Art History, Jewellery History

ABSTRACT: This book chapter considers the interest in Etruscan engraved gems and jewellery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from the scholarly and collecting activities of Philipp von Stosch, Anton Francesco Gori and others in Florence in the heyday of the Etruscan Revival, to the complete re-systematization of the Etruscan glyptic material by Adolf Furtwängler at the turn of the century 1900. It also discusses the interesting cultural phenomenon of the dactyliothecae (gem cast cabinets), amateur and commercial serial-production of gem impressions and gem casts in various materials, and the re-use and imitation of Etruscan gems and goldwork in the so-called “archaeological jewellery” produced by the Castellani and other workshops.

psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed that all people had a strong desire to realize their full potential and were motivated by a number needs, some of which took precedence over others. Maslow's needs are often represented in pyramid form and classified into five categories: Physiological, Safety, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. Maslow added a sixth dimension -Self-Transcendence -to the needs in his later years.

« Corps de mode et art du vêtir. Retracer l’histoire du costume, de l’Antiquité égyptienne aux derniers défilés Couture »
« Mode et société : valorisation du luxe par l’image »
« Des origines de la Haute Couture à la "fringue" réactionnaire et militante »

Course Description: This course looks at jewelry throughout history and from around the world. We will explore aesthetics, design, materials, and production techniques across cultures. We will investigate the role of adornment in conveying gender and identity, and also consider cultural perspectives of jewelry as sacred and magical. Prerequisite(s): N/A Co-requisite(s): N/A Learning Goals: Students who successfully complete this course will develop the visual skills and critical vocabulary for identifying, describing, and contextualizing works of jewelry representative of diverse world cultures. Students will develop a critical, interdisciplinary approach to jewelry, incorporating art historical, anthropological, fashion, and identity theory. We will study jewelry, itself, as a primary resource, considering individual elements of jewelry and their incorporation into dress ensembles. In addition, we will consider the representation of jewelry elements and ensembles in art, literature, and contemporary media to better understand its roles in various culture.

Amber is a natural origin material with a wide range of colours and structures, concealing the secret of the now bygone continent inside. At present, much like in olden days, amber is used to make mainly decorative items. As a material, it is also subjected to treatment or combined with other materials, metals or gemstones, depending on the need and customer requirements, to make jewellery, both in its one-of-a-kind and mass-produced variety, but that’s not all there is to it. It is also a material for sculptures, functional items, or even cosmetics and amber-based medicines.
The selection of works by members of the International Amber Association presented at the exhibition and in this Catalogue is an example of different ways to approach amber. It includes items both from artists who make their pieces themselves from the concept stage to the end result and from designers who create their amber visions on computer screens. To some, amber is the ultimate inspiration, which is why the setting is adapted to a specific natural piece. Others treat this material as one of the components of jewellery.

This review of the evolution of diamond cuts during the 16th to 18th centuries is illustrated with Portuguese jewellery and sacred objects from this period. We follow the evolution from point cuts already in existence prior to Portuguese navigational discoveries in the late 15th century, to table and rose cuts that co-existed for most of the 16th and 17th centuries, to the now-called old brilliant (or old mine) cut, which became popular a few decades after the discovery of the Brazilian diamond fields in the 1720s. The use of each cut and shifts in their popularity are discussed. These observations of diamond cuts in Portuguese jewellery and devotional objects may also be applicable to trends within wider European manufacture.

Part of the investigation taking place within the scope of the opening of the Royal Treasury Museum of the National Palace of Ajuda, João Júlio Rumsey Teixeira presents his first conclusions about the observation and research of the fragments of dismantled jewels from the palace’s collection, which until today remained disconnected and physically separated.
The deduction that several of this fragments were once part of a large mid-19th century tiara was the starting point of a technic and historical analysis that, supported by unprecedented original documents, allowed to reconstruct the history of one of the most famous, albeit mysterious, Portuguese jewels of the 19th century.

The present surface of an ancient gold object, typically matt and often purer than the underlying metal, will not always reflect the originally intended appearance. The two variables are colour and texture. Colour could be controlled by choice of alloy (extreme varieties such as red copper/gold alloys are less common after the
Bronze Age) or by surface treatments including etching to enrich the surface. Texture ranged from a bright shiny surface - naturally resulting from the soldering and other processes used or deliberately produced by abrasive polishing or burnishing - to a matt surface caused by chemical etching or, in theory, coarser abrasion. The processes used were often limited by the nature
of the object, for example a granulated Etruscan ornament could not be burnished. This chapter considers the evidence, which although limited so far, tends to suggest that ancient gold jewellery was more often intended to be bright and shiny than its present appearance might suggest.

This article describes replication experiments that producedfne pierced goldwork of the kind ofien termed opus interrasile, and hollow beaded wires oJa type identified on late Roman and early Byzantine jewellery. The use oJ punched circular holes in conjunction with a triangular-section graver-like tool is proposed as one wdy to reproduce the Jine pierced work. Precise hollow beaded wire can be made from sheet gold tube by means oJ a simple two-piece implement, A charcoal (originally wood?) core has been identiJied in some ancient hollow beaded wire and might haue been part oJ the fabrication technique. A case is also made against the continued use o;f the term op:us interrasileifor fne pierced gold work.

This paper aims not only to correct misconceptions, but to summarise what is already known about the discovery of the Cullinan and the events that followed, and at the same time reveal some important and unexplored evidence that eluded contemporary historians. The research is based on archival records in South Africa as well as on articles that appeared in the local and international press within the first two decades after the diamond had been found.
110 years after the discovery of this exceptional crystal, perhaps the time has come to tell the full story of the Cullinan diamond, from which nine major gemstones were created, known as Cullinan I – IX. Today these diamonds adorn the Sovereign’s Sceptre, Imperial State Crown of Great Britain and other major jewels belonging to Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II.
Wonders of nature excite people’s imagination, and the Cullinan is no exception. While it is almost impossible to obtain accurate facts about the origin of historic diamonds such as the Regent, the Orlov or the Koh-i-noor, claims regarding the Cullinan can be verified. Hitherto unexplored sources from 1905–1910 have brought to light unknown and relevant facts.

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Our knowledge of the history of the French Blue/Hope diamond between the time of its theft from the French Crown Jewels in 1792 and its publication as part of the collection of Henry Philip Hope in 1839 has many tantalising gaps. Based on new research, this article covers what we now know of this diamond after its reappearance in London in 1812. A painting of the diamond by the mineralogist James Sowerby has been located, along with Sowerby's notes. These formed the basis for an advertising pamphlet for the gem produced by London jeweller Daniel Eliason, published in English and French versions, which can now be dated to 1813. We also learn that Eliason and Sowerby exhibited, or at least planned to exhibit, a blue glass model of the diamond at the Linnean Society in London. Several sources point to 1821 as being the year Henry Philip Hope purchased the diamond in London. The testimonies in the 1840s court cases surrounding the ownership of Hope's gem collection following his death in 1839 provide useful background information and, remarkably, suggest that in 1838 there was an attempt to sell the diamond back to the French Crown.

In un articolo del suo celebre Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica, nel 1857 Gaetano Moroni così definiva in sintesi il mestiere di orefice: «L'orafo o orefice […] è quegli che lavora d'oro e d'argento e di altri metalli, co' quali fa ornamenti, arnesi, vasellamenti ed altri lavori, ed altresì lega le gioie […]» 1 .

The famous "Seal of Nero, a Roman intaglio depicting Apollo, Marsyas and Olympus, was once in the collection of Lorenzo il Magnifico and is now in the National Museum of Naples. Two gems related to that "Seal of Nero" are published here for the first time: one, a severely damaged intaglio kept in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, is supposed to date from the third quarter of the first century BC. Another gem with a similar motif, a refined Renaissance cameo, recentlya ppeared in Oxfordshire and is now in a private collection in London. It is presumed that this perfectly preserved piece originally was in the possession of the Medici. The author considers a possible attribution of this work to the young Michelangelo Buonarroti and discusses a copy shown in a portrait painting by Botticelli now in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt on the Main. (summary by Matthias Barth)

A native of Bruges (now part of Belgium), Jacques de Coutre was a gem trader who spent nearly a decade in Southeast Asia in the early 17th century. In addition to a substantial autobiography written in Spanish and preserved in the National Library of Spain in Madrid, he wrote a series of memorials to the united crown of Spain and Portugal that contain recommendations designed to reverse the decline in the fortunes of the Iberian powers in Southeast Asia, particularly against the backdrop of early Dutch political and commercial penetration into the region. Translated into English for the first time, these materials provide a valuable first-hand account of the bigger issues confronting the early colonial powers in Southeast Asia, and deep insights into the societies De Coutre encountered in the territory that today makes up Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

The task is to investigate the genesis and implementation of Art Nouveau in the works by the world-famous jewelry firm of Fabergé. Actuality of the problem is caused by appearance and accumulation of a huge amount of Faberge articles in antique market and in collections, the need for theoretical reasoning of stylistic features, elimination of differences in terminology between foreign and domestic researchers, differentiation of definitions of modern style and solution of the problem of genesis of Neo-Russian style in the work of artists and masters of the firm of Faberge. Main monographs and catalogues of exhibitions for more than 60 years have been studied, masters of the firm who worked in modern style have been determined, biographies of jeweler Victor Aarne who was named «our Lalique» and Moscow enamel master Fyodor Ryukert are specified. It is established that in general the share of items made in Art Nouveau and Neo-Russian style is at least 5%, but for the diamond group – at least 25%, in the work of V. Aarne – not less than 20% and in the production of Fyodor Ryukert's workshop – at least 30%. The artists-composers (designers) who created the designs in these styles were determined, and period of their active functioning for branches in Saint Petersburg and Moscow was defined. This period does not coincide with periodization of architectural modern in both capitals. The influence of customers from privileged classes on creative decisions of designers was revealed. Items in the newest styles were not subject to replication. The article is intended for historians of jewelry art, antique dealers and art lovers.



Поставлена задача исследовать генезис и реализацию стиля модерн в продукции всемирно известной ювелирной фирмы Фаберже. Актуальность проблемы обусловлена появлением и накоплением громадного массива изделий Фаберже на антикварном рынке и в коллекциях, необходимостью теоретического обоснования стилистических признаков, устранения разногласий в терминологии зарубежных и отечественных исследователей, дифференциации определений модерна и решения проблемы генезиса неорусского стиля в творчестве художников и мастеров фирмы Фаберже. Проработаны основные монографии и каталоги выставок за период более чем 60 лет, определены мастера формы, работавшие в стиле модерн, уточнены биографии ювелира Виктора Аарне, которого в фирме называли «наш Лалик» и московского мастера – живописца по эмали Федора Рюкерта. Установлено, что в целом доля изделий в стиле модерн и неорусском стиле составляет не менее 5%, но по бриллиантовой группе – не менее 25%, в творчестве В. Аарне не менее 20%, а в продукции мастерской Федора Рюкерта – не менее 30%. Определены художники-композиторы (дизайнеры), создававшие проекты в этих стилях, и определены временные границы активного функционирования для петербургского и московского отделений во времени. Эти границы не совпадают с периодизацией архитектурного модерна в обеих столицах. Выявлено влияние заказчиков-клиентов из привилегированных классов на творческие решения дизайнеров. Изделия в новейшем стиле не предполагали тиражности. Статья предназначена историкам ювелирного искусства, антикварам и любителям искусства.

The only surviving early Byzantine broad collar with pendants, the so-called Berlin collar, was
acquired as part of the so-called treasure of Assiût in Cairo in 1909. Based on its technique, the motifs of its pierced-work, and its settings, the collar can be dated to the second half of the 6th or the first half of the 7th century. A date to this period is further corroborated by a pair of bracelets and a necklace from the
same treasure, which were probably made as a set together with the collar. According to images, collars with pendants were worn by private persons, mythological figures, Constantinopolis, Roma, Maria, Saints, and female members of the imperial family from the 4th century onwards. From the early 5th century onwards, though, such collars seem to have been reserved for Constantinopolis
and Roma, Maria and Agnes in imperia attire, and female members of the imperial family. Thus, broad collars with pendants were probably used as regalia. Such a function is also suggested by two extant collars with pendants from the medieval period: one from Preslav, the other from Mainz. The Berlin collar is abundantly decorated with emeralds, hyacinths (sapphires, one amethyst), and pearls.
Thus, it stands out among other pieces of jewellery from the same period, none of which is decorated in a
similar way and with the same materials. According to literary sources and images, emeralds, hyacinths,
and pearls were used on regalia. The edict Codex Iustinianus 11.12 restricts these materials and regulates
that all imperial jewellery and regalia had to be made in the palatine workshops. The shape and the materials of the Berlin collar, therefore, suggest that it functioned as a regalium for a female member of the imperial family. Thus, it was probably made in Constantinople, and it may have reached Egypt as a votive to an early Byzantine church or pilgrimage shrine.

Polish literature on the subject of religious medallions is poor if we do not take into account quite a number of archaeological publications and entries on online forums, and foreign publications, in Polish libraries are almost inaccessible.

The word "medallion" (in polish) in the first place, as the diminution of the word "medal", indicates its magnitude. The medallion is simply a small medal whose round form, which can be considered as a basic one, has changed over time.

Medallions were made of various metals and their alloys. In collections we usually find specimens made of bronze or copper alloys, and rarely of lead, tin or iron. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of ancient religious medallions were not beaten but cast.

Today religious medallions are most often worn on the neck, in hiding, originally on strings and ribbons, and now mostly on chains. For this reason, the overwhelming majority of religious medallions are equipped with ear tags. However, the medals were also used in a completely transparent way. Even a few can be attached to rosaries and other types of laces. In folk attire they were attached individually or several pieces to the strings of corals or they could eventually be sewn or pinned to the garment. In this way they were given the obvious function of the jewelry, which medallions in hiding today are sometimes unnecessarily recited.

Consequently, for this type of monument, the following definition can be proposed: the medallion is a small medal, usually round or oval, but also in other shapes, casted of metal, and in later periods, also beaten or stamped, decorated on two sides, and less often unilaterally, bearing content religious, political, patriotic, propaganda, but also mixed, such as patriotic-religious or religious-devotional (performances and inscriptions, and less often the same representations or inscriptions), intended for personal use in a manner similar to jewelry.

In a largely under-theorised subject area as the crafts, this practice-based research contributes to the knowledge and understanding of the body related crafts object at PhD level. It conceptualises the narrative methodology necessary to make the creative work and theoretically examines its intention. Because the theoretical work on narrative structures has been largely done outside the crafts/art context, the research adopts and adapts existing procedures and concepts from hermeneutic philosophy and literary theory to expand on the understanding of the body related crafts object in this new context. The research project investigates narrative structures in body related crafts objects to further the understanding of these objects and to make a contribution to the theory of studio crafts practice. The dialogical and dynamic relationship between the surveying of relevant literature and the creative development of the practical work enabled the development of the narrative context of the work itself and the advancement of a studio methodology that emphasizes reflexivity and is conscious of its own need for understanding.

Drawing on historical and autobiographical material, fiction and fairy tales, a series of body-related crafts objects have been produced that tell hybrid, fantastical stories. These objects are enigmatic, yet suggestive of the wounds of history and of the trauma and healing processes that are part of our relationships with others. The work is understood as a mnemonic device created to evoke the complexities and webs of relationships, which exist between the various levels of interpretative investments that would otherwise be un-containable.
The exploration of the notion of metaphor within a semantic context is here adapted to facilitate new understanding of the metaphorical qualities found in creative and narrative craft objects. Metaphoricity can be regarded as a way of cross-mapping the conceptual system of one area of experience and terminology with another, suggesting a coherent system created for understanding knowledge in terms of critical reflection, and being conducive to new creative articulation and representation. In the work theory emerges as a dynamic encounter, a continuous re-figuration within a tradition of commentary and interpretation.

Researched ideas, practical work and developing studio methodology have been explored further and tested in exhibitions, written publications, conference contributions, teaching projects and artists residencies. A large body of practical work has been generated over the period of the research. Some of the objects are pieces of jewellery, using precious metals and other more idiosyncratic materials. Other objects, even though still wearable, extend the boundaries of the traditional piece of jewellery towards what has become a fine art practice, which uses a multi-media approach together with traditional handcraft goldsmithing skills. Assemblage, installation, video and relational interactive projects have been developed to investigate narrative structures invested in those objects.

Jewellery has been an indicator of cultural identity from the prehistoric times. However, the study of traditional jewellery in India is largely dominated by art-historical approaches and very rarely is its role in determining migration patterns and understanding socio-political patterns understood. A previous  study by the author, taking into consideration one of the wrist ornaments of the Dogra tribe, that is geographically scattered in the areas of Jammu and Kashmir, parts of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, north-eastern Pakistan and some parts of Haryana redefined our understanding of this so-called “ethno-linguistic” group. It was thus concluded that language no longer serves as a unifying factor of Dogra identity and an in-depth analysis of material culture may be something that anthropologists might have to undertake in order to understand the cultural past  as well as the sociological constructs of the Dogras (cf. Gautam, 2018). The present study is a step further in the same direction and attempts to analyse how a quantitative method of studying jewellery can be  useful in generating rigorous data, easily accessible for similar approaches and can enable quantifiable conclusions, significant for both archaeological and anthropological discourses. It may be noted that whilst the case study focuses largely on Dogra Jewellery, a similar approach can be applied to jewellery analysis of any particular tribe or other media.

The book is available to order from: https://reichert-verlag.de/schlagworte/altaegyptischer_stil_schlagwort/9783954902439_ancient_engraved_gems_in_the_national_museum_in_krakow-detail

This book is a catalogue raisonée of a rich collection of ancient engraved gems housed in the National Museum in Krakow. It offers a thorough insight into ancient glyptic art through the considerable range of almost 780 so far unpublished objects – cameos, intaglios, scarabs and finger rings of various styles, workmanship and cultural circles: Egyptian, Near Eastern, Minoan, Greek, Etruscan, Italic, Roman, Sassanian and early Christian, dated from the second millennium BC to the seventh century AD.

Many pieces in this cabinet are notable not only for their top quality in terms of craftsmanship and design, but also for the materials used and engravings involving complex iconography illustrating religious beliefs, political allegiances, needs and desires that ancient people wished to be fulfill, fears, dangers and terrors from which they sought protection and even their daily occupations. The collection provides with a fascinating gallery of portrait studies presenting Hellenistic rulers and their queens, Roman emperors and members of their families as well as some private individuals. Some specimens are exceptional and unparalleled like the onyx cameo portraying Drusus Maior, likely executed by the hand of Eutyches, son of famous Dioscurides (cover) or a tiny but remarkably cut emerald cameo with a laureate portrait bust of Livia Drusilla as goddess Venus. Some objects have been preserved in their original settings (gold, silver, bronze, iron rings), which contributes to the study of ancient gems’ chronology and indicate their users, while others have been later re-set into eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collectors’ rings and sometimes more elaborated mounts. There are also pieces discoloured due to contact with considerable heat, which may suggest them to have been burnt with other personal objects on the funeral pyres and later deposited in burials. Noteworthy is the number of Greek and Latin inscriptions appearing on intaglios and cameos forming this cabinet. They span from owners’ names to the subtle messages communicated between lovers and invocations to the God.

Each gem is thoroughly analysed, described and exhaustively commented as to the device it bears, chronology and possible workshop attribution. A vast number of parallel objects is referenced too. This combined with provenance study presented in the first part of the book enabled to establish where a number of intaglios and cameos were manufactured, including almost 140 objects most likely to origin from the most important Roman workshop located in Aquileia. It ought to be singled out that many gems in this volume once constituted a part of distinguished collections formed by such personalities as Tobias von Biehler, Alessandro Gregorio Capponi, Auguste le Carpentier, Alessandro Castellani, Comte de Caylus, Count Nikolai Nikitich Demidoff, Baron Albert de Hirsch, Jean François Leturcq, Sibylle Mertens-Schaaffhausen, Dr. George Frederick Nott, Benedetto Pistrucci, James-Alexandre de Pourtalès (Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier), Paul von Praun, Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky, Jacques Meffre Rouzan, Philipp von Stosch, Antonio Maria Zanetti and many more. They seemed lost for more than 130 years, but now have been brought back and are accessible to everyone. Consequently, the volume presents three intriguing stories of collectors whose donations contributed to the Krakow assemblage. They not only provide the reader with a sort of background for the objects discussed further, but also illustrate nineteenth- and early twentieth-century collecting practices and the art market for engraved gemstones, contributing to our knowledge of the history of scholarship and collecting. In summary, this book is intended to be useful not only for scholars interested in gems, but also those who study the history of the art market and collecting as well as all the enthusiasts of Classical art and archaeology.