Fay Cullen » Antique Jewelry Directory

Betrothal & Wedding Ring History

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:19:05 +0000

The history of the ‘little circlet’ constituting a ring, offers an amazing illustration of diversities in the significance, form, usage and methods of wearing of this symbol, realized by the imagination of man and influenced during centuries by cultural factors different civilizations. A ring is a symbol to which great meaning and interest is attached. From Egypt, the custom of wearing it was transmitted to the Greek world and to the Etruscans, from whom the usage was derived by the Romans, as referred to in the popular tales of Prometheus. Another origin ascribed to the ring is the knot; a knotted cord or a piece of wire twisted into a knot was a favorite finger adornment in primitive societies, frequently symbolizing specific talismans.

The use of ring as a pledge of love is said to have been mentioned for the first time in Roman literature by Plautus. The passage, however, does not directly refer to a nuptial ring but rather to a ‘love token’. Somewhat distantly related to the betrothal or wedding rings were those given by lovers to their loved ones. The ancient custom of placing the betrothal or wedding ring upon the fourth finger seems to originate from the Egyptian belief that a special nerve or vein ran directly from this finger to the heart. During the reign of George I in England, it was customary to wear the betrothal ring on the thumb. This custom may have been due to the fact that exceptionally large rings were favored during that period. In France, ecclesiastical rituals between the 11th and the 15th century demanded that the nuptial ring be placed on the right hand of the bride, in most cases upon the middle finger of this hand.

A rare kind of marriage ring used during the early centuries of Christianity would bear, incised on its orbicular, button-shaped plaque, a male, and a female bust, the faces turned toward each other, with a cross engraved above the portraits. This particular design was initiated by Romans and passed on to the ancient Germans who maintained and favored it for several centuries. The earliest Greek betrothal rings were inscribed elaborately with words, which indicated devotion and loyalty. Plain iron rings were the earliest ones used and continued their popularity long after the second century of our era when gold rings were produced for betrothal or wedding. The old custom of exchanging rings in the Russian Church required that the same rings be used for both the engagement and the marriage ceremony, the latter bearing the name of ‘crowning’.

The bride’s ring was made of silver whereas the bridegroom’s was crafted in gold. It has been remarked by Jacob Grim (1785-1863), a famous German lexicographer, that the usage of betrothal rings among the Germans was the product of Christian influence rather than a proper Germanic tradition. Such rings were given the name of ‘Trauringe’ designating the ring as an emblem of faith and trust, resembling the Italian word ‘fede’ meaning ‘faith’ as such rings continue to be called. In the latter half of the 15th century, the inscription of poesies on betrothal and wedding rings became a tradition in England, France, Germany, and Italy. Fine examples of poetically inscribed rings are displayed in the Germanic Museum in Nuremberg, the British Museum, and the Figdor Collection in Vienna. At the turn of the 17th century, the religious sentiment predominated in Europe and gradually became a substitute for poesies inscriptions.

It is not possible to indicate with any precision at what date the betrothal ring became the wedding ring, but this change seems to have taken place in England about the time of the Reformation. This, however, did not entail the abandonment of the betrothal ring, but rather the substitution of a less simple ring, to mark the betrothal. The change was gradual and the usage varied in different countries, since the employment of a separate marriage ring was rather a custom than of ecclesiastical ordinance.

Scarab Beetle

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:10:36 +0000

The scarab beetle was the image of self-creation for ancient Egyptians. Worshipped under the name Khepri (also known as Khepry or Khepera, meaning ‘he who came forth from the earth’), the ancient sun god was conceived as a great scarab beetle rolling the sun across the heavens. Ancient Egyptian history suggests that the sunrise is caused by the scarab unfolding its wings, which stretch out as glorious colors on each side of its body, and that when if folds its wings under its dark shell at sunset, night follows.

The scarab also became a symbol of the enduring human soul as well, hence its frequent appearance, often with wings spread, in funerary art and also within the Egyptian rituals of burial, especially mummification. The Egyptians believed that intelligence came from the heart and not from the mind, and the winged scarab made sure the mummy went into the afterlife with its wits intact, and when an Egyptian was embalmed, the heart was removed and embalmed separately, with a stone scarab beetle put in its place!

Animal Motifs

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:10:03 +0000

Jewels have traditionally served not only as symbols of dignity, rank, authority or wealth, but they have also been created as amulets and talismans to provide protection and ward off evil in many cultures, taking the form of symbols such as animals, body parts and plants, to name but a few. Whether a priceless creation or a precious piece, such symbols have special meaning for the historian the anthropologist and the geologist.

Animals, domestic and wild, have for centuries occupied an important place amongst motifs used in jewelry. In the Middle Ages, the Celts specialized in stylized animal figures which were adopted by craftsmen throughout the Post-Roman Europe and passed on to their Eastern successor, the Byzantine Empire.

The 18th century Europe witnessed a revival of what had for long been regarded as part of the remote past. A renewed fascination with the Medieval and Renaissance was born with the discovery of treasures in the East due to the birth of modern archeology, introducing new sources of inspiration to the world of jewelry.

Decades later, European taste was being transformed by a spate of archeological discoveries in Assyria, Egypt and Greece, covering a wide spectrum of artifacts amongst which pins, bracelets and necklaces with animal motifs were unearthed. The scientific expeditions to Africa, India and South America brought back to Europe unfamiliar shapes and colors that inspired jewelers to mimic nature and produce lizards, birds and a variety of animals in innumerable forms.

The mid-Victorian era witnessed the first major alliance between East and West. Collaboration in Pforzheim between German and Japanese artists lead to Shakudo plaques set into filigree frames and the world was fascinated by Japanese customs and culture as a result of the trade agreement between the US and Japan in 1854. In Paris, Alfred Cartier joined his father in 1870 and embarked upon transforming Oriental pieces to serve as inspiration for Cartier’s new creations.

Hyderabad, Kapurthala and Mysore in India were amongst the first potentates who entrusted their Mogul jewels to Cartier for remounting and their success in India allowed the House of Cartier to set a pace in the design of Art Deco jewelry a few decades later. The Etruscan and Indian Mogul Revival styles were cherished by Victorians who produced exquisite ensembles and parures inspired by those styles. The development of enameling techniques by René Lalique and others widened the scope for producing more natural and elaborately detailed versions of insects and animals during the Art Nouveau era.

In early 20th century Cartier was able to develop a reciprocal tradition with India. Because of England’s imperial status, London had taken on the role of cultural and political center for the Maharajhas on their European visits during which unique Mogul jewelry items were purchased to serve as innovative Eastern motifs in jewelry pieces.

In 1927, Peter Lemarchard , the new young designer at the House of Cartier whose fascination had predominantly been ‘nature’, traveled to India and brought back sufficient knowledge to work on an earlier Cartier motif & the panther- giving it appropriate body and style to create an entire line of jewels: ‘The Pride of Panther’. By the late 1940′s, Lemarchard was designing a new generation of panthers, more natural, more physical than their predecessors.

Noveltry Jewelry

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:09:20 +0000

Novelty Jewelry refers to a distinct line of jewelry design characteristic of the 1860′s and 1870′s.

This new and hitherto unknown trend was primarily based on a certain naiveté and frivolousness: earrings being produced in the shape of windmills, scales, baskets of flowers, animals, watering cans and numerous other objects in daily use.

A ‘novelty’ par excellence, this line of design only amused and suited an ephemeral whim of fashion and, even though received enthusiastically, was discarded as soon as the fashion diminished.

The taste for novelty jewelry spread to sporting jewelry, which began a peculiarly English fashion but became current at a high speed in France and the entire Continent.

Cameo Habilles

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:03:06 +0000

Produced from the early 1940′s in Italy, these shell carvings, usually a female clad in an inlaid hard-stone dress, was adorned with gem-set jewels. This technique was pioneered by Dafrique of France, famous for his ‘cameos animés’, particularly the hard-stone cameos of negro girls clad in ruby and rose-cut diamonds.

Seals & Crests

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:56:50 +0000

Gentleman of the 1820′s and 1830′s regarded this fashionable item very highly.
Early seals were more linear in the shape of a lyre, a stirrup, a scroll or a baluster. By the end of the 1930′s, the surmounts were chased with floral motifs of varying color gold and carved in the shape of dogs, birds or stag’s heads.

A family crest or coat of arms was engraved in bloodstone, carnelian, citrine quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz or chalcedony. More expensive seals would be constructed in 22k and mounted with precious stones and perhaps a cabochon intaglio sapphire seal.

Less expensive seals were worked in base metal, lightly gilded and mounted with paste, the coat of arms being substituted by a motto while the middle range were set with quartz, carnelian and bloodstone in chased gold mounts.

Swivel seals were three sided prisms carved in semi precious stones, horizontally secured in a chased stirrup-shaped surmount and engraved on each side with a different motif.

Etruscan

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:54:07 +0000

Prospering between 950 and 300 BC, the Etruscans occupied a region in northwest Italy between the River Tiber and the Arno River.

Leaving unanswered questions about their culture and origin due to lack of literature and historical inscriptions, the only knowledge we have of these people was by studying their building remains, monuments, tombs and artifacts.

Disappearing without trace, one theory suggests the Etruscans migrated to Greece or even Tuscany whose culture rapidly developed by means of acquired tools and trading.

By skillfully exploiting their natural resources, the Etruscans amassed wealth, separating the powerful aristocracy into stone palaces while their serfs occupied wooden huts.

Although Etruscan mariners gave rise to Etruscan pirates and there didn’t appear to be a single societal leader, there was evidence of local autonomy and their social customs together with their religious and military practices appears to be largely similar.

Ancient Etruscan jewelry was particularly inspired by the Greek Hellenistic styles characterized by great workmanship and intricate detailing.

Their immaculate designs and works of art served as source of inspiration for many archeological revival styles in the late 19th century Victorian era. Etruscan granulation is the covering of a gold surface with minute gold spheres.

This difficult process required soldering the spherules to the surface without deforming them. In 1870, Alfredo Castellani claimed to have discovered the Etruscan secret from goldsmiths in a remote village in the Appennines.

While the Etruscans used the original technique called ‘colloidal hard soldering’, Castellani used one that is very similar but without quite the delicate and light effect of the original.

It is said that young Etruscans wore a bulla around their neck while women wore fibulae bracelets and Greek style fringed necklaces as well as Castellanis Roman mosaic brooches of Byzantine inspiration inscribed in Greek and Latin.

Arts & Crafts Movement

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:46:37 +0000

The Arts & Crafts movement in England emerged as a strong reaction against the worsening effects of mechanization felt early in the 19th century. With the growing lament over industrialization in academic circles, a collective and persistent search began for ideals and models in medievalism and Renaissance art and lifestyle. The writings of John Ruskin formed the basis of the movement and were read by William Morris and widely circulated in Working Men’s College in existence since 1851. The demoralizing display of machine-made, showy, and tasteless goods at the Great Exhibition of 1851 strengthened the cause and from the undercurrent of academic revolt, evolved a set of principles for a renewal of crafts. Morris and his associates determined to bring more personal fulfillment and freedom of expression to the individual artist- craftsmen, attributed the decline in artistic design to a ‘social sickness’ and saw their way to an idealistic social and moral reform primarily through a therapeutic revival of the arts and crafts. Metalwork and jewelry were the most appropriate to the whole Arts & Crafts movement and certainly had the best chance of achieving its ideals.

The application of their principles to jewelry demanded that all jewels be handmade, that craftsmen were to play the multiple role of designing, making and decorating the jewels and this in reality was not practical, nor was it possible to revive a Renaissance man in a different age. The amateur could rarely acquire the complex expertise so expected from him and the handmade pieces were more expensive than the machine made items and appealed only to a limited elite group educated to understand the new aesthetic approach. Ironically, designs, which succeeded in reaching people, were those adapted for the machine, produced cheaply and in large quantities, but professionally finished. This was most successfully accomplished by Liberty & Co who held the total rejection of machine responsible for limiting the spread of art and ideals the Movement had hoped for. The formation of English guilds and art schools during the 1880′s was an important part of the artistic movement. Guilds were set up to create handmade goods.

John Ruskin established the first cooperative Guild of St. George in 1871, a trial that paved the way for others to follow. The most important guild for jewel design was the Guild of Handicrafts, founded by C.R, Ashbee in 1888, with three members and a capital of 50 Pounds! Birmingham was also an important center of Arts & Crafts jewelry. The Birmingham Guild of Handicraft was founded in 1890, involving many of the leading metalworkers. From this, it is clear that jewelry played an important part in the general output of the movement. Jewelers in the Art and Crafts movement rarely signed their work, but gradually styles of particular makers came to be recognized, primarily those of Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) who was a self-taught silversmith and jeweler. Having established his Guild and School of Handicraft in the East End of London, he later moved the Guild workshops to Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire, as working in a country village was more in line with Arts & Crafts ideals. Ashbee made good use of turquoise enamels, a kind of peacock blue and had great interest in peacock motifs. Edgar Simpson and Fred Partridge often followed closely Ashbee’s interests and Partridge’s work particularly in horn shows an unusual influence by French Art Nouveau. Ashbee is considered particularly important in the history of Arts & Crafts movement and for his contributions to the development of Art Nouveau jewelry design and to later modern movements in Europe. He used the peacock motif to good effect, setting the feathers with mother-of-pearl, opals or moonstones and his use of sensual, organic interpretation and of insects heralded the onset of Art Nouveau themes.

Arts & Crafts Forms of Jewelry
Ruskin’s basic theories stipulated that materials should not be tampered with and should be used as nearly as possible in their natural state. Materials were never chosen for their intrinsic value, but for colors, finish and texture, and there was a conscious effort to create beauty from the least glamorous materials. The designer and jeweler J.C. Cooper used 15ct gold simply because he liked its color. Stones were rarely faceted but were used as cabochons, and diamonds were completely shunned. Turquoises were particularly favored, especially when they were veined with brown matrix; the satin finish of mother-of-pearl was popular and little Baroque or river pearls often used as drops on pendants. Claw-settings were rarely used and the plain collet setting was the preferred. Silver was far more widely used than gold and was often hand beaten or hammered or chased into tiny leaves, flowers or coils of wire.

Arts & Crafts jewels were always handmade, with joints secured by wound wire, or flaps of metal. Pendants and necklaces were the most popular items, often seen with loops and festoons of chain. Waist buckles and cloak clasps were made as they suited the concept of introducing art to a more functional object. The revival of enameling, a Renaissance phenomenon, was a major feature of Arts and Crafts jewelry. The handmade product was in this case often better and more artistic than commercially produced enamels and Charles Fleetwood Varley painted beautiful landscape enamels, usually mounted by Liberty & Co. as box lids and occasionally as jewels. He was one of a family of Victorian painters and created land and seascapes of murky and misty atmospheric scenes of deep colors and hazy light.

History of Cliosonné, Champlevé, Basse Taille & Pâte-de-verre

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:38:46 +0000

Deriving from the word ‘smelzen’ in Old German, and ‘esmail’ in Old French, the term enamel was changed at a later point of time to its contemporary name of ‘smalto’ in Italian, ‘email’ in French and German and ‘enamel’ in English.

Enamel is a coating with the appearance of glass, applied to a metal base, encompassing, in their historic sequence gold, silver, copper, bronze iron and steel. A second usage of the term ‘enameling’ concerns the application of decorative glass, applied to glass objects.

The first specimens of enameled objects were recorded in the 13th BC, consisting of 6 rings crafted in gold and found by an unknown craftsman in a Mycenaean tomb at Kouklia. Those early specimens rendered in textured gold, depicting twisted wires, and meticulously cut inlaid glass and a gold scepter enameled in white, pink and green, which are today proudly housed in the National Museum of Cyprus.

The rings are chased gold, with an ornamentation of twisted square wires and it is almost certain that the glass was very carefully cut and laid into each cell. Together with the gold scepter and orb decorated with white pink and green, these are the earliest known pieces of enamel and can be found in the Nicosia museum in Nicosia, Cyprus.

The foregoing specimens display the earliest objects enameled in the cloisonné technique, whereby strips of gold, silver, copper or brass are laid on a metal base forming an assemblage of cloisons (cells) to which an enamel paste is applied.

The ancient Egyptians used the early cloisonné technique for the setting of semi precious stones into jewelry by cold cementing, a well-known example of which is the gold mask of Tutankhamen, which gives the impression of being enamelwork, although it is in fact cold cementing by the use of cloisonné technique.

The Celts were amongst the earlier craftsmen in the art of champlevé enameling and quintessentially Celtic motif, specimens of which are displayed in British Museum and as well as other museums throughout the British Isles.

The art of enameling was revived anew in the Middle East during the 9th century AD and in Russia during the 10th century. The Middle East Byzantine style, specimens of which are found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, remained in vogue until the 12th Century. In the 13th Century Limoges craftsmen excelled in the art of enameling and paved their way towards universal fame.

Italy joined Limoges in the late 13th century, developing their own technique of ‘Basse Taille’ enameling. An early specimen of this transparent enamel work dating back to 1290 is a gold chalice made for the Convent of St Francis of Assisi.

In the 15th century, along with the development of more complex enameling techniques in Europe, the already skilled Limoges craftsmen adapted the method developed by the Venetian glass makers which did not require the complex phases of the conventional techniques. The newly adapted process was gradually modified to become a common practice for enamellers to the present date.

Since its inception, until the eighteenth century, enameling was confined to religious artifacts, and the earliest specimens which have survived the passage of time or restored throughout the centuries, are considered rarities and found only in museums.

CLOISONNE ENAMELING

Cloisonné is amongst the oldest techniques applied in the art of enameling, based on an assemblage of cloisons (cells) which create a specific pattern. The latter is soldered onto a metal base, which is often gold. Colored enamels in powder form are laid between the cloisons and exposed to fire, thus forming a smooth level after colling and polishing. While the earlier cloisonné technique made use of cut gemstones, glass and other materials, the technique developed in recent century’s uses enamel powder converted into a paste.

The cloisonné technique was the most common method of enameling in ancient times and was often used to decorate items of jewelry or weapons. The Celts applied the method for ornamental pieces on swords, mostly of geometric or schematic theme. Under the Byzantine Empire, enamellers used thinner wires to produce more pictorial images for religious objects, images and jewelry, which have always displayed enamel accentuation.

CHAMPLEVE TECHNIQUE OF ENAMELING

The champlevé technique differs from the earlier cloisonné process in the preparation phase of the base metal, namely gouging the surface thereof, thus creating troughs and channels, intersected by delicate ridges. The powered colored enamels are placed into the troughs, exposed to fire and cooled. This technique requires thick sheets of metal, making copper an optimal choice.

Champlevé technique enjoyed unprecedented popularity throughout Europe in the 1940′s Retro era, widely used for producing polychromatic buckles, necklaces and bracelets decorated with scrolls and floral motifs. In the same period, the guilloche or engine-turned backgrounds depicting spirals were highly in vogue, with cobalt blue remaining the favorite color par excellence.

BASSE TAILLE TECHNIQUE OF ENAMELING

A Sophisticated Version of Champlevé

Originating from Italy, this technique was developed as a more sophisticated version of champlevé enameling. It was adopted by Italian enamellers in the eleventh century and involved the use of transparent enamels, rendering the base metal visible through the enamel, followed by carving and engraving the former with selected patterns in order to achieve variations in the depth of color As well as to increase the effect of light reflection through the enamel. The basse taille technique enabled Italian enamellers to simulate a three-dimensional effect in their creation of figural scenes.

PATE DE VERRE

This technique, utilizing glass as the base material, was first adopted by ancient Mesopotamians, flourishing between 1300 and 1000 BC, the dates supported by fascinating mosaic style vessel forms, dating as far back as 1500 BC, explored by archeologists and safeguarded in national museums.

Mesopotamians reigned over vast territories corresponding to modern-day Iraq, parts of northeastern Syria, Turkey and Iran, the totality of which has been referred to as the ‘cradle of civilizations’, particularly the Bronze Age Mesopotamia with incredible artistic talents in handcrafting ornamental objects, amongst which Pâte de verre glasswork featured frequently. There was a decline of this art until its revival by Egyptian and Assyrian glass artists in the 9th century BC.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Persians applied their version of Pâte de verre to produce magnificent vessels and decorative objects, and the same century witnessed the production of exquisite pieces by modest independent artists throughout the Middle East.

In spite of its very old origins, the extremely labor-intensive Pâte de verre technique was put into practice by French artists in the 19th century, hence its French name. The traditional Pâte de verre consisted of applying a paste of crushed glass to the surface of a mold and exposing it to fire, the greatest advantage being the precise placement of glass colors.

The paste according to the traditional French method, consisted of crushed glass and enamel (or paint) and often required several phases of firing. The newer technique, although using the same principles, uses powdered glass and enamel to prepare the paste, resulting in more translucent quality of glass.

Enamel Miniature-Painting

This technique of enameling evolved exclusively in France in the second quarter of the 17th century and had great resemblances to the Renaissance technique of painted enamels. The base metal used in this technique was smooth polished gold, covered by a white or pastel-colored enamel, onto which the craftsman would apply colored enamels using a process similar to the art of ‘stipple painting’ used by the contemporary miniaturists and today referred to as Swiss enamel.

EMAIL EN RONDE BOSSE

Also referred to as ‘email en bosse’ and translated as ‘encrusted enameling’, this extremely complex technique was developed in France in early 15th Century and was widely used throughout the Renaissance era, exclusively for small, round-shaped objects or sculptural figures. It consisted of applying opaque or translucent enamels to irregular, relief surfaces which were mostly in gold and exposing the object to fire.

The latter constituted the most difficult and delicate phase of this technique, as only the parts to which enamel colors had been applied were to be heated, while finding ways of protecting the objects in their entirety during the firing phase.

French craftsmen enveloped their objects in ‘plaster of Paris’ prior to firing. This material is a variety of gypsum plaster in use throughout the world since ancient times and the name given
by French enamellers derives from the fact that in the 1700′s, the walls of wooden houses in Paris were covered with plaster as protection against fire. The King of France had enforced this measure after the famous London fire in 1666.

The email en ronde bosse technique was brought to Germany by Dinglinger & Koehler, the famous Court jewelers based Dresden and Augsburg, whose craftsmen mastered the technique, applied it to the production of unique Gothic and Renaissance themed jewelry, and passed it on to Fabergé enamellers in St. Petersburg. Centuries later, René Lalique revived the 15th century French-pioneered enameling technique to create his unmatched Art Nouveau pieces.

Plique-à-jour Technique of Enameling

Its name, meaning ‘open to light’ is indicative of the delicacy and transparency which is the end result of this sophisticated enameling technique. Used in all decorative arts, the Plique-à-jour technique creates translucent enamels within an open framework. It is distinct from other techniques of enameling by virtue of individual and delicate metal strips soldered to each other rather than to a supporting base metal. The unsoldered supporting base, usually a sheet of metal or mica, is easily removable after the annealing and cooling phases of enameling.

Evolved in Europe in the 15th century, the Plique-à-jour technique was highly praised and widely applied by craftsmen of Russia during the 19th century Victorian era. Russia produced outstanding enamel pieces emanating from Carl Fabergé studios which extended to early 20th century.

René Lalique:

The Plique-à-jour Star of Europe

In the vast and rich volumes of literature written on the history of Art Nouveau, Paris has often been described as ‘the nucleus of the Art Nouveau movement’. By the same token, the Art Nouveau style is said to be at its purest when interpreted by French artists and craftsmen.

The popularity of French Art Nouveau artists and their designs is greatly attributable to their technical perfection achieved through rigorous training. Throughout the 19th century, the French excelled in the artistic chasing and texturing of gold, reviving the most complex enameling techniques ever used throughout the world, enabling them to richly adorn the Neo-Renaissance jewels of the 1870?s with artistic enamelwork, particularly by using the open-backed Plique-à-jour technique.

René Lalique spent many years studying and working on traditional 19th century French jewelry. Amongst others, he worked with Cartier, Boucheron, and his own master and mentor Aucoc while his own works were made public in 1895 when he exhibited at the Salon du Champs de Mars. Lalique expressed a new, realistic view of nature through his jewels.

He had an artist’s eye for color and composition and was known as a ‘master of surprise’, for example combining thick geometric lines with the palest swirling enamels, or a dreamy nymph’s face with the flaccid web of a bat?s wings, or interpreting a classical cameo scene in deep colors of Pâte de verre!

Lalique designed magnificent pieces incorporating both floral and naturalistic themes: flowers, insects, roosters, birds were all given new life by his art of enameling; petals splayed outwards in luscious fullness, carvings from opaque glass; deep blue swallows dipped through the air.

Lalique was master of enameling and of the plique-à-jour process par excellence. He used this to create the mesmerizing translucency of nature’s shifting colors; to echo the changing tints of the opal, his favorite stone. He used mat and opaque enamels for intensity of color and incorporated opaque, carved glass and Pâte de verre into his jewels.

Lalique was commissioned by the wealthy (Iranian) industrialist Gulbenkian to produce a series of spectacular jewels, meant for Lisbon. Upon completing that task, he was disillusioned by the amount of poor reproductions inspired by his work and devoted more of his time to glasswork. His later jewels consist of simple brooches and pendants hung on silk, all constructed in carved glass, still in his distinctive Art Nouveau style.

Enameling in America

The art of enameling in the United States coincided with the Art Nouveau movement in the late 19th century. The early enameled objects were produced by Tiffany and a revival of the art in mid 20th century motivated by artists such as Kenneth Bates, Jean and Arthur Ames and Jackson Woodley has widened public interest in enamel.

Cameos & Intaglios

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:08:20 +0000

In broad terms, a cameo is defined as a precious or a semi-precious stone on which a design is carved ‘en relief’, being the exact opposite of the ‘intaglio’ carving which dates farther back in human history. Whereas the intaglio engraved gem was highly functional and could be impressed in damp clay or wax to indicate, for example, ownership of sealed objects, the cameo was purely ornamental. It is therefore not surprising that although the engraved signet stone (intaglio) can be traced back to the Sumerian period in Mesopotamia (circa 5000 BC) the cameo did not make its appearance until the Hellenistic period about the third century BC.

Its emergence in the Greek world took place after the conquests of Alexander the Great and due to the influence of the newly acquired territories from the Persian Empire which enabled the Greeks to acquire the Oriental fashion for mounting precious stones in their jewelry. Both the onyx and sardonyx were stones admirably suitable for cameo production due to their stratified layers of light and dark stone. By the end of the second century BC the cameo had been generally accepted by the Romans, both as an ornament particularly for furniture, and as personal adornment. The style was that of the Hellenistic era and the art continued to flourish for almost 200 years. After the Roman period cameos were highly prized but very rarely were they found in their original gold settings. Exceptions are finger rings which have survived intact such as a few contained in the British Museum’s fine collection of classical cameos.

With the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century, the art of the cameo blossomed under the patronage of collectors like Pope Martin V, Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, Pope Paul II and, of course, Lorenzo de Medici. The names of stone-engravers began to be known and by the sixteenth century every court in Europe had followed the Italian fashion and many employed Italian artists for this purpose. Matteo dal Nassaro of Veano worked in France for Francis I, training both Italians and Frenchmen, while Jacopo de Trezzo became gem-engraver to Philip II of Spain. In Tudor England the fashion for Renaissance cameos was eagerly followed by Henry VIII and throughout the Elizabethan period the demand for cameos undoubtedly grew, but little is known about the handful of master carvers who were commissioned by the Queen to produce unique pieces of cameo jewelry.

French master goldsmiths of the seventeenth and early 18th centuries often provided extremely accomplished settings for contemporary cameos like a Louis XIII openwork pendant of enameled gold in ‘pea-pod’ design and set with precious stones. The Napoleonic classicism in France brought cameos once more into fashion,not confined to to splendid diadems, bandeaus and combs set with cameos that the Empress Josephine would wear, as seen in their portraits painted by Gerard & David in 1807, but throughout Europe and at all levels of society. Around 1805, Italian carvers started using shell for their cameo creations which, by the Victorian era, became widely appreciated as an inexpensive medium and optimal for carving. Victorians used shell for less formal cameo ornaments to be worn during the day and agate, onyx or sardonyx for more formal pieces.

Discoveries of archeological sites in Italy and Egypt renewed interest in classics and influenced the motifs used for cameos during the Victorian era. Motifs in vogue included gods and goddesses from the Greek and Roman mythology and themes related thereto such as Bacchante maidens adorned in their hair with grape leaves, the Three Graces who were the three daughters of Zeus and the like. Naturalism remained the favorite cameo theme par excellence and Victorians’ love for gardening was translated into cameos depicting flowers and trees.

Another novelty during the Victorian era was the emergence of the ‘anonymous woman’, a motif frequently used by cameo engravers without necessarily diminishing the popularity of commissioned portraits. The anonymous or the ‘idealized’ woman would generally be a Romanesque, with classical Roman features and an upswept hairstyle. The new vogue gave birth to cameo habille which depicted the portrait of the idealized woman wearing jewelry such as earrings or a necklace.

In the late eighteenth to nineteenth centuries in England the passion for cameos and intaglios led James and William Tassie to make faithful copies in glass paste, while Josia Wedgwood produced a loose variation of the art in his jasperware and black basalt medallions and intaglios which jbecame popular in other European ceramic factories like Sevres, Berlin and Fuerstenberg. Like many others, the firm of Wedgwood continues to meet the undying demand for cameo portraits, but rarely are cameos to be found in jewelry since the late 1930′s.

A hard-stone, gem or shell into which a design is cut in relief, often making use within the design of the naturally occurring contrasting colors in the stone. Several types of shell with contrasting layers are ideal for interesting relief and reverse relief shell-cameos and intaglios. Shell is cut with a sharp edged tool or a point while hard-stone is drilled, making the former a whole lot easier.

Although the engraved signet stone (intaglio) can be traced back to the Sumerian period in Mesopotamia (circa 5000 BC) the cameo did not make its appearance until the Hellenistic period about the third century BC. Its emergence in the Greek world took place after the conquests of Alexander the Great and due to the influence of the newly acquired territories from the Persian Empire which enabled the Greeks to acquire the oriental fashion for mounting precious stones in their jewelry and both the onyx and sardonyx were stones admirably suitable for cameo production due to their stratified layers of light and dark stone. By the end of the second century BC the cameo had been generally accepted by the Romans, both as an ornament and as personal adornment. The style was that of the Hellenistic era and the art continued to flourish for almost 200 years. After the Roman period cameos were highly prized by rarely found in contemporary gold settings.

With the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century the art of the cameo blossomed under the patronage of collectors like Pope Martin V, Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, Pope Paul II and, of course, Lorenzo de Medici. The names of stone-engravers began to be known and by the sixteenth century every court in Europe had followed the Italian fashion and many employed Italian artists for this purpose.

French master goldsmiths of the seventeenth and early 18th centuries often provided extremely accomplished settings for contemporary cameos like a Louis XIII openwork pendant of enameled gold in ‘pea-pod’ design and set with precious stones.

After the Italian campaign of 1796, the fashion for cameos and intaglios began being brought back to France from Italy. Napoleon was fascinated by their beauty and perfection and had some mounted for himself. They were immediately set in tiaras, necklaces, bracelets and earrings mounted in gold bezels, sometimes decorated with seed pearl borders connected with delicate gold chains.

By the middle of the 19th century, cameos were fashionable once again, this time they were larger and bolder than during Napoleonic times and carved in high relief from onyx, stained chalcedony and amethyst, dramatically displaying contrasting colors, best exemplified by ‘Saulinis’ of Rome. Shells imported from Africa and the West Indies were used for larger carvings, while habillés cameos were gem-set, subjects provided by Ares, Minerva, Diana, Dionysus, Zeus, Medusa, Heracles and Demeter. From the mid 19th century, female subjects were preferred to male subjects perhaps a consequence of the more important role acquired by women in society at the time.