
lids of which are found inscribed with the names of the contents. These
compartments, varying in number from four to as many as sixteen, are
formed like segments of an orange. They are hinged below, and united at
the top by a screw or pin, which being removed, allows the segments to
open out (Pl. XVIII, 3).
[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.
[Illustration: Pomander. From _Kreuterbuch_ (Frankfort, 1569).]
CHAPTER XVI
MEDIÆVAL BROOCHES--THE RING-BROOCH
The brooches or fibulæ hitherto considered have been constructed either
with a spring pin or _acus_, which was held in its place by a hook or
catch, or with a hinged acus, which, having pierced the material, was
fixed similarly by a catch, and prevented by the weight of the garment
from becoming unloosened. The term _fibula_, generally employed by
archæologists to denote all early brooches, has so far been applied only
to the dress-fasteners of classical times; and though the word brooch
(from the French _broche_, meaning a spit) was not introduced into
England until after the Norman Conquest, it is for the sake of clearness
used here to describe what are generally known among Anglo-Saxon
ornaments as fibulæ.
In later Roman times, and among the Irish and Anglo-Saxons, the
ring-brooch was sometimes formed with an opening on one side, and the
pin or acus, which was not hinged, but moved freely to any part of the
ring, having been passed through the tissue, was brought through this
opening. The ring was then turned till the pin rested upon its rim.
At the time of the Norman Conquest the opening of the brooch is closed,
the ring becomes flat and has a pin of the same length as its diameter.
Instead of running loosely, the pin is hinged upon a constriction of the
ring and it either traverses the tissue which has been brought through
the latter, or a band is passed over it from beneath the sides of the
ring. When the portions of the garment thus connected are drawn back,
the pin falls across the front of the ring and is held securely in its
place. This ring-brooch was known as the _fermail_ (Latin _firmaculum_,
signifying a clasp)--a term employed both in old French and old English
inventories.
The ring-brooch was worn by both sexes. It appears on the monumental
effigy of Richard Coeur de Lion at Rouen, on that of Berengaria his
queen at Le Mans, and on several of the thirteenth-century sculptures on
the west front of Wells Cathedral. It served to gather up the fulness of
the surcoat on the breast of the knight, as shown by the effigy, known
as that of William Mareschel the Elder, Earl of Pembroke, in the Temple
Church; but was generally used to close the opening in the robes at the
throat of either sex and is seen thus on many effigies of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries.[71]
[71] _Arch. Journ._, III, p. 76.
Among the few examples of mediæval jewellery that have survived,
brooches and finger rings predominate. Brooches differ slightly
according to the nationality to which they belong: those of English
origin forming of themselves a class of considerable variety and extent.
The earliest were circles of small diameter and narrow frame, either
plain, or decorated with simple designs. Mystic words and letters were
subsequently added; but as the brooch became larger, amatory mottoes
took their place. Religious formulæ were also employed, particularly in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the brooch reached its
full development.
The various inscriptions and designs engraved on mediæval brooches are
of great interest. The majority of inscriptions are mottoes in French,
such as were frequently employed as posies upon rings and other
love-gifts. An inscription which occurs more than once is
IO . SVI . ICI . EN . LIEV . DAMI. Another _chanson_, reading thus in
modern French--_Je suis ici, à toi voici_, is found on several brooches
in the British Museum.
The dainty Prioress, Madame Eglentine, in the prologue of Chaucer's
_Canterbury Tales_ wore--
... a broche of gold ful shene,
On whiche was first y-written a crouned A,
And after, _Amor vincit omnia_.
The popularity of this last motto on the personal ornaments of the
Middle Ages may be attributed to its supposed influence as a love-charm.
A considerable number of legends are of a religious character, with
allusions to the Virgin and Saviour while a few are talismanic, and
contain inscriptions such as the names of the Kings of the East.
Ring-brooches, though generally circular, show a variety of other
shapes, such as hearts, trefoils, lozenges, etc. A heart-shaped brooch
of fine workmanship in chased and engraved gold is in the Victoria and
Albert Museum. It appears to be French and of the fifteenth century.
Upon its back is the inscription--_Nostre et tout ditz a vostre
[d]esir._
The brooches worn by the wealthy are often magnificent examples of
jewellery, enriched with gems set in delicate goldwork. A number of the
existing brooches are of such diminutive size--less than half an inch in
diameter--that they could only have been employed for fastening the very
thinnest tissue. The larger gold ring-brooches, of fine workmanship and
set with precious stones, are of great rarity. In the British Museum are
several choice specimens: the finest, formerly in the Londesborough
Collection, dates from the fourteenth century. It is mounted with
pearls, cabochon sapphires and emeralds, arranged in a variety of
settings, and further enriched with four bosses carved and pierced in
the forms of dragons and cockatrices. A remarkable brooch of the
thirteenth century, also from a well-known collection, that of Baron
Pichon, is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is a circular
gold ring two inches in diameter, enriched with four sapphires and six
rubies in high cone-like settings formed of simple sheets of metal
wrapped round the stones. The bases of these collets are hidden on the
inner side by an encircling wreath of vine leaves delicately cut and
stamped in gold. The back is ornamented with a leaf design in niello.
There is a somewhat similar brooch, though only a fragment, in the Gem
Room of the British Museum.
A gold brooch also dating from the thirteenth century, and, like the
majority, of French workmanship, is in the Carrand Collection in the
Museo Nazionale (Bargello), Florence. This fine example, formerly in
the Debruge Collection, is decorated with exquisite Gothic foliage in
naturalistic style, and with figures of two lions in full relief. It
is set with two large rubies and four small emeralds. In the same
collection is an extremely interesting brooch, likewise French, and of
the fourteenth century. A flat ring of gold 1¼ inches in diameter is
ornamented with concentric rings of enamel, the two outer being blue and
the inner white. Upon the latter, in letters reserved in the gold, is
the inscription IESUS AUTEM TRAISIENS PER MED.,[72] which occurs also on
the cameo of Charles V at Paris, and was held by those who bore it to
possess a prophylactic virtue. The brooch is further ornamented with
four vernicles[73] engraved with exquisite feeling at equal distances
upon its surface (Pl. XX, 2).
[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.
[Illustration: _PLATE XX_ MEDIÆVAL BROOCHES (RING-BROOCHES, ETC.)]
Though comparatively many existing brooches are of gold, a great
quantity were formerly produced not only in silver, but in baser metals,
such as iron, copper, and lead or pewter. How large was the demand for
brooches of these materials can be gauged from a French writer of the
thirteenth century, Jean de Garlande, a poet and grammarian, who in
his Latin vocabulary refers to brooch-makers as a special class of
craftsmen, who, apart from goldsmiths, were sufficiently numerous to
bear the title of _fermailleurs_[74]--makers of fermails. To about the
end of the fifteenth century belongs a satirical poem printed in London
with the title _Cocke Lorelles Bote_, where "latten workers and broche
makers" are specially mentioned among the London crafts or trades. The
manufacture of the finest brooches, however, was always reserved for the
goldsmiths--a fact indicated by the quartering of brooches on the arms
of the Goldsmiths' Company.
[74] Sometimes called (by metathesis) _fremailleurs_.
There would be no justification for any general reference to mediæval
ring-brooches that omitted to give some account of those worn in
Scotland. Brooches formed an indispensable accessory to the Highland
dress of both sexes, in that they served to fix upon the shoulder an
invariable article of clothing of the Highlanders--the Scottish plaid.
In the latest development of the Scottish brooch of the Celtic type, the
pin, as has been observed, is hinged upon the ring, and after piercing
the garment is held in its place by a catch at the back of the brooch.
Upon the introduction of the ring-brooch with a pin equal to the
diameter of the ring, this mode of fastening was only in very few cases
retained, and preference in general was given to the English manner of
adjustment.
The earliest form of the Scottish ring-brooch, which dates from about
the thirteenth century, is a flattened circular ring, upon which
talismanic inscriptions in Latin, generally of a religious character,
almost invariably appear. These, together with some traces of Gothic
design, last throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. After
this period the knowledge of Latin seems to decrease, for it is
rendered so barbarously on the sixteenth-century brooches as to be
almost unintelligible. On the later brooches the decoration is purely
ornamental, with interlaced work and foliaceous scrolls, and brooches
of this type, on which the character of an earlier period is retained,
were made as late as the eighteenth century. The designs of the silver
brooches were produced by engraving accompanied by niello work; those of
the brass brooches usually by engraving alone.
The National Museum of Antiquities at Edinburgh possesses a large and
important collection of Scottish brooches, while a few Highland families
have preserved for many generations massive silver brooches of elaborate
workmanship. Formerly in the possession of the Campbells of Glenlyon,
and now in the British Museum, is a brooch known as the Glenlyon brooch.
It dates from about the fifteenth century. It is about 3½ inches in
width, and is formed of a flat ring set with pearls on tall cone-shaped
turrets, alternating with crystals and pieces of amethyst. Across the
centre is a richly decorated bar, upon which rest the points of two
pins attached to the edge of the ring. On the back of the brooch, in
black-letter, is the favourite inscription of mediæval amulets:
CASPAR . MELCHIOR . BALTAZAR . CONSUMATUM . The last word, the declaration of the
dying Saviour, "It is finished," was often inscribed upon brooches and
other ornaments of the Middle Ages, as were likewise the Angelic
Salutation, the _titulus_ I.N.R.I., and other so-called _caracts_, all
of which were considered to possess some talismanic efficacy.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXI_ MEDIÆVAL SCOTTISH BROOCHES
(THE GLENLYON AND LOCH BUY BROOCHES)]
In many cases the open space in the middle of the ring, as in modern
brooches, was filled up, and in the early examples was sometimes
occupied by a turret-like ornamentation set with a crystal, while
obelisks rising from the ring of the brooch were set with polished
stones such as cairngorms (still popular on Scottish jewellery), or with
Scottish pearls.
The finest examples of this type of brooch are known as the "brooch of
Lorn," the "Ugadale brooch," and the "Loch Buy brooch." The brooch
of Lorn, still in the possession of the lineal descendants of the
Macdougals of Lorn, dates from the fifteenth century. It consists of a
disc of silver 4½ inches in diameter, enriched with filigree. In the
centre is a raised capsule crowned with a large rock crystal, and round
the ring of the brooch a circle of eight obelisks. The Ugadale brooch,
the property of the Macneals of Firfergus, is of somewhat similar
nature, save that the turrets, eight in number, are towards the centre
of the brooch and arranged close round the raised crystal. The Loch Buy
brooch, of more elaborate workmanship, is likewise surmounted by a
cabochon crystal on a raised dais. On the ring, within a low border, are
ten tall turrets, each surmounted with a Scottish pearl. This famous
brooch, long in the possession of the Macleans of Loch Buy in the Isle
of Mull, came later into the collection of Ralph Bernal, one of the
first and most eminent of latter-day connoisseurs, at whose sale in 1855
it was purchased by the British Museum.
In addition to the Highland circular brooches, a considerable number in
the shape of hearts have been found in Scotland, sometimes surmounted
with a crown, and in a few instances set with jewels (p. 165). They were
mostly love-tokens and betrothal gifts, and many of them bear on the
reverse the word LOVE. Brooches of this form are known as "Luckenbooth"
brooches, from their having been commonly sold in the Luckenbooths, the
street stalls around St. Giles' Church on the High Street, Edinburgh.
The use of the word Luckenbooth calls to mind the fact that the
goldsmiths of Paris also worked and dwelt in booths, which as late as
the fourteenth century were situated on the Pont du Change and the Pont
Nôtre Dame. In this connection it is worth noticing that in England,
as well as in France and Scotland, the working goldsmiths, like the
followers of other trades, occupied distinct quarters by themselves, and
they had in London one part of the Chepe set apart for them to dwell and
trade in. The custom of the various crafts thus confining themselves to
particular quarters, which is of remote antiquity, greatly facilitated
the formation and government of trade guilds.
[Illustration: A mediæval lapidary. From _Ortus Sanitatis_
(Strasburg, about 1497).]
CHAPTER XVII
MEDIÆVAL BROOCHES (_continued_)--PECTORALS
Another species of brooch peculiar to the Middle Ages is the pectoral,
an article for fastening on to the middle of the breast. It is similar
to our modern brooch, but differs in that it did not always serve to
hold the dress together. In earlier centuries it was often sewn on the
garment, and was only occasionally supplied with a pin. It was worn by
both sexes, as well as by ecclesiastics, who appear to have borne in
mind the chief ornament worn by the Jewish High Priest.
The earliest and most remarkable example of this class is the great gold
pectoral--the Eagle Fibula it is termed--found in 1880 at Mainz--that
ancient and historical Rhenish city, known in former times from
its commercial prosperity as "Goldene Mainz," which has proved
extraordinarily rich in discoveries dating from classical and early
mediæval periods. This famous jewel, both on account of its size (4 by
3-5/8 inches) and good state of preservation, probably deserves to rank
first among all golden ornaments that have come down to us from the
early Middle Ages. "Its composition," says Herr Luthmer, "is extremely
clear and conscious. An eagle, of heraldic form, it is true, but not
with any of that unnatural emaciation peculiar to the later style of
heraldry, fills the inner circle of a flat ring of stamped gold enriched
with beaded filigree, which at its upper end--in order to give space
for the head of the bird--is not closed, but connected by a curve in the
circle of wire. The eight flowers inserted in the open-work of the ring,
as well as the whole form of the eagle with the exception of the claws,
are filled with cloisonné enamel which unfortunately has disappeared
from the body of the eagle, where only the punctured outlines of the
feathers are perceptible upon the plate of gold. Otherwise the enamel,
made of translucent green and blue, turquoise-blue, white and yellow,
has been preserved in all its freshness."[75] This pectoral dates from
the commencement of the twelfth century, and is one of the chief
treasures in the rich collection of antiquities preserved in the Mainz
Museum.
[75] Luthmer, _op. cit._, p. 74.
Jewels of this species and of this period are of the utmost rarity.
Another very beautiful example was discovered at Mainz just five years
after the Eagle Fibula, and is now in the collection of Baron von Heyl
zu Herrnsheim at Worms. It is formed of repoussé gold, and represents an
eagle standing upon a branch rolled up at both ends. A fine sapphire
occupies the middle of the breast, in the centre of the wings are
emeralds, the tail is set with lapis-lazuli, and the eye of the bird
with a small ruby. This exquisite jewel dates from the early part of the
thirteenth century. It measures 2-1/8 inches in height and 1-5/8 inches
in width.[76] The most remarkable among jewels of about the same date
(the twelfth century) are the splendid antique cameos already
described--the Cameo of St. Hilary in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris,
and the Schaffhausen Onyx--both of which were originally employed as
pectorals or brooches.
[76] _Kunstgewerbe-Blatt_, III, p. 21, 1887.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXII_ MEDIÆVAL BROOCHES (PECTORALS AND MORSE)]
A few brooches are attached, as was once the jewel of St. Hilary, as _ex
voto_ on the breast of reliquary figures, like that of St. Foy at
Conques, which still exhibits an ornament of this kind. A brooch or
fermail (for this latter term is not confined to the ring-brooch), 1¾
inches in diameter, which once formed part of the ancient jewels of
the French Crown, is in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre.[77] Two
exceedingly fine brooches of about the end of the twelfth century,
found at Mainz in 1896 and now in the treasury of the cathedral, are
described by Dr. Schneider in the _Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen
Kunstsammlungen_ (Vol. XVIII); and a pectoral or brooch of a similar
form, a large stone in the centre, surrounded by smaller ones--to take
only one among many examples--is represented on the twelfth-century
statue of a queen, probably intended for the Queen of Sheba, from the
west portal of the church of Our Lady of Corbeil, and now at
Saint-Denis.
[77] Barbet de Jouy, _Gemmes et joyaux de la couronne_, Pl. XI.
In the case of original jewels of this kind, it is not always easy to
determine whether they were articles of adornment for the clergy or the
laity, and though those for ecclesiastical use probably predominate, it
is only when they contain the figured representation of some religious
subject that they can with certainty be identified as cope-clasps or
_morses_, the French equivalent for which is _mors de chape_.
Morses were frequently of extraordinary size. Monumental brasses and
tombstones, especially in Germany, exhibit many examples. Adalbert of
Saxony, who was administrator of the archbishopric of Mainz, and died
in 1484, is represented on his tombstone in the cathedral with one
measuring more than 7 inches across. Existing examples vary from 5 to 7
inches in breadth.
The jewellers of the Middle Ages delighted in lavishing their utmost
taste and skill on morses, which were of a variety of shapes, and were
composed of every material. Some were enriched with precious stones,
including ancient cameos, and others rendered attractive with coloured
enamels.
Several lists of English morses are preserved. In the inventory of
Sarum,[78] of the year 1222, gold, silver, and jewelled morses,
_firmacula_, _pectoralia_, or _monilia_ (as they were variously termed
in the Middle Ages) are described at length; in that of St. Paul's,[79]
drawn up in 1295, there are no less than twenty-eight; while the
inventory of jewels (_jocalia_) preserved in York Minster[80] in 1500
includes an extraordinarily rich collection of these ornaments.
[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.
Though some were clearly made fast to one side of the garment, and were
hitched to the other by hooks, or by a pin, like a brooch, they were not
always employed to unite the two sides, but were sometimes used simply
as a decoration upon the front of the vestment, and perhaps hung there
by a chain round the neck.[81] Examples to be found in many museums are
pierced with holes, or have loops behind them, showing that they were
sewn to the vestment with purely decorative purpose.
[81] Compare p. 121.
From the close of the twelfth century champlevé enamel upon copper was
much employed for the decoration of morses. In the fourteenth century
champlevé was largely superseded by transparent enamel on silver relief
(_basse-taille_), many of the finest specimens of which were produced in
Italy. Two fine morses displaying this species of work are preserved;
the one in the British Museum[82] and the other at South Kensington.
[82] Shaw, _Decorative arts of the Middle Ages_, Pl. 7.
The use of ancient cameos as personal ornaments has already been
mentioned; and there is in the British Museum a mediæval intaglio, the
finest of its kind, which was used as a morse. It is known as the
Crystal of Lothair, since it was made, in all probability, for Lothair
II, King of the Franks from 855 to 869. It is a lenticular plaque of
rock crystal, 4½ inches in diameter, engraved in intaglio,[83] with
the history of Susanna.[84]
[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.
Public collections at home and abroad possess a variety of examples
of Gothic morses of exquisite design. One of the most remarkable of
German workmanship of the fourteenth century is in the Musée Cluny at
Paris;[85] while among the finest German jewels of the fifteenth century
must be ranked a morse of beautiful execution in the Victoria and Albert
Museum.[86] Other noteworthy examples are, three in the treasury of
the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, one of them[87] containing a
representation of the Annunciation--a subject which, judging from the
inventories, appears to have been a very favourite one for the purpose,
particularly in England. Three more are in Paris: one--the beautiful
morse of St. Louis--in the Galerie d'Apollon,[88] a second in the
Rothschild Bequest[89] in the Louvre, and a third in the Dutuit
Bequest.[90] In the Kunstgewerbe Museum at Berlin is a silver-gilt morse
which was made in the year 1484 for Albert von Letelen, canon of Minden,
by the goldsmith Reinecke van Dressche of Minden. It is a circular
disc 5½ inches in diameter, filled with three elaborate Gothic
tabernacles, each containing a figure. Entirely symmetrical in
composition, it follows a design commonly found on the seals of the
same date (Pl. XXII, 3).
[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.
An excellent idea of the extraordinary beauty of the morses in use at
the close of the Middle Ages can be obtained from fifteenth-century
paintings, particularly of the Flemish school. Few of the latter
can surpass what is one of its finest examples in the National
Gallery--Gerard David's beautiful picture of the "Canon and his Patron
Saints," in which are displayed, in almost all their pristine freshness,
some of the most magnificent representations of the jeweller's art.
Besides these pectorals, which sometimes served a practical, but often a
purely decorative purpose, there were various other ornaments that acted
as clasps (_agrafes_). These _agrafes_ are similar to those still made
use of in our day, working on a system of a hook fitting into a loop.
Clasps for mantles were sometimes made of massive loops fastened on
either side of the border of the mantle, like parts of a hinge, which
could be clasped by a pin being thrust through them, or by a cord or
strap.
[Illustration: Mantle clasp (portion) on effigy of Henry IV
(Canterbury Cathedral).]
A heavy ornamental mantle was often worn by both sexes over the dress.
It was open in front, and displayed the dress underneath. Upon its
opposite edges were fixed two ornamental rosettes or lozenges, connected
by cords terminating in tassels, or by a band across the breast. In the
case of ceremonious attire this band was of metal, profusely jewelled,
while the ornamental pieces or clasps at each end were of elaborate
goldwork set with precious stones. On the monumental effigy of Henry IV
in the Chapel of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury Cathedral, the cloak
is secured by a rich band fastened at each end by diamond-shaped clasps
of fine design. Henry's Queen, Joanna of Navarre, who lies beside him,
has clasps of almost the same form, fixed near the shoulders, and united
by a simple band. Somewhat similar ornaments, rosette-shaped, can be
seen on the effigy of Anne of Bohemia, first wife of Richard II, in
Westminster Abbey.
Since the pectoral is sometimes worn together with these clasps, it is
evident that it often had nothing to do with closing the mantle; but
when a pin is attached behind, and it is employed for secular purposes,
it assumes the ordinary type of the modern brooch.
The English word for this smaller and secular variety of morse, which is
distinct from the fermail or ring-brooch, was _nouch_.[91] It was also
called _ouch_, by misdivision of _a_ nouch as _an_ ouch, and was
variously spelt _nuche_, _nowche_, _owche_, etc. That the nouch is the
actual English equivalent to the morse or pectoral is proved by a will
dated 1400,[92] in which among the jewels bequeathed to the shrine of
the Head of St. William of York was "unum monile, Anglicè nouche auri,
cum uno saphire in medio, et j. dyamand desuper, et circumpositum cum
pereles et emeraudes." Nouches were attached to the front of the
garment, but were occasionally worn upon the shoulder. On the effigy of
Henry II, at Fontevraud, and on that of Henry III[93] in the Chapel of
Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, the mantle in each case is
fastened upon the right shoulder with a brooch of this kind.
[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.
It would be an almost impossible task to describe all the motives
selected for the English brooches of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, their numerous compositions of human figures and animals of
all sorts, and the various stones with which they were set. The old
inventories give endless descriptions, but hardly any actual examples,
apart from the ring-brooches and William of Wykeham's magnificent nouch
at New College, have survived. In the British Museum is a silver-gilt
brooch in form of St. Christopher leaning on his staff and bearing the
infant Saviour on his shoulder. It is of fifteenth-century workmanship,
2¾ inches long, and was found at Kingston-on-Thames (Pl. XX, 7). This
brooch is of peculiar interest, since in the _Canterbury Tales_ that
worn by the "Yeman" is described as "A Crystofre on his brest of silvyr
shene."
Brooches and nouches, mentioned frequently in the English inventories of
the fourteenth century, became even more numerous and elaborate in the
century following. Foreign influence, strong at this period, left its
imprint upon all works of art; and the most extensive commerce was
carried on with Flanders, which was then the workshop of the world. Yet
though the following descriptions of brooches drawn from the inventory
of Henry IV in the Inventories of the Exchequer[94] show a striking
similarity to the continental jewels of the same date, there is no
reason to suppose that these were not actually produced in England by
English workmen. Five nouches, probably very similar in form to the
splendid jewel at New College, Oxford, and dating approximately from the
same period, are thus recorded: "Item v. nouches de letres M apparellez
de perles et diverses peres de petit value." Other brooches exhibit a
variety of forms: "Item i. g^ant nouche dun griffon seisant un deyme
ove i. saphir en my lieu iij. baleys et vi. grosses perles"; "Item i.
nouche [dor] ove i. damoysell es blancz flours portant i. papingey en la
mayn apparellez ove i. baleys iij. saphis iij. troches de perles ove
trois diamantz contrifaitz." Similarly enriched jewels have for their
subjects: "i. enfant dor et i. blanc deime enaymellez"; "i. damoisell et
i. unicorn [dor]"; and "un damoisell seant en un solaill." Finally we
meet with the following entry: "Item i. nouche d'un aungell blanc tenant
en sa mayn un saphir feble garnisez de vi. perles enterfoiles."
[94] _Kalendars and Inventories of the Exchequer_, III. p. 344, etc.
Of all the immense wealth of jewellery of the Dukes of Burgundy in the
fifteenth century almost every vestige has disappeared, and the public
museums of the Continent are practically destitute of Flemish-Burgundian
jewellery of this date. Yet the British Museum, through the generosity
of the late Sir A. W. Franks, is in fortunate possession of several
exquisite examples, which were dredged a few years ago from the bed of
the River Meuse. The most remarkable is a gold brooch of delicate
workmanship, the centre of which is occupied by a female figure: a
garland encircles her head, a flower set with a small triangular diamond
adorns her breast, while her hands hold in front a large faceted
sapphire. Around, in the midst of foliage, are three cabochon rubies,
and the settings of other stones and pearls which have disappeared (Pl.
XX, 11). The form of this jewel is peculiarly interesting in comparison
with the above-quoted _aungell tenant en sa mayn un saphir_ of the
inventory of Henry IV. A smaller circular brooch of similar _fabrique_
has a diamond above and a pale ruby below, and is encircled by radiating
buds of flowers, the centre of each bud being formed of a ball of white
enamel.
Of the few examples of jewels of similar character that exist at the
present day upon the Continent, there is in the treasury of the
Collegiate Church of Essen in Rhenish Prussia, amongst several fine
objects of the goldsmith's art, a remarkable and comparatively unknown
collection of enamelled jewels of the fifteenth century.[95] Each of
the sixteen objects of the series possesses what appears to be a
characteristic of most jewels of this date--that is to say, it is
enclosed by an encircling wreath-like ornament of the naturalistic late
Gothic style formed of a circular tube of gold to which are affixed
leaves of stamped gold, enamelled and enriched with pearls. The centres
of the jewels are occupied by a variety of motives. Seven are of a
purely formal composition, enriched with small white flowers, the stalks
of which, covered with green enamel, resemble with their interlacing
design the necklace worn by Maria Portinari in the Van der Goes triptych
at Florence. The remaining and more elaborate jewels contain enamelled
figures of men and animals executed with extraordinary minuteness and
vivacity. The finest, and on the whole the best preserved, has in the
centre a female figure in full relief clothed in a white robe and long
green cloak and a head-dress in the form of leaves. She is seated in a
field sewn with flowers in the manner of the pictures of the period, and
behind are golden rays[96] (Pl. XX, 9). The figure upon another jewel
has a somewhat similar background. Her robe is white, and her head-dress
and the edges of her wing-like sleeves red. In front of both figures
is a small cluster of precious stones. Though all the objects in
this remarkable collection are of about the same date, they differ
sufficiently to make it clear that, like the treasures from Saragossa,
they owe their presence here to the devotion of perhaps more than one
wealthy person to a highly revered shrine. In spite of the fact that the
majority are considerably damaged, they are yet eloquent proofs of the
magnificent style of living at the period of their production, and
valuable examples of the ornaments of the Middle Ages of which no other
collection possesses so large and choice a variety.
[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.
In date one is disposed to place these brooches (or nouches, as they
would be termed in old English inventories) in the first half of the
fifteenth century--at least as far as the figured pieces are concerned,
for jewellery in pictures of the second half of the century is mostly
formed of pearls and precious stones alone. Jewelled brooches of this
kind ornamented with figures in relief are particularly well represented
in the works of the older German painters and above all those of Stephan
Lochner (d. 1451), in whose masterpiece in Cologne Cathedral, known as
the "Dombild," the Virgin is seen wearing on her breast a brooch
ornamented with clusters of pearls and the figure of a seated maiden,
with a unicorn resting one foot on her lap.[97] In another celebrated
picture by Master Stephan--the "Virgin of the Rose-Arbour," in the
Cologne Museum--the same subject is represented on the _mandorla_, or
almond-shaped, brooch which closes the Virgin's robe; while in a third
picture by him in the Episcopal Museum of the same city--a picture
which, like the rest, bears traces of Flemish influence--the Virgin's
brooch or morse is ornamented with a female figure seated, full face,
after the manner of the British Museum and Essen brooches.[98]
[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.
[Illustration: Brooch of the Virgin in Lochner's "Dombild"
(Cologne Cathedral).]
Such is the extraordinary quality and extreme rarity of jewels of this
type that attention must be drawn to yet two more examples: one in the
Imperial Collections at Vienna, and the other in the Carrand Collection
in the Bargello at Florence. The former is a jewel of quite remarkable
character. Within the usual circle of gold wire is a pair of lovers
standing side by side each holding the end of a wreath. The figures,
dressed in Burgundian costume of the fifteenth century and enamelled
with various colours, breathe the spirit of the mediæval _amourette_ as
represented upon ivory mirror-cases and jewel-caskets and in miniatures
of the twelfth to the sixteenth century. Between them is a triangular
diamond set like the example in the British Museum, and below it a pale
cabochon ruby. Around are five pearls (Pl. XX, 8).[99] The jewel at
Florence (2 inches in diameter) has a border of green enamelled leaves
set with pearls, and in the centre a finely modelled figure of a
dromedary in white enamel. This brooch, which is in splendid condition,
was perhaps intended to be worn, as were some other of these pieces, as
an _enseigne_ on the hat or cap (Pl. XVII, 12).
[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.
Whatever may have been their nationality, a glance at each, from those
in the British Museum to the one last described, is sufficient to
determine the identity of their source of inspiration. All bear the
stamp of the Flemish-Burgundian art, which throughout the fifteenth
century dominated the creations of the goldsmiths, as well as the
sculptors, miniaturists, and tapestry workers, of the entire west of
Europe.
Every one of these brooches is worthy of the most careful examination,
particularly by the craftsman of the present day, for unlike the
ornaments of more ancient times, they possess qualities which render
them peculiarly appropriate to the circumstances of our later
civilisation. In the refinement and simplicity of their arrangement
and design these mediæval examples of the jeweller's art transcend
many of the greatly admired and more famous jewels of the Renaissance.
CHAPTER XVIII
MEDIÆVAL RINGS AND BRACELETS
Of all classes of mediæval jewellery finger rings have been preserved in
the greatest number. Among the various causes that have contributed to
this result must be reckoned their very general use in former times,
their comparatively small value, which often saved them from the
melting-pot and the fact that they were almost the only articles of
value usually buried with the dead.
As regards the use and form of the finger ring during the Middle Ages,
we find that it retains in the main its primitive symbolical character,
being employed as an emblem rather than an ornament, to signify the
investiture of office, the binding of the nuptial bond, and especially
as a signet. Though the occurrence of numerous rings without a seal or
other mark proves their general acceptance as purely ornamental
articles, so deeply was the spirit of the age imbued with leanings
towards the mysterious and the occult, that nearly every ring is an
_annulus vertuosus_, supposed to be endowed with some talismanic or
sanative efficacy.
For convenience sake mediæval rings may be separated into four main
divisions: (1) ecclesiastical and devotional rings; (2) charm rings;
(3) love and marriage rings; and (4) ornamental rings, including
signets.
Rings have always been looked upon with favour by the Church; they
were worn regularly by the higher clergy, and formed part of their
ecclesiastical insignia. The British Museum, by the bequest of Mr.
Octavius Morgan, possesses an important collection of gilt bronze finger
rings of enormous size, each set with a foiled glass or crystal. Most of
them bear on the hoop symbols of the four evangelists, the Ox, Lion,
Angel, and Eagle, as well as the triple crown and crossed keys with
the arms of various popes, and sometimes those of contemporary rulers,
mostly of the fifteenth century. These so-called papal rings, of which
other examples, and duplicates, exist, are believed to have been
presented or sent by popes or cardinals as emblems of investiture
when conferring an office or dignity (Pl. XXIII, 10).
A jewelled ring was always worn by a bishop, and was an essential part
of his costume when pontificating. It was specially made for him, and
usually went with him to the grave. Hence it happens that many of
these rings have survived, and are preserved both in museums--the
collection in the Franks Bequest in the British Museum being the most
extensive--and in the cathedrals where they have been found.[100] In the
earliest times bishops usually wore engraved rings for use as signets,
but they seem to have had a large jewelled one as well for ceremonial
use. According to the instructions of Pope Innocent III in 1194, the
episcopal ring was to be of solid gold set with a precious stone on
which nothing was to be cut; hence the thirteenth-century rings are at
times somewhat rudely fashioned, with the shape of the bezel adapted to
the gem just as it was found, its surface merely being polished. Among
the stones usually chosen for the purpose were the ruby indicating
glory, the sapphire purity, the emerald tranquillity and happiness, and
crystal simplicity. Antique gems in earlier times were also worn, and
on some rings an inscription is added to give a Christian name to the
pagan figure; but others were merely regarded as ornaments without
meaning, like one dating from the twelfth century in the Waterton
Collection, which bears a Roman cameo in plasma of a female head in high
relief; or like the curious example found in the coffin of Seffrid,
Bishop of Chichester (d. 1151), in which is mounted a Gnostic intaglio.
The most usual form of ring, and one which seems to have been reserved
chiefly for bishops, is of a pointed or stirrup shape. It is commonly
found set with a small sapphire, more rarely with an emerald, and
sometimes, as in William of Wykeham's ring at New College, with a ruby
(Pl. XXIII, 1). The fashion for this type appears to have lasted from
the thirteenth to the fifteenth century.
[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).
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIII_ MEDIÆVAL AND LATER RINGS]
The episcopal ring was formerly worn on the right hand, but is placed at
the present day upon the annular finger--the third finger of the left
hand. Not more than one episcopal ring is now worn, but on sepulchral
effigies and early pictures bishops are represented with three or four
rings on the right hand, not infrequently upon the second joint of the
fingers, and also upon the thumb. They were generally worn over the
gloves, the backs of which were ornamented in addition with a large
jewel. These rings were often, therefore, of considerable size, so that
when worn without a glove a guard-ring was necessary to prevent their
falling off.[101] Mitred abbots were allowed to wear the ring; by others
it might be worn, but not during the celebration of the Mass. The use of
a ring was forbidden to the lower clergy.
[101] Waterton (E.), "Episcopal rings" (_Arch. Journ._, XX,
p. 224), 1863.
Among the rings to be classed under the heading of religious or
devotional rings, the most important are the so-called iconographic
rings, that is, those which have on the bezels, or on the shoulders,
which are generally grooved or fluted, figures of the Virgin and
Child, or of patron saints. They are nearly all of the same style of
workmanship and date almost exclusively from the fifteenth century. They
are peculiar to England and Scotland. Several examples are preserved in
the National Museum of Antiquities at Edinburgh (p. 104), and others in
the three great English ring collections.
[Illustration: English gold ring, fifteenth century. Engraved with
the "Annunciation," and the words _en bon an_.]
Devotional rings of the same date, and mostly of English workmanship,
have broad hoops, some engraved with sacred monograms, some with holy
names such as JESUS and MARIA, and others with the names of the Three
Kings, spelt in all manner of ways. Two exquisite English gold rings of
this kind, dating from the first half of the fifteenth century, are in
the British Museum. One, found at Coventry in 1802, is engraved with the
five wounds of Christ, together with the legends describing them, and on
the inside an inscription containing the names of the Three Kings of
Cologne (Pl. XXIII, 4, 5).[102] The other ring was dug up at Godstow
Priory, near Oxford, and is of small diameter, suited for a lady's
finger, but has a broad hoop engraved with sacred figures. It appears to
have been employed as a love ring, for within the hoop is an inscription
which runs thus: "_Most in mynd and yn myn herrt. Lothest from you fer
to departt_"[103] (Pl. XXIII, 6).
[102] _Archæologia_, XVIII, p. 306.
[103] _Arch. Journ._, XX, p. 195.
Another form of religious or devotional ring which was sometimes used in
place of the ordinary rosary of beads was the decade ring. This was so
called from its usually having at intervals round the hoop ten knobs
which were used for repeating ten Aves, and a head or bezel for the
Paternoster.
Finger rings, to an even greater extent than any other species of
mediæval jewellery, were designed to act as talismans or amulets; and
they served, more than any other purpose, that of charms. Their virtue
was imparted sometimes by the stone, and sometimes by the device,
inscription, or magical letters engraved upon them.
The mystic virtues attributed to stones as well as to engraved gems
during the Middle Ages has been frequently alluded to. Among the
different stones (like the sapphire, for instance, the very word for
which implies protection against drunkenness) carried in the bezel of
the ring, which were supposed to make the wearer proof against evil
influences, the most valued was the toadstone (Pl. XXIII, 9). It was
supposed to be found in the head of a toad, but is in reality the fossil
palatal tooth of a species of fish--the ray. A toadstone--also known as
crapaudine and batrachites--in a ring was said to indicate the presence
of poison by perspiring and changing colour. Toadstones were much sought
after, and were highly prized, even in Shakespeare's day.
Sweet are the uses of adversity;
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. (_As you like it_, II, 1.)
Ben Jonson alludes to the custom of wearing the stone in rings:--
Were you enamour'd on his copper rings,
His saffron jewel, with the toad-stone in't? (_Volpone_, II, 5.)
In addition to the stones already mentioned, greatly valued was the
Turkey-stone or turquoise, as the "Compassionate turcoyse, which doth
tell, By looking pale, the wearer is not well." (Donne, _Anatomie of the
World_.) It was his turquoise ring which Shylock would not have lost
"for a wilderness of monkeys."
The use of charm rings seems to have been not uncommon in early times.
It was one of the articles of impeachment against Hubert de Burgh, the
great justiciar of Henry III, that whereas the King had in his treasury
a ring which rendered the wearer invincible in battle, his minister
furtively removed the same and bestowed it upon Llewellyn of Wales. As
charm rings, too, must be reckoned those which enclosed small relics.
But rings so used seem for the most part to have been worn attached by a
ribbon or chain to the neck, and not on the finger.
Since such highly valued objects as charmed stones could only be
obtained by a few, cabalistic inscriptions often took their place. Many
of the devotional rings with the names Jesus, Mary, and Joseph engraved
on them, were used as a preservative against the plague; but the most
popular inscription was, as has been seen, the names of the Three Kings
of the East, which were a powerful charm against peril by travel and
sudden death. Such rings were worn against the cramp. There were also
caract rings of superstitious use, which bore charms in the form of
inscriptions, such as ANANIZAPTA. Many other rings of this class have
cabalistic names and strange barbaric words and combinations utterly
unintelligible.
The _fyancel_ or wedding ring appears to be of Roman origin, and was
usually given at the betrothal as a pledge of the engagement. Two forms
of these rings are the "gimmel" and the "posy" rings. Gimmel rings
(French, _jumelle_, a twin) are composed of two hoops forming, when
closed, one ring, and so constructed as to play when open one within the
other. They are of two sorts: those which are either plain or set with
precious stones, and those which have the device of the _fede_ or two
right hands joined.
Inscriptions or mottoes, as a rule in Norman-French, are to be found on
rings of the fourteenth, and more frequently on those of the fifteenth
century. They were called "chansons" and also "resons" or "reasons," and
later, poesies, posies, or posys. These love inscriptions, generally
engraved on the outside of the ring (though placed inside in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) are for the most part the same as
those found on the brooches of the time, inscriptions such as _Je suis
ici en lieu d'ami_, and the like, being of frequent occurrence. More
rarely the motto is in English, as on the beautiful iconographic gold
ring in the British Museum. New Year's Day among the Romans was a _dies
faustus_ and objects of jewellery were usually among the presents which
it was the custom to exchange on that occasion. In the Middle Ages also
the advent of the New Year was celebrated by the bestowal of presents.
Among these _estrennes_ jewellery was a prominent item, and on the rings
of the period (like the one figured on p. 150) the inscription, _en bon
an_ frequently occurs.
A very extensive group of mediæval finger rings is formed by signets.
These are marked with some device, such as an animal, a bird, a tree, or
any other object, so that they could be easily recognised; hence they
were often given as credentials to a messenger. In the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries rings of silver, and occasionally of gold, occur,
with a crest or coat-of-arms, or with devices in the form of initials,
and certain arbitrary signs called merchants' marks, which were used by
merchants and others not entitled to armorial bearings. Piers Plowman
speaks of "merchantes merkes ymedeled in glasse." Such rings were often
worn on the thumb. Though armorial signets were worn in Italy as early
as the fourteenth century, they were not common in England till the
commencement of the sixteenth.
Somewhat similar are certain devotional signet rings of silver or base
metal engraved with an initial--generally the letter I surmounted by a
coronet. The I is probably the initial of the Saviour's name, such rings
being worn from a belief in the efficacy of holy names as preservatives
from evil.
In connection with the mediæval use of ancient engraved stones, the
fashion of wearing Roman intaglios in rings has already been noticed.
Upon the metal setting around these gems a legend in Latin was often
engraved; the most usual inscription being SIGILLUM SECRETI, SIGILLUM
MEUM, or the word SIGILLUM, followed by the name of the owner (Pl.
XXIII, 11).
Rings which have the appearance of being purely ornamental were worn
throughout the Middle Ages in considerable numbers both by men and
women; yet at the same time it must ever be borne in mind that the
stones set in them had probably in the eyes of the possessors a value
quite independent of their use as ornaments.
In the Gold Ornament Room of the British Museum is a collection of five
English rings of silver of the twelfth century. They are of small
intrinsic value, but of considerable interest as authenticated examples
of ornamental rings of the period; for with the exception of those found
on the fingers of prelates, the date of early rings is sometimes
difficult to determine. The rings were dug up at Lark Hill, near
Worcester, in 1854, together with upwards of two hundred pennies of
Henry II. They probably date, therefore, from about the end of the
century.[104]
[104] _Archæologia_, XXXVI, p. 200.
[Illustration: French gold ring, fourteenth century (Louvre).]
The peculiarity of many of the richer ornamental rings of this period is
the tendency to place the stone upon a high case or stalk, so that the
bezel is raised considerably above the hand. A curious example, dating
from the fourteenth century, is in the Sauvageot Collection in the
Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre. It shows two dragons' heads issuing
from crown-shaped ornaments supporting a sapphire in a high collet.
In the fifteenth century a large number of rings appear to have been
habitually worn; and on the monument of Lady Stafford in Bromsgrove
Church, Worcestershire (1450), every finger but the last one on the
right hand is decorated with a ring. In many of the Flemish pictures of
the same date we find ornamental rings set with table-cut or cabochon
stones. The form of these is admirably represented in the portrait of a
goldsmith, ascribed to Gerard David, in the Royal Gallery at Vienna. In
his right hand he holds one ring, and in the left a short roll of
parchment, on which are placed four more. The rings are somewhat
massive, and thicken towards the bezel, where they are mounted with
table-cut stones within plain claw settings. In the same gallery is John
van Eyck's portrait, dated 1436, of John De Leeuw, jeweller to Philip
the Good, Duke of Burgundy. He holds between the thumb and forefinger of
his right hand a gold ring set with a small cabochon stone.
This notice of mediæval finger rings may be concluded by drawing
attention to a picture which, in view of the jewellery of the Middle
Ages, is one of the most fascinating of all the productions of the
Flemish school. The panel in question, the property of Baron A.
Oppenheim, of Cologne, represents the legend of St. Godeberta and St.
Eloy. It was painted in the year 1449 for the corporation of goldsmiths
of Antwerp by Petrus Christus, who flourished in the first half of the
fifteenth century, and died at Bruges about 1472. Appropriately enough,
the patron saint of goldsmiths is figured in his shop; and the picture
thus affords us a singularly interesting and attractive representation
of the interior of a jeweller's shop in the middle of the fifteenth
century with every detail of its glittering contents. St. Eloy or
Eligius, whose figure, for all we know, may be the portrait of some
well-known jeweller of the day, is seen seated at the goldsmith's bench,
beside which stand Dagobert, King of France, and St. Godeberta. He is
employed in weighing the ring with which the King seeks to espouse the
Virgin Saint; but instead, so the legend runs, of giving her the
engagement ring, he slipped on her finger a ruby ring, mystically
espousing her to Christ. The King wears, pinned to the front of his
black chaperon, a brooch or enseigne, set with a ruby surrounded by four
pearls and having a pendent drop. Round his neck is a curb chain of
alternate plain and beaded links, from which hangs a jewel formed of two
lions _affrontés_. Godeberta's head-dress, or _escoffion_, is of
embroidered gold sewn with pearls. The pendant of her neck-chain, hidden
by the bodice, lies between the breasts.
Very carefully rendered is each item of the choice collection of objects
that forms the goldsmith's stock-in-trade, exhibited on a stall covered
with white linen on the left hand of the goldsmith-saint. Below is a
box of rings, some plain, some mounted, ranged along three rolls of
parchment. Beside them lie large pearls and precious stones, and seed
pearls sorted in a shell by themselves. Behind, against the back, rest a
branch of coral and oblong pieces of rock crystal and of opaque stone
of porphyry-red. Above, on a piece of dark cloth, hang three splendid
jewels--a pendant and two brooches, and next to them a pair of
tooth-like pendants, probably glossopetræ. From the shelf on the top is
suspended a string of red, amber, and pale blue rosary beads, and in the
middle a girdle end of brown leather with buckle and mounts of gilded
metal. The remainder of the collection, formed of various vessels,
comprises a crystal cylinder set with gold and precious stones and a
mounted cocoanut cup; and on the upper shelf a covered cup and a couple
of tall flagons of silver parcel-gilt. This remarkable picture at once
brings to mind that strangely interesting series of interiors afterwards
produced by Quentin Matsys and Marinus van Romerswael, representing
money-changers, bankers, or usurers busily engaged in counting up or
weighing coins scattered before them on a table, upon which also
sometimes lie a handsome ring or two, a richly jewelled pendant, or
unset precious stones and pearls.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIV_ PICTURE, KNOWN AS THE "LEGEND OF ST. ELOY
AND ST. GODEBERTA," REPRESENTING THE INTERIOR OF A GOLDSMITH'S SHOP IN
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY BY PETRUS CHRISTUS OF BRUGES]
BRACELETS
Bracelets were as little in vogue as earrings during the Middle Ages,
and remarks made concerning the latter apply also to bracelets, in that
they only appear as the lingering traces of Byzantine fashions which,
until the commencement of the twelfth century, made themselves strongly
felt throughout the whole of Europe.
In the National Museum at Munich is a gold armlet formed of two hinged
halves covered with filigree and beaded ornament. Its outer rims are of
twisted gold, and within are bands of fine plaited wire. It is adorned
with bosses of filigree alternating with pyramidal projections. The
origin of this fine ornament is unknown, but it probably dates from
about the eleventh or twelfth century (Pl. XVIII, 6). The National
Museum of Buda-Pesth contains a pair of very similar armlets. In
connection with these ornaments the persistence of tradition in
goldsmith's work is curiously seen, since armlets closely resembling
the earlier examples are made and worn in Cairo at the present day.
During the latter part of the Middle Ages it appears to have been a
common practice for ladies to wear rosaries or chaplets of beads upon
their wrists as bracelets. With these exceptions, the long sleeves that
were worn throughout the greater part of the Middle Ages did not favour
the use of an ornament that demanded the bare skin as a foundation.
Ornamental circlets round the upper arm, which are not infrequently met
with in pictures, must be regarded as gold-embroidered edgings or bands.
It is true they were frequently set with pearls, stones, and decorations
in gold, but as they were sewn upon the sleeves they have no actual
claim to the name of armlets.
Armlets or bracelets appear to have been worn to a certain extent
towards the close of the fifteenth century, but to have been reserved
chiefly for summer wear. "If the bracelets we ordered months ago are not
here till the summer is over and we no longer wear our arms bare, they
will be of no use." So, about 1491, says Mrs. Ady, wrote the famous
Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, to the skilled goldsmith, Ercole
Fedeli, of Ferrara, who had failed to execute her order punctually. The
dilatoriness of the same artist on another occasion kept the marchioness
waiting four years for a pair of silver bracelets, and they would never,
she declared, have been finished in her lifetime if Duke Alfonso had not
thrown him into the Castello dungeon.[105]
[105] Cartwright (J.), _Isabella d'Este_, I, p. 73.
Though there are other references to the use of bracelets in the
fifteenth century, it was not until about the middle of the century
following that this species of ornament came into general use.
[Illustration: A goldsmith in his workshop. From _Hortus Sanitatis_
(Strasburg, 1536).]
CHAPTER XIX
MEDIÆVAL BELTS AND GIRDLES
The girdle or _ceinture_ of elaborate workmanship formed no
inconsiderable part of the jewellery of the wealthy in the Middle Ages.
Though actual examples are extremely rare, there is scarcely an effigy
or picture from the thirteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth
which does not supply us with some varied form of this indispensable
article; while the wills and inventories of the period often contain
descriptions of girdles of extraordinary richness. By the poor, too, the
girdle was habitually worn, but with them it frequently dwindled down to
a few metal knobs sewn on to leather or on to coarse cloth.
In addition to the upper girdle for fastening round the waist, a lower
girdle was worn, both as an ornament and as a belt for the sword. It was
a broad and sometimes stiff band which loosely encircled the body about
the hips, and in the case of male attire was sometimes attached to the
lower border of the tunic, with which it converged.
Of the narrower and more pliable species of girdle, the portions
reserved for special enrichment were the ends, one of which terminated
in the buckle, and the other in the pendant or _mordant_. Some account
of the buckle and of its plate, to which the strap of the girdle is
attached, has already been given in the Introduction. Always a favourite
field in former times for the display of the jeweller's art, it was
likewise richly adorned by the goldsmiths of the later Middle Ages. At
the other end of the girdle was a metal attachment or chape which gave
it consistency where it was most required. This girdle end, which hung
down and was known as the tag or pendant, was decorated with various
designs frequently of an architectural character and sometimes set with
precious stones; but whenever such decorations projected beyond the
sides of the strap the buckle was made wider in like manner, and if
tassels and other ornaments were added they were always of such size
that they could pass easily through the buckle. The metal shape thus
covering the end of the belt was also called the _mordant_ (of the same
derivation as the word morse), especially if in the absence of a buckle
it was so constructed as to hook on to a clasp to facilitate securing
the belt round the person. The mordant often forms with the buckle-plate
a single design, its decorated front being either as large as the plate,
or of such a shape as to form with it a regular figure. From the twelfth
century, when from sepulchral monuments[106] we obtain our first
information respecting the girdle, until the seventeenth, we nearly
always find that the end, when passed through the buckle, was twisted
round the waist-strap and hung down in front, in the case of men about
twelve inches and with women almost to the ground. But when, instead of
a buckle, a clasp formed of a central stud or rosette was employed,
either the end of the girdle itself hung down, or an additional chain
was attached at the point of junction. To this was sometimes suspended a
pomander-box, tablets, or a pendent reliquary. This mode, however, of
suspending such objects did not come generally into vogue till the time
of the Renaissance, and when worn in the earlier period at the girdle
they were hung at the side from a hook, somewhat like a chatelaine.
[106] Many admirable representations of girdles are figured in
Stothard's _Monumental effigies of Great Britain_.
The girdle itself was usually about two yards in length, and consisted
of a strap of stamped leather, or a band of material with a firm
foundation, upon which were set button-shaped decorations at regular
intervals. This was known as the studded girdle (_ceinture ferrée_).
Among the wealthy the studs were composed of the precious metals,
against which the sumptuary laws both at home and abroad (of little
effect it would seem) contained special prohibitions. The studs upon
the girdles of the poor were generally of the alloy of brass and tin
called latten or laton, and the term "pearled with latoun" is mentioned
in the _Canterbury Tales_.
There is still in existence in the City of London the Girdlers' Company,
which is of great antiquity. By a charter granted them by Edward III in
1327 it was forbidden to the girdlers to "garnish any girdle of silk,
wool, leather or linen thread, with any inferior metal than latten,
copper, iron, and steel, and if any girdles were garnished with lead
pewter, or tin, the same should be burned, and the workmen punished for
their false work."[107] In spite of this prohibition girdles appear to
have been frequently mounted with the baser metals, and a considerable
number with mountings of pewter have been discovered. Their ordinance,
as did that of latoners or workers in latten, likewise forbade girdlers
from interfering with the trade of the goldsmiths by mounting girdles or
garters with gold or silver; and that if a girdler wished to _harness_
his goods with either of the precious metals he was obliged to employ
a goldsmith. In 1376 a girdler of the City of London was accused of
"having secretly made in his chamber a certain girdle that was harnessed
with silver." Upon being brought before the justices he pleaded that his
offence was a light one compared with the more serious fraud of plating
with silver objects of base metal. He was dismissed with a warning.
Subsequently he was convicted of the very fraud he himself had
mentioned, and punished with a heavy fine.[108] The work of the English
goldsmiths in the adornment of girdles appears to have been well known
and recognised upon the Continent, and an inventory of the jewels of the
Duke and Duchess of Orleans in 1408 mentions a girdle of rich goldwork
set with pearls and sapphires "_de la façon d'Angleterre_."
[107] Riley (H. T.), _Memorials of London and London life_, p. 154.
[108] Riley, _op. cit._, p. 399.
The mediæval girdle, seldom as in later times in the form of a chain,
but generally composed of leather, was sometimes ornamented in the most
costly manner. In the inventory of Edward II is "a girdle in the old
style [probably filigree-work] set with letters of pearls: the buckle
and mordant enamelled with escutcheons of the arms of England and
others."[109] In the expenses of the Great Wardrobe of Edward III[110]
there occurs an entry of 304 dozens of silver buckles, and a similar
number of pendants, while his jewels deposited in the Treasury included
many complete girdles enriched with enamels and precious stones.[111]
From the many fifteenth-century girdles of extraordinary richness
described in the inventories, the following, the property of Henry IV,
may be selected as an example: "Item, a girdle of black silk, of gold,
garnished with various stones. With 28 bars[112] of gold, 13 of which
are set with 13 balasses, and 4 pearls at the corners, and 14 bars, each
enamelled with various flowers, and on each 4 pearls. Set on the buckle
is one balas, 10 large and 6 small pearls. On the pendant one balas, 8
large and 5 small pearls."
[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).
This entry probably refers to the broader and richer kind of girdle,
known as the military belt (_cingulum_);[113] a similar belt being also
worn by women. It was generally employed by men, as was sometimes the
narrow girdle, for the purpose of hanging the sword. This belt,
frequently composed of silk or gold tissue, seems to have come into
general use about the fourteenth century, and was worn round the hips.
It was often furnished with a buckle and mordant, but was more usually
united by a clasp, which at times was made very prominent, and assumed
excessive dimensions. Girdles and belts in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries were sometimes studded with medallions of Limoges enamel.
There is in the Victoria and Albert Museum a beautiful fifteenth-century
Italian belt of gold tissue (Pl. XXXVIII, 1). Its buckle, studs, and
other ornaments are of gilt metal, and the broad buckle-plate is
enriched with niello work, bearing the legend _Virtus vin_[_cit_]. Two
silver-gilt plates from a Gothic girdle of Flemish work of the fifteenth
century are in the possession of Herr James Simon, of Berlin. Each plate
is almost square, and measures 1¾ by 1½ inches. The centres are
sunk: within one is a figure of Samson and the Lion, and in the other a
figure on horseback, probably St. George or St. Michael. The figures, in
full relief and delicately modelled, are each surrounded by pearls and
blossoms, the groundwork being covered with bright green enamel, on
which are small dots of white enamel capped with red. The plates are
ornamented at each corner with chased Gothic foliage, and have hinges at
the sides to unite them to other similar sections, of which the complete
girdle was, perhaps, originally composed (Pl. XXV, 4).
[113] Hartshorne (A.), "Swordbelts of the Middle Ages" (_Arch.
Journ._, XLVIII, p. 320).
Of frequent occurrence in old English wills is the word _demysent_ (or
_demysens_), which refers to the little girdles worn by women: they were
known in France as _demi-ceints_ or _demi-ceintures_. Another species of
girdle was called the _baldrick_--derived from the French _baudrier_;
the _baudroier_ being the currier who prepared skins for the purpose.
The term baldric or baudric, sometimes applied to the military belt
worn round the waist, was generally employed for a belt worn over one
shoulder, across the breast, and under the opposite arm.[114] It was
often of a rich description and set with precious stones, and in early
times was occasionally hung with little bells.[115]
[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).
Among the girdles in the possession of Henry IV[116] one is garnished
with heads of stags and small pearls, and another with ostrich plumes
and little golden bells. Others, mostly of stuff, are garnished with
various flowers, mostly roses, or with ivy leaves, and the majority are
hung with little bells. In addition to such enrichments, which included
also coats-of-arms, girdles bore inscriptions, engraved on the
buckle-plate, or formed of letters sewn upon the band. These latter were
often of an amatory or of a superstitious character; for, like other
articles of mediæval jewellery, the girdle, on account of the stones,
etc., set upon it, was frequently considered endowed with talismanic
properties. Chaucer in his adaptation of the older "Roman de la Rose"
describes the rich jewelled girdle, worn by one of the emblematical
characters in the Garden of Love. It was set with stones evidently
valued for their mystic properties.
[116] _Inventories of the Exchequer_, III, p. 337.
Richesse a girdle had upon,
The bokell of it was of a ston,
Of vertue grete, and mokell of might.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The mordaunt wrought in noble wyse,
Was of a stone full precious,
That was so fine and vertuous,
That whole a man it couth make
Of palasey and of totheake.
Attached directly to the girdle or suspended from it by a hook or chain
was a purse or pouch called either a _gipcière_, _aulmonière_, or
_escarcelle_, which was made of velvet, silk, or stamped leather. The
gipcière (also written _gypcyre_) is mentioned most frequently in
early documents, where it is often described as being enriched with
embroidery, and set with pearls and precious stones. Like the aulmonière
and escarcelle, it was worn from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century
hung from a loop at the right side of the girdle. The heads or clasps of
the finest purses were of beautiful workmanship, of silver, bronze, or
iron, damascened, or exquisitely chiselled. For ordinary use these
heads--known as gipcière _beams_--as well as the mounts or frames of the
purses, were made of brass or latten; and judging from the number that
has been found and preserved, in the Guildhall Museum, for instance,
their use must have been very general in mediæval times.
[Illustration: "Luckenbooth" brooch of silver
(Nat. Mus. of Antiquities, Edinburgh).]
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]
[117] Symonds (J. A.), _Renaissance in Italy--The Fine Arts_, p. 91.
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.
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.
[Illustration: Pendant worn by one of The Three Graces in
Botticelli's "Primavera."]
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."
[Illustration: Jewel, in Ghirlandaio's portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni.]
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).
[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.
[Illustration: _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).
[120] Wölfflin (H.), _The art of the Italian Renaissance_, p. 234.
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.
[Illustration: 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]
[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.
[Illustration: 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.
[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.")
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.
[123] _Proc. Soc. Antiq._, XIV, p. 180.
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.
[Illustration: _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.
[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.
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.
[Illustration: _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.
[126] Most of Mielich's works have been reproduced by
Hefner-Alteneck in his _Deutsche Goldschmiede-Werke des 16^t^e^n
Jahrhunderts_.
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!"
[127] Jannettaz, _Diamant et pierres précieuses_, p. 423.
[128] Bucher, _Geschichte der technischen Künste_, II, p. 307.
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.
[Illustration: 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]
[129] _La collection Spitzer_, III, p. 53.
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.
[Illustration: 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]
[130] Brewer (J. S.), _Henry VIII_, I, p. 10.
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.
[131] _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII_, II, p. 1441, etc.;
III, p. 1533, etc.
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."
[132] _Letters and Papers_, XII, No. 47.
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."
[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).
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.
[136] His family name was Van der Gow or Van der Goes.
See L. Cust, _Burlington Magazine_, VIII, p. 356.
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."
[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.
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]
[138] British Museum. MSS. No. 4827.
[139] Strickland, _Queens of England_, IV, pp. 262, 416.
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'oeuvre_ 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 Phoenix
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.
[Illustration: _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.
[140] Vertue (G.), _Catalogue of the collection of Charles I_, p. 47.
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 "y^e folde of the chapeau was lined
with crimsyn saten; and on y^t a riche brooch withe y^e 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).
[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_).
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.
[142] Bonnaffé (E.), _La collection Spitzer_, III, p. 134.
[143] Burlington Fine Arts Club, _Catalogue of enamels_, 1897.
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]
[144] _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII_, IV, Nos. 1907 and 6789.
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]
[145] _L'Arte_, II, p. 432, 1899.
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 2-3/16 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]
[146] Hefner-Alteneck (J. H. von), _Deutsche Goldschmiede-Werke
des 16^t^e^n Jahrhunderts_, Pl. 12.
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).
[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.
[Illustration: _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.
[148] _I trattati dell' oreficeria._ Ed. Milanesi, 1857.
Chapter on Minuteria.
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.
[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).
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).
[150] Kenner (F.), _Cameen und Modelle des XVI. Jahrhunderts_, p. 27
(_Jahrbuch der Kunsthistor. Sammlungen des Kaiserhauses, IV_), 1886.
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]
[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.
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).
[Illustration: _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.
[Illustration: 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."
[153] _Inuentaires de la Royne Descosse Douairiere de France_
(published by the Bannatyne Club), p. 87.
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.
[154] Crystal quartz found in the Clifton limestone, and known
as Bristol diamonds.
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.
[155] Nichols (J.), _Illustrations of the manners and expenses
of ancient times in England_, Pt. III, p. 26.
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.
[156] Nuremberg: Germanisches Museum. _Mitteilungen_, 1894, p. 73.
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]
[157] _Letters and Papers_, IV, No. 1907.
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]
[158] Nichols, _Progresses of Queen Elizabeth_, II, p. 498.
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.
[159] Luthmer, _Gold und Silber_, p. 100.
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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: _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.
[160] Davenport, _Cameos_, 1900.
[Illustration: _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.
[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.)
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.
[Illustration: _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.
[162] Cf. "A juell of golde, wherein is a parret hanging"
(New Year's gifts to Queen Elizabeth, 1578-9).
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.
[163] Henry VIII, _Letters and Papers_, IV, No. 6789.
[164] Nichols, _Progresses of Q. Elizabeth_, I, pp. 380, 412; II, p. 52.
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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: _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 Phoenix Jewel in the British Museum, a jewel belonging
to Mr. Pierpont Morgan, and one in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum, Milan.
The Phoenix 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 Phoenix Badge of the year 1574, bearing
on the reverse the device of a phoenix 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 Phoenix 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 Phoenix 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).
[165] See _Connoisseur_, V, p. 80. _The gems and jewels at
Windsor Castle_, by H. Clifford Smith.
[Illustration: _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]
[166] Way(A.), _Cat. of antiquities and historical Scottish
relics, Edinburgh, 1859_, p. 163. See also _Connoisseur, loc. cit._
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.
[167] See note, p. 235.
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.
[Illustration: 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."
[Illustration: _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.
[Illustration: 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]
[168] _Calendar of State Papers_, Domestic, Aug., 1596.
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).
[Illustration: _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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: _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."
[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_."
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).
[170] See p. 301.
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]
[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).
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).
[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_.
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.
[Illustration: _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.
[173] Reproduced by Quaritch in 1888.
[Illustration: _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.
[174] _Burlington Magazine_, VIII, p. 130, 1905.
[Illustration: _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 Phoenix
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.
[175] Reproduced by Quaritch in 1888.
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'oeuvre_ 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.
[176] Mariette, _Abecedario_, IV, p. 133.
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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: _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.
[177] These are described in the _Connoiseur_, V, p. 243.
[Illustration: _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.
[178] See pp. 273 and 297.
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_.
[Illustration: _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]
[179] _Historical MSS. Commission_, IV, p. 286.
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]
[180] _Calendar of State Papers, Domestic_, March 18, 1623.
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]
[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.
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.
[183] Nichols, _op. cit._, III, p. 548.
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]
[184] Devon (F.), _Issues of the Exchequer, James I_
(_Pell records_), p. 49.
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.
[185] _Archæologia_, XV, p. 19.
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.
[Illustration: _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).
[Illustration: 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]
[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.
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.
[Illustration: _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.
[187] _Les bijoux anciens et modernes_, p. 294.
[Illustration: _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.
[188] See _Connoisseur_, XII, p. 81.
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.
[Illustration: _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.
[Illustration: _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.
[Illustration: _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 I^e^r 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.
[Illustration: _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.
[Illustration: _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.
[Illustration: _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 Coeur_) 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.
[Illustration: _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.
[189] Kindly communicated by the late Sir Dominic Colnaghi.
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."
[190] Davies (G. S.), _Frans Hals_, p. 88.
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]
[191] Munro (R.), _Archæology and false antiquities_.
Eudel (P.), _Le Truquage_, 1887. _Trucs et Truqueurs_, 1907.
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.
[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.
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.
[193] Cook (T. A.), _The history of Rouen_, p. 293.
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][=a]h-[h.]etep, 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
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