Jewels on Queen 9781742247038, 9781742231433

Citation preview

Je w els o n

Queen

Anne Schofield

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A NewSouth book Published by NewSouth Publishing University of New South Wales Press Ltd University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 AUSTRALIA newsouthpublishing.com © Anne Schofield 2014 First published 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be addressed to the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Schofield, Anne, 1940– Title: Jewels on Queen/Anne Schofield. ISBN: 9781742231433 (hardback) 9781742247038 (ePDF) Subjects: Schofield, Anne, 1940– Jewellers – Australia Antique dealers – Australia Jewellery – Collectors and collecting Jewellery – Australia Dewey Number: 739.270994 Design Di Quick Images All images by Richard Gates Photography unless otherwise noted. Author photo on cover by Naomi Hamilton Photography. Some images are enlarged to show detail. For details of jewels featured on the cover see captions inside book. Printer Everbest, China All reasonable efforts were taken to obtain permission to use copyright material reproduced in this book, but in some cases copyright could not be traced. The author welcomes information in this regard. This book is printed on paper using fibre supplied from plantation or sustainably managed forests.

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Contents Introduction

5

Cameos and intaglios Paste and parures

13 27

Wartski and Anne Hull Grundy Eye miniatures

43

Sentimental jewellery Souvenir jewellery

51 73

Historical Revivalist jewellery Naturalism

79

87

Charlotte Newman

99

Australian jewellery

103

Arts and Crafts

111

René Lalique and Art Nouveau Art Deco

117

129

Indian jewellery

139

Jewellery today

147

Glossary

39

152

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Introduction

I am often asked, ‘What was it that started your interest in antique jewellery?’ Jewellery is almost always offered as a token of love – to the betrothed, to a friend, to a son or daughter, as congratulations for an achievement or an academic success, as a memento during a long absence, or as a loving gift to a wife on the birth of a child. It is all about expressing love, which makes it the most personal of gifts and the most treasured. Barring mishap, it endures; for a lifetime, sometimes even for centuries. The very first jewel I owned was a ring given to me by Leo Schofield. After a year’s romance by correspondence, I was to join him in London. I left Sydney on New Year’s Eve 1961 on the Bretagne, a ship on the Greek line. Leo was at the Southampton Wharf to meet Gold, diamond and blue enamel presentation box with diamond-set monogram of Tsar Alexander II, c. 1875.

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me – looking about five times bigger than I remembered, in a huge tweed coat and with lots of hair! It was February 1962. He presented me with a bunch of violets and an antique amethyst floral cluster ring, for

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which he had paid the princely sum of £5! I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And that ring was the beginning of a lifetime’s passion for antique jewellery. I had first met Leo while studying for an arts degree at Sydney University. He was directing and designing plays for the Sydney University Dramatic Society (SUDS). As soon as he realised I could sew, he whisked me off the stage and put me behind a sewing machine. During my four years at university, I made costumes for plays of various historical periods and genres – eighteenth-century Restoration comedies, Victorian works, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, 1920s Noël Coward plays and even Ancient Greek dramas. So although I had never studied art at school, preferring languages and literature, I became interested in the designs of different historical periods, especially costume and jewellery design. My mother, Therese O’Neill, also had an enormous influence on my love for beautiful objects. At the tender age of fourteen, during the Depression, she

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Georgian gold fob seal, the white chalcedony base carved with an hourglass, bees or flies, a barrel, and a corset – ‘Time flies but love stays’.

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In the 1980s wearing my cameo and intaglio rings and Carlo Giuliano earrings, displaying an enamelled 1880s cruciform brooch by Giuliano. The cameo ring is from about 1790, while the earrings date from the 1870s.

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started work as an apprentice in a millinery workshop in Sydney, and later became a ‘model milliner’. All her hats were made completely by hand – no spray glue for her! She married at twenty-one and had five children. Hats were very big business in the 1940s and ’50s, and soon she was operating a small home business making hats and wedding headwear for the many churchgoing citizens of Strathfield. When I was still very young, my mother would send me into the city to a millinery warehouse in York Street, with a sample of coloured felt or fabric and instructions to match the colour to, and buy, veiling, feathers, ribbon, braid or beads. I was treated with great kindness and attention by the staff and I loved the whole process. Occasionally, my mother would ask me to entertain clients in the sitting room while she finished off a fitting – or sometimes before she started one. So at an early age I gained experience in buying decorative items and accessories and dealing with customers, and developed a great appreciation for fashion, beauty, fine workmanship and handicraft.

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qsq Soon after I arrived in London, Leo and I were married at St Anne’s Church, Notting Hill Gate, on 17 February 1962. We were living close to Portobello Road and every Saturday went there to do our weekly shopping. One day I saw a child’s outfit from the 1870s; it was in cerise velvet and magnolia satin with a matching bonnet – and I could not resist it! I had never seen an original costume before that moment. This purchase began my passionate interest in collecting costume, which developed into a collection of over 1000 items – dresses, jackets, hats, gloves, corsets, bustles, petticoats, camisoles – from the years 1790 to 1940. The collection was exhibited several times in the 1970s, then acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1974. We returned to Australia in 1965 and in 1968 we bought a derelict nineteenth-century shop and residence at 46 Queen Street, Woollahra. We restored the living quarters and renovated the building, and eventually, in 1970, opened the shop. I enrolled in

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a gemmology course at the Gemmological Association of Australia as I had become fascinated by the magic and mystery of gemstones in all their varieties. I had been dealing in antique and vintage costume and jewellery at a shop in Woollahra called Kaleidoscope, but when I opened my own shop I decided it would focus exclusively on jewellery. It was called Anne Schofield Antiques, as it is today, and it was the first shop in Australia to specialise in antique jewellery. In 1983 I joined the Society of Jewellery Historians (SJH) based at the British Museum in London and endeavoured to arrange my annual visits to London to coincide with a lecture given by a leading jewellery expert such as Charlotte Gere, Shirley Bury, Vivienne Becker or Katherine Purcell. These lectures were tremendously informative, as were the Jewellery Studies volumes published by the SJH and their magazine, Jewellery History Today, offering expert and detailed research on every aspect of jewellery in its infinite variety and from all over the world. I also learned much about antique jewellery by visiting the splendid

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antique shops of Bond Street and the bustling Portobello Road, and in no time at all my interest in jewellery developed into a passion.

qsq In 2004, while cataloguing a collection of intaglios set in fobs and rings, I was examining with my jeweller’s loupe a Georgian gold fob seal with five images carved into the white chalcedony base. I managed to identify them: an hourglass, a few bees or flies, a barrel, a pair of clasped hands and a tiny corset. It was a rebus – a kind of puzzle in which images are substituted for words, often found on seals or rings, where pictures are used to supplement a motto or to send a coded message. I finally worked out the message on the gold fob: ‘Time flies but love stays’. This wonderful saying expresses the essence of my years as a dealer and collector of antique jewellery, for I am still as passionate about jewels as the day I opened the door to my shop.

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Cameos and i n ta g l i o s

Two Georgian gold rings from the 1790s, one set with a rare blue agate cameo carved with Salmacis and Hermaphroditus in a passionate embrace, and the other with an onyx cameo carved with the head of a Roman emperor.

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At the first jewellery auction I attended, at Lawsons in Sydney’s Castlereagh Street, a large Georgian ring with an onyx cameo carved with an image of a Roman emperor in profile caught my eye. I bid on it, was successful and wore it constantly, until one day it was stolen in a robbery at my home. I was devastated, of course, and described it in great detail to the police, also showing them photos of my hand with the ring

There it was on his finger. He was wearing my ring. on my finger. About 18 months later, I was again at a Lawsons’ jewellery auction and a man walked past. I was seated, and his hand was at my eye level. There it was on his finger. He was wearing my ring. I reported it to the office staff, who rang the police. They arrived swiftly and took possession of the ring. Four months passed before the ring was returned to me. The man had bought it in good faith from a dealer,

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French gold necklace c. 1870 set with eleven onyx cameos carved with classical and mythological scenes, including the three Graces; Paris, Helen and Menelaus; Zeus and Thetis; Dionysus; and Eros and Aphrodite. Earrings en suite are also French, c. 1830.

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Gold ring set with a threelayered cameo of Napoleon Bonaparte as a Roman emperor in a toga and laurel wreath, by Giovanni Antonio Santorelli, Italian, c. 1815.

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Roman cornelian intaglio engraved with a river god, first century AD, in eighteenth-century gold setting.

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who had bought it from another dealer, who had bought it from a pawnbroker who lost his money and was charged with receiving stolen goods. This serendipitous recovery of my favoured piece of jewellery sparked an interest in cameos and intaglios and the fascinating history of gem carving, an art which is all but lost today. A cameo is a relief image raised higher than its background, whereas an intaglio is a gem with an etched-in design. My cameo had been carved in Italy in the 1790s when cameos and intaglios with classical subjects were the jewels of choice in England, France and Russia. The excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum had generated an almost universal craze for all things ancient, preferably Roman or Greek. Aristocrats from all over Europe descended on Italy on what was known as the Grand Tour. Formidably rich, they amassed instant collections, purchasing objects and marbles, having their portraits painted in ancient settings and returning home to build palaces in which to house their hauls.

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The neo-classical style became de rigueur across the whole spectrum of the decorative arts – painting, architecture, sculpture, furniture, dress and, of course, jewellery. Tiaras that might once have been encrusted with diamonds now featured large cameos. Cameos popped up too on belt buckles, ear pendants, pins, combs, buttons and bracelets – in fact every item of bodily ornament. The Journal des Dames, a popular Parisian fashion magazine, stated in 1805: ‘A woman of fashion wears cameos in her belt, cameos on her necklace, a cameo on each of her bracelets and a cameo on her diadem. Ancient stones, or if you don’t have these, carved shells, are more in vogue than ever.’ But not all cameos and intaglios were destined to be worn. Grand Tourists also drew together collections of unset carved gemstones which they kept in special cabinets, often custom-made by the finest furniture designers of the age.

Lapis lazuli intaglio carved with the figure of Aphrodite Anadyomene, around the second or third century AD, gold swivel setting.

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During the Renaissance, ancient cameos and intaglios had been set in royal jewels, worn by such historical figures as Queen Elizabeth I of England and Queen Isabella I of Spain. In England during the seventeenth century there was already great appreciation of these miniature works of art. In February 1653, Dorothy Osborn wrote to her suitor (later her husband), English statesman and essayist Sir William Temple, who was travelling in Italy: She [Lady Diana Rich] says that seals are much in fashion and by showing me some that she has, has set me a longing for some too. Such as are oddest and oldest are much prized and if you know any body that is lately come out of Italy ’tis ten to one but they have store, for they are very common there … any old Roman head is a present for a Prince. If such things come your way, pray remember me. Gold pendant set with an onyx cameo carved with the allegorical figure of Night, a crescent moon in her hair and holding an owl, French, c. 1830.

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Another splendid neo-classical cameo ring I acquired was an extremely rare blue agate carved with the figures of a naked youth and maiden entwined in erotic embrace (see page 13). The reverse of the gold mount

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was inscribed ‘Ovid Met. L4, V347’. When I looked up the reference in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it was to the story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus: At the sight Salmacis was spellbound, she was on fire with passion to possess his naked beauty and her very eyes flamed with a brilliance like that of the dazzling sun, when his bright disc is reflected in a mirror. She could scarcely bear to wait, or to defer the joys which she anticipated.

Georgian gold ring set with a cornelian intaglio carved with a youthful Apollo with his lyre, English, c. 1790.

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I became fascinated by the myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome and began to build up a collection of ancient intaglios and cameos, from the first century BC to the third century AD, which I eventually showed in a special exhibition held in my shop in 2004 entitled ‘Ancient Carved Gemstones’. I was astonished by the unrivalled skill of craftsmen who carved these gemstones 2000 years ago. My favourite example is a dark brown cornelian intaglio depicting an ecstatic dancing satyr (see page 22). He is literally dancing his head off, a panther skin over his outstretched right arm, a small wine jug in his right hand, a thyrsus (staff) with a crossed arrow in his left hand, an upturned bowl

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Roman cornelian intaglio engraved with a dancing satyr, late first century BC, later set in a gold ring.

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Roman cornelian intaglio engraved with a double portrait possibly of Hadrian and Sabina; one of the pieces from the famous Marlborough Collection of ancient and neo-classical gems.

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beneath his right foot – and all this on an oval stone measuring just 15 x 10 millimetres! At the Sydney Antiques Fair in 2008, I showed a small collection of rings set with ancient intaglios, together with postcard-sized enlargements of the carvings. A classics student at Sydney University, Robert Wellington, became very excited about a Roman cornelian intaglio, first century AD, carved with a double image of Hadrian and Sabina. He rushed off to do some research and later phoned to say he was quite sure it was one of the missing gems of the Marlborough Collection, one of the greatest collections of ancient and neo-classical gems in the world put together by George Spencer, the fourth Duke of Marlborough, in the eighteenth century. Robert Wellington suggested that I should contact the Beazley Archive at Oxford to confirm that my intaglio was in fact a Marlborough Collection piece. After sending off images and information about my purchase of the ring, I received a letter confirming that indeed it was one of the missing gems and would be

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included in the forthcoming monograph of the Marlborough Gems – although they were not sure it was Hadrian and Sabina and preferred to describe it as ‘bust portraits of a wreathed man and woman’. Of course the ancient Roman intaglios are fairly costly because of their age and rarity, but the neo-classical Georgian ones are still affordable. My clients are always thrilled to find an intaglio which has a perfect

Clients are always thrilled to find an intaglio which has a perfect image or message. image or message. One parent selected a figure of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, as a gift for a daughter’s graduation in law. The fortunate daughter commented, ‘I can’t tell you how exciting it is to have on one’s finger a ring which is 200 years old, let alone one which is 2000 years old!’

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Neo-classical cornelian intaglio engraved with an athlete, c. 1800, later set in a gold ring mount.

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Sometimes the image is an appropriate astrological sign. My twin daughters were born under the sign of Leo, so I was delighted to find a cornelian intaglio carved with a lion rampant for Emma, and a sardonyx intaglio carved with a figure of the infant Eros playing with a lion, symbolising the strength of love, for Tess. My daughter Nell’s thirtieth birthday gift was a white chalcedony intaglio carved with a Grecian water nymph – perfect for a swimmer and surfer!

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Pa s t e a n d pa r u r e s

Eighteenth-century corsage ornament designed as a spray of flowers set with golden topaz and white pastes, French, c. 1760.

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Seventeenth-century corsage ornament set with foiled rose diamonds, the reverse enamelled with a pink and white scroll design, English, c. 1680.

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My interest in ancient carved gemstones led to a search for other neo-classical jewellery of the late eighteenth century – the Age of Enlightenment – when values of simplicity, balance and proportion were much admired. At this time, there was a revival of interest in the art of gem carving, led by Englishmen Nathaniel Marchant and the Brown brothers, William and Charles, who were commissioned by Catherine the Great to make hundreds of copies of ancient gems in genuine precious stones and in artificial gemstones known as paste. During the eighteenth century, diamonds were imported from Golconda in India and worn in great profusion by royalty and the aristocracy. The leaders in this ‘more is more’ movement of display were Catherine the Great of Russia, Maria Theresa of Austria and Queen Charlotte, wife of George III of England. Some of their fabled jewels are now in European museums but sadly, over time, many have been broken up and transformed, very profitably, into rings and brooches. Far less valuable but no less beautiful are the jewels set with pastes or glass, which have survived dismantling

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Pair of Georgian white paste buttons and circular brooch, close set in silver, English, c. 1790.

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in much larger numbers. While these do not have an intrinsic stone value, they are wonderful examples of jewellery design in various periods. The invention of lead glass, which could be cut, polished and faceted like a gemstone, is attributed to Englishman George Ravenscroft, who in 1650 created flint glass, a compound based on lead oxide. However, it was the perfection of a similar glass with a high refractive index by Parisian jeweller George Frederick Strass in

Eighteenth-century pendant necklace set with foil-backed aquamarine pastes, English, c. 1760.

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Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, wearing a parure of diamond-set jewels (diadem, girandole earrings and two pendants), five strands of pearls and loops of pearls suspended from ribbon bows on her shoulders. Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

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Italian gold parure set with micro-mosaic oval panels depicting scenes from the commedia dell’arte theatrical troupe, comprising a tiara, necklace, ear pendants, a pair of bracelet clasps, a ring and a belt ornament.

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Emerald paste necklace and ear pendants open set in gold, English, c. 1820.

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Early nineteenth-century necklace of amethysts with turquoise-set rosette links and cross pendant, and earrings en suite, in original fitted case.

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1773 that boosted the popularity of paste jewellery in Europe, where it was called ‘Strass’ after its inventor. It was equally popular in England, where splendid foiled paste buckles and buttons were worn by men of fashion and wonderful coloured necklaces with pendants and matching earrings adorned women. Quality paste was not easily distinguishable from diamonds and precious

Parure of citrines in three-coloured gold settings comprising a tiara, a necklace and detachable pendant, a pair of bracelets, ear pendants and a belt slide, in original fitted case, French, dated 1827, possibly the date it was gifted.

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stones, especially when worn at night in candlelit reception rooms.

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While in London, along with Portobello Road and the Bermondsey and Camden markets, I always visit the high end of the antique jewellery trade, the wonderful Bond Street. At the splendid jewellery emporium, SJ Phillips, in 1975, I purchased my first parure – a set of matching jewellery usually comprising at least three items: a necklace, pendant or brooch and ear Georgian emerald and diamond brooch, English, c. 1820.

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pendants. Parures were very popular during the eighteenth century and the Regency and Empire periods when Napoleon brought back the pomp and splendour of the ancient regime. This magnificent parure was French – golden citrines mounted in threecolour gold – complete with a tiara, a necklace with detachable pendant, a pair of bracelets, ear pendants and a buckle to be worn beneath the breast on a neo-classical gown. This impressive suite had survived in its original box, a specially made domed case covered with red morocco leather and

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lined with satin. Underneath the support for the tiara was the date ‘mai 1827’. Another rare parure which I acquired in Switzerland in the 1980s came from the collection of a European noble family. Made in Italy, it was set with the finest Roman micro-mosaics, depicting characters from the commedia dell’arte theatre troupe, including Harlequin and Columbine, and it too had been preserved in mint condition in its original fitted leather case (see page 33). Both of these parures were later acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria.

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Wa r t s k i a n d A n n e Hull Grundy

Georgian diamond coiled-serpent brooch in original fitted case, English, c. 1790.

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My quest for rare and exquisite jewels led me to a shop in London’s Regent Street called Wartski. Later relocated to Grafton Street, just off Bond Street, this establishment is famous for being the most authoritative dealer in the work of the great Russian master jeweller Carl Fabergé and for having the best Fabergé collection in Europe. During one of my first visits in the 1970s, as a somewhat timid young collector from Australia, I was greeted most warmly by a dashing young enthusiast named Geoffrey Munn, now a renowned jewellery expert on the BBC television series Antiques Roadshow. He persuaded me to buy a Georgian diamond coiled serpent brooch in its original red leather case, and explained how the serpent was a symbol of passionate and eternal love. The symbol, derived from the ancient Greek device known as an ouroboros, shows a serpent swallowing its tail, thus forming the infinity symbol `. The then director of Wartski, Sir Kenneth Snowman, author of many essential reference books on

Eighteenth-century onyx cameo carved with the face of a roaring lion, in a diamondset frame, with a red enamel mouth and eyes set with rose diamonds.

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gold boxes and antique jewellery, farewelled me with a handshake and the words, ‘Congratulations, you have bought a rare treasure!’ I was so thrilled with my purchase and that compliment – and it was a great lesson in salesmanship that I have tried to emulate in my own shop. On one of those early visits, Geoffrey told me a story about an omnivorous collector of antique jewellery, an invalid lady confined to her bed with a respiratory illness, one Mrs Anne Hull Grundy. She would call him and tell him she had heard of some jewel doing the rounds in London and could he locate it and bring it up to her so that she could inspect it. On one particular occasion, he travelled by train with the jewel packed in a plastic lunchbox and was greeted by this extraordinary lady in fur wraps, ensconced in a large bed with all the French doors open and birds Georgian diamond lyre brooch, close set in gold, English, c. 1800.

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flying in and out of the room. She examined the brooch and proclaimed: ‘Vulgar rubbish … I hate diamonds; they’re just for callgirls and rich dumb wives. I hate rich

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merchants’ shop jewellery and anything to do with social climbing.’ This eccentric woman inspired me. She collected unique and special jewels of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (much like the onyx cameo pendant and diamond lyre brooch on pages 40–1), each showcasing the art of the goldsmith or craft jeweller in using all kinds of materials – precious and semi-precious gemstones, organic and non-organic gemstones, cut steel and metal, even human hair – and employing creative designs and techniques. Upon her death in 1984 she bequeathed some of her collection to several regional museums in the UK, but the bulk of it went to the British Museum, where it is known as the Hull Grundy Collection and visited by jewellery historians and enthusiasts from all over the world. I am neither confined to bed nor as eccentric as Mrs Hull Grundy, but I share her passion for collecting. I am also guided by her motto: ‘If you don’t fall in love, don’t buy it.’

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E y e m i n ia t u r e s

Gold brooch with central eye miniature under crystal, the frame set with pearls and turquoises, c. 1810.

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Regency gold locket set with turquoises, enclosing an eye miniature painted on ivory, the female eye set off by black curls and among clouds, English, c. 1820.

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A gift from Leo on my fortieth birthday was an extremely rare Georgian gold ring with a hand-painted miniature on ivory of an eye, surrounded by a border of seed pearls, another of plaited hair and an outer border of half pearls. I was fascinated by this unusual jewel and searched the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, finally discovering a few more examples, although they are extremely rare. The fashion for eye miniatures began in 1784 with the affair between the Prince of Wales, son of King George III, and Maria Fitzherbert, twice widowed and a Catholic, so definitely not a suitable consort for a future king! The prince commissioned Richard Cosway, painter Gold ring set with an eye miniature within borders of seed pearls and plaited hair, and an outer border of half pearls, c. 1810.

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to the Prince of Wales, to paint a miniature of his eye to send to her in 1785 while she was away in France. Another, recorded in unpaid commissions from the prince in 1786, was a painting of Mrs Fitzherbert’s eye,

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Georgian gold brooch set with an eye miniature within a border of garnets, c. 1800.

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and later, miniatures of the prince’s eye and another of his mouth! In 1795, commissioners were appointed to list the prince’s debts (£1625 8s was due to Richard Cosway) – the result of a passion for gambling, collecting, building and general debauchery – and to settle them on the condition that he married his cousin, Princess Caroline of Brunswick. As the prince was such a bon viveur and leader of fashion, the eye miniature became fashionable among his ‘set’ and a number Circular gold brooch set with an eye miniature, the border set with diamonds and emeralds, c. 1820. Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin Collection.

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were created in London and on the Continent between 1780 and 1820. Frames vary considerably. Cosway’s eye of Mrs Fitzherbert was framed in a simple gold locket. But gradually frames became more elaborate, and diamonds, pearls and precious stones adorned the settings. The gold frames were frequently decorated with bright cutting – sharp, slash-like decoration

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.

made on gold or silver – or designed as a coiled serpent clasping its tail, the symbol of eternal life and love. Some examples are backed or encircled with plaited hair. They are particularly fascinating because of the hidden messages they send – ‘the eye is the window

Gold brooch with an eye miniature painted on ivory under crystal, in an elongated lozenge-shaped frame set with pearls, c. 1790.

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of the soul’ or ‘I have my eye on you’. Eyes were not always symbols of love; they also could be symbols of mourning (memento mori in Latin). Some people find eye miniatures weird, while others find them intriguing. However, because of their age, beauty and extreme rarity, there is no shortage of

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Circular brooch with an eye miniature in a frame designed as a serpent decorated with black enamel, the head set with a diamond, c. 1800.

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Georgian gold brooch/ pendant set with an eye miniature under crystal, within a diamond-set frame. Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

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collectors – among them eye surgeons and ophthalmologists. An American couple, David and Nan Skier, cornered the market for some years and made a wonderful collection which was exhibited in 2012 at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama.

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S e n t i m e n ta l jewellery

Giardinetti (basket of flowers) gold ring set with rose diamonds, French, c. 1750.

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Rings are the most popular of all jewels – nearly everyone has at least one ring and often several, each with particular sentimental associations. They are the supreme love tokens, and since ancient times have been given and exchanged as mementos of power, affection and friendship, and worn as amulets to ward off evil and attract good fortune. The variety, ingenuity and fine workmanship in these miniature works of art is testimony to the superb artistry of craftsmen and jewellers from antiquity to the present day. Over a number of years I put together a collection of rare and unusual rings and presented it in two exhibitions: ‘Tokens of Love’ in 1986, and ‘The Eternal Circle’ in 2006. The story of these smallest of jewels is fascinating. It traces the history of social and political change as well as the history of design throughout the centuries. In ancient times rings were set with engraved gems carved with signets to be impressed on wax and

An unusual item of sentimental jewellery is this gold ‘wheel of fortune’ pendant, with enamel decoration in panels featuring positive sentiments, c. 1890.

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Georgian gold ring, English, c. 1800; the oval blue enamel bezel is set with an applied diamond urn and the border is set with half pearls.

Eighteenth-century gold ring, the bezel set with a panel of blue glass applied with a diamond-set vase of flowers within a border of rose diamonds, English, c. 1780.

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French oval gold ring, the green chrysoprase panel set with rose diamonds, within a diamond border, c. 1780.

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attached to documents and correspondence. As well as marking property, securing privacy and establishing authority, during the Roman era the carved gems were increasingly worn and given as tokens of love and also as amulets – certain gemstones were thought to have magical or medicinal properties. In the medieval and Renaissance periods, rings set with precious stones and decorated with enamels were worn by royalty and religious leaders to denote power and status. Some merchants wore them to signify the trade, occupation or guild of the wearer. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, during the Baroque period, rings were designed in the giardinetti style, as baskets of flowers. Also popular were simple gold rings known as ‘posy’ rings (from the French poesie), which were engraved with messages such as ‘I am yours, be mine’, ‘Be true to me as I to thee’, ‘True affection fears not’, ‘I like my choice’, and ‘True love is endless’. The Romantic movement of the nineteenth century resulted in single and double hearts, crowned

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Art Nouveau gold ring in the form of a lily set with a demantoid garnet and diamonds.

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Italian ‘carnival mask’ ring with a diamond-set border, the hinged enamel bezel featuring a female face in a black domino mask, with rose-cut diamond eyes, Venice, c. 1760.

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Italian ‘carnival mask’ ring, the hinged enamel bezel set with a female face in a black domino mask, with rose-cut diamond eyes, within a garnet border, Venice, c. 1760.

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Gold three-hoop gimmel or fede ring, the cuffs set with turquoises, English, c. 1820.

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or clasped with a pair of hands, and rings designed as buckles, plaits, knots and serpents, all symbols of the bond of love and friendship. During my search for unusual rings, I came across one with three bands: two were designed as hands and a third held a heart on which was the initial ‘S’. It was a fede or gimmel ring (from the Latin gemelli, meaning twins). Another three-band gimmel ring had a pair of hands with turquoise-set cuffs fitting neatly over the heart on the central band (see page 57). These clasped-hands rings had appeared in Roman, medieval and Byzantine periods, and the design reappeared in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, sometimes in diamonds, with a coronet above and occasionally decorated with enamel. A variation is the traditional Irish gold claddagh ring, which shows a pair of hands holding a heart, a crown above. In modern parlance, these rings celebrate ‘togetherness’.

Chased and engraved English gold ring in the Renaissance Revivalist style, set with pink sapphire, c. 1860.

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During the nineteenth century the cult of Venus found expression in all kinds of jewels besides rings – brooches, bracelets and necklaces – in the form of true lovers’ knots, serpents, salamanders, hearts, Cupid’s arrows, forget-me-nots, pansies (for pensées, or thoughts). Others formed the words ‘dearest’ or ‘regard’, with the initial letters of each gemstone spelling Regency gold brooch with a basket-of-flowers design, set with the gems ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby and diamond to spell out ‘regard’, English, c. 1810.

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out the acronymic sentiment. Thus ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby, diamond in sequence spelled ‘regard’ or diamond, emerald, amethyst, ruby, emerald, sapphire, tourmaline stood for ‘dearest’. Sometimes different gemstones were used to spell out the name of

Victorian gold ‘regard’ ring set with a ruby, an emerald, a garnet, an amethyst, a ruby and a diamond, English, c. 1870.

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Red enamel and diamond heart-shaped pendant, French, c. 1875.

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Gold, rock crystal and white enamel heart-shaped locket, French, c. 1800.

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the beloved, as in a mid-nineteenth-century gold necklace with nine pendants – alternately round and heartshaped – spelling the name Constance: citrene, opal, nephrite, sapphire, tourmaline, amethyst, nephrite, carbuncle (a cabochon-cut garnet), emerald. Another common form of sentimental jewellery was mourning jewellery. Mourning jewellery dates from the seventeenth century when a number of jewels were made to commemorate the execution of Charles I in 1649. Many were slides to be worn on a ribbon at the neck or wrist, with the letters CR minutely formed in wire on a ground of finely woven hair. Later, in the early nineteenth century, all kinds of mourning jewels were created – pendants, brooches, lockets – sometimes with a hair picture (a design or image such as a wave or vase of flowers fashioned out of human hair) in a frame of pearls, jet, coral, garnets or amethysts. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries mourning jewellery was a thriving business. It was a feature in most jewellery establishments and many

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people left provisions in their wills for rings to be made and engraved for the chief mourners. In 1803, an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette by jeweller William Moreton proclaimed: ‘Miniatures mounted, devices in hair for rings, pins, lockets.’ During the second half of the nineteenth century, brooches and pendants often contained a locket with a photograph of the loved one. An unusual, wide gold bangle in my collection has two side hinges which open to reveal an inner compartment with five gold photo lockets (see page 67). It is inscribed ‘Sarah Little, 19 Feb. 1873’. There is another gold pendant in my collection in the form of a small album with a tiny clasp opening to reveal four photographs of children (see page 66). Some people find mourning and hair jewellery macabre, but it is important to remember that the fashion began well before the advent of commer-

Georgian mourning ring, the white enamel plaque inscribed ‘LSM’, with a border of pearls and pearl-set shoulders, English, c. 1810.

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Gold and blue enamel-hinged bangle in the form of a ribbon, set with pearls and held with a padlock, possibly from the 1870s. A note inside the lid of the original fitted case reads: ‘Given as a bridesmaid’s present by the Marquess of Bute to Mary Macnabb (Mrs James Erskine of Linlathen)’.

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cial photography in the mid-nineteenth century and people mourning the loss of a loved one needed a tangible reminder of that person. A small item of jewellery was the perfect solution. One magnificent example I found in London was a Georgian gold and rock crystal pendant with a miniature in ivory of a maiden in classical costume under a weeping willow, leaning against a pillar on which was an urn. Below this image was a garland bearing the verse, ‘With mutual

‘With mutual love our hearts did burn and now my tears bedews his urn … ’ love our hearts did burn and now my tears bedews his urn’. The reverse of the pendant was fitted with a panel Early Victorian gold chain set with aquamarine pastes, the clasp in the form of a hand holding a ring, the cuff set with turquoises, in original fitted case, English, c. 1840.

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of smooth, dark, silky hair (no doubt of the deceased), topped with a cipher in gold of his initials. For the jewellery historian, the great thing about mourning jewellery is that it is nearly always dated. And the age of the departed is often recorded. I have

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Victorian engraved gold pendant locket in the form of a book, enclosing four photo lockets, English, c. 1860.

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Gold heart ring with a central heart locket containing plaited hair, c. 1840.

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Victorian gold-hinged bangle enclosing five photo lockets, the reverse engraved ‘Sarah Little, 19 Feb. 1873’.

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A birthday gift to my daughter Nell: a gold locket pendant mounted with a crystal hemisphere applied with an enamel bee over the letter ‘S’, and a gold scroll with ‘Nellie’ in enamel, in fitted case for E Johnson of Dublin.

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one small gold and black enamel hoop ring with a central coffin-shaped locket. On close inspection, it contains a faint image of a skeleton and the shank is engraved ‘M. Kennett, ob. 13 jan 1725’, recording the date of his death. Another has a central rock crystal locket and the black enamel band is inscribed ‘M.C.

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Victorian hair jewellery: earrings and a plaited hair bracelet, c. 1840.

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Victorian Whitby jet necklace, c. 1880.

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Victorian jet ear pendants in the form of fuschias.

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ob.5 Nov.1758 ae 18’, ‘ae’ being an abbreviation of aeta¯te, for ‘aged’. Pale blue or white enamel was used to signify the death of a child or young person. One such ring (c. 1800), in gold and white enamel, is inscribed ‘n’oubliez pas votre ami’ – ‘Do not forget your friend’.



J et ‘Ornaments will be jet’ was decreed upon the death of George IV in 1830. Jet jewellery became immensely popular in the second half of the nineteenth century as Queen Victoria wore it during her long period of mourning after the death of Prince Albert, and the Victorian fashion for jet ensured a flourishing trade at Whitby in Yorkshire, where jet was found in abundance. Whitby jet is the fossilised wood from species similar to the Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana). Jet was carved, turned, polished and made into bead and chain necklaces, bracelets, ear pendants, brooches and cameos. There are also surviving examples of tiaras made of jet for aristocratic widows.

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Souvenir jewellery

Italian gold brooch and ear pendants, set with micro-mosaics depicting doves among flowers, c. 1840.

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Necklace of eleven coral cameos carved as classical and theatrical masks, linked with smaller rams-head cameos, Italian, c. 1840.

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Another organic gemstone which was immensely popular in the nineteenth century was coral. Gemstonequality coral of a deep pinkish red colour was found at great depth in the Mediterranean and was considered by the Italians to bring good fortune to the wearer. Coral also featured in souvenir jewellery brought back to England by people returning from the Grand Tour.

Gemstone quality coral was considered by the Italians to bring good fortune to the wearer. In Italian Renaissance portraits, one often sees coral bead necklaces worn by women and children. A branch of coral was included in silver baby rattles in the nineteenth century so they could be used as teething sticks. Very often the coral was beautifully carved and the skill of the Italian craftsmen was much admired by the English.

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On a trip to Italy I bought an extraordinary 1840s parure in gold-mounted coral cameos. It comprised a hair ornament, a necklace with a pendant, a large

Bracelet of six gold-mounted panels of pietra dura Florentine mosaic, Italian, c. 1850.

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brooch, a bangle, four bow-type brooches to be worn like buttons down the front of a bodice and four smaller brooches to be worn on sleeves. All these items were encased in a fitted leather case. When I brought it back to Australia, customs officers insisted on opening the package as the long case looked alarmingly as if it might contain a dangerous weapon! Other types of souvenir jewellery much admired in Europe in the nineteenth century were the micromosaic work from Rome and the pietra dura work from Florence, where the art of inlaying coloured stones

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into a base to create an image or record a landscape was honed to perfection. This technique was adapted by jewellers to great effect. During the Renaissance, artists had sought a method of improving on the ancient art of mosaic making, eliminating as far as possible the grout marks between the glass pieces that made up wall and floor Pietra dura earrings with floral motifs, Italian, c. 1860.

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mosaics. Suddenly it dawned on craftsmen working in this field that, by cutting a piece of marble or precious stone to fit precisely into a pre-cut hollow in a slab of marble with no fixative visible, they could create what in effect were pictures in stone. So coveted were the skills of Italian stonemasons that this craft burgeoned first in Rome and subsequently in Florence where, in the sixteenth century, a member of the ruling Medici family, Grand Duke Ferdinand I of Tuscany, sponsored special workshops where artists could learn and

Italian gold ring with five panels, each set with the finest micro-mosaic bird on green grass against a white background, Rome, c. 1810.

perfect the craft.

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The range of objects they made is staggering, from small cameos to grand table-tops. The art is still alive today in the jewellery trade in Italy, where brooches and pendants constructed from a rainbow of natural coloured marbles and exotic gemstones such as lapis lazuli, malachite and rose quartz are inlaid – usually into polished black slate – in geometric forms, circles, ovals and rectangles. As with shell and lava stone cameos, Roman and Florentine mosaics were sold in souvenir shops in Naples, one of the biggest cities in Europe in the late seventeenth century. The tidal wave of tourists created by the discovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum and the occasional eruption of Vesuvius ensured that souvenir makers and vendors were kept busy for decades.

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H i s t o r ica l R e v i va l i s t jewellery

Gold, enamel and garnet circular brooch by Carlo Giuliano.

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The great bonus of living in London for several years was the annual trip to France or Italy. On a trip to Rome I discovered the wonderful museum Villa Giulia which houses a magnificent collection of jewellery made in the ancient style by Castellani, the nineteenth-century firm of goldsmiths and jewellers in Rome. Fortunato Pio Castellani had been present at the excavation of an ancient Etruscan burial site, the Regolini-Galassi tomb, which had uncovered an astounding collection of metalwork and jewellery. He was so impressed with the decorative workmanship and the granulation techniques that he set about finding craftsmen who could copy these ancient methods. His sons Alessandro and Augusto brought a collection to the London International Exhibition of 1862, where Castellani gold jewellery in the Etruscan style created a sensation, heralding a revival of the Archaeological style in England, France, Italy and America.

Gold, enamel and pearl ear pendants in the Etruscan style, signed ‘CG’ (Carlo Giuliano) and in the original fitted case.

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Gold, enamel and garnet cruciform pendant by Carlo Giuliano.

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Sardonyx cameo depicting Aphrodite and Eros at play in an ancient Roman-style gold mount, signed with the Castellani mark, c. 1860.

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Carlo Giuliano’s creations: gold and green enamel brooch in the form of a sprig of mistletoe, the two moonstone ‘berries’ carved as the heads of amorini (symbol of love and fertility), c. 1880; gold openwork brooch set with cabochon green zircons, seed pearls and rose diamonds.

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Brooch in the form of an opal heart tied with chains suspended from a pair of enamelled wings set with pearls, attributed to Sir Edward Burne Jones, c. 1890.

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This passion for historical design included not only ancient Greek and Roman but also ancient Egyptian, Celtic, Gothic and Renaissance (Holbeinesque) styles. The other outstanding Italian jeweller working in the Historical Revivalist style was Carlo Giuliano, who moved to London around 1860, sponsored by the London jeweller Robert Phillips. He developed his own distinctive Renaissance Revivalist style, creating brooches, pendants and earrings decorated with fine enamelling, often in blue or black and white, and set with coloured gemstones. During a trip to New York I visited the lovely establishment A La Vieille Russie. Among Gold hinged bangle in the Archaeological Revivalist style, decorated with granulation – a technique that covers the surface of the piece with granules of precious metal. The terminal is designed as a panther’s head holding a pearl in its mouth.

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the many beautiful jewels was a magnificent demiparure – a set of two matching items of jewellery – in the Egyptian Revivalist style in gold and lapis lazuli, in its original fitted case and labelled ‘Luigi Reschi, via Condotti Roma’ (see page 84). Although it was created in the 1870s, it was something which Cleopatra herself might have worn – and I couldn’t resist it.

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Gold and lapis lazuli demi-parure (necklace and ear pendants) in the ancient Egyptian style, in original fitted case labelled ‘Luigi Reschi, Roma, via Condotti 55, 56 and 57’, Italian, c. 1870s

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Necklace of eighteenthcentury intaglios depicting various gods and scenes from Greek mythology, linked by gold rosettes and pendants, c. 1870.

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Another Classical Revivalist jewel which I found in London in the 1970s was a superb necklace of eighteenth-century intaglios mounted in gold frames linked by gold rosettes and pendants, made in England, c. 1870 (see page 85). The various coloured and carved gemstones seem to have been collected in pairs: a pair of lapis lazuli are carved with scenes of Eros and Aphrodite, and pairs of bloodstone, amethyst, cornelian, chalcedony, sardonyx and agate are all carved with scenes from Greek mythology.

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Na t u r a l i s m

Gold, enamel and pearl flower brooches, late nineteenth century.

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I was fortunate to acquire in 1996 a hair ornament from the 1880s designed as a group of five golden flowers with rose diamond centres mounted en tremblant with tiny springs on a frame of oxidised silver, with a gold brooch en suite. It was encased in its original claret velvet case with a secret section enclosing hair pins, so that the flowers could be taken off the frame and used individually as hair pins for less formal occasions. The nineteenth century saw vast social, political and industrial changes where nostalgia for the past was matched by an acute interest in the natural world, geology, botany and zoology. Jewellery was made in the form of all kinds of flowers and fauna. On my fiftieth birthday Leo presented me with a magnificent gift. It was a diamond bee brooch that he had bought in Italy (see page 93). The bee was the emblem of a famous aristocratic family, the Barberini. This lovely brooch was the beginning of a twelve-year search for jewellery in the form of insects, birds and animals, which culminated in a collection which I exhibited in 1989 as ‘The Jewelled Menagerie’ in my shop.

Tiara of five flowers (buttercups?) mounted en tremblant on a silver frame, c. 1860. The term en tremblant – ‘to tremble’ in French – refers to jewellery fashioned to create a trembling effect when the wearer moved. Powerhouse Museum Sydney.

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From earliest times, animals, birds, insects and exotic beasts have influenced the form and decoration of jewellery. Cartier’s famous panther had its antecedents in ancient Syria, and the proud rams that decorated the gold jewellery of the ancient Greeks and Etruscans found even more exuberant form on the earrings, bracelets and necklaces of the nineteenthcentury Archaeological Revival period. My collection of naturalist jewellery consisted exclusively of pieces inspired by members of the animal kingdom. Sometimes, as in the case of butterfly-wing, bird-feather and scarab-beetle pieces, they incorporated actual physical elements. These remarkable jewels in the form of swallows, eagles, butterflies, dragonflies, bees, serpents and lizards, salamanders, mice, lions, panthers, dogs, cats, frogs, spiders and beetles were sometimes made of gold set with brightly coloured precious and semi-precious gemstones, diamonds and pearls, or silver decorated with enamels, tiger claws or carved buffalo horn. Insect costume jewellery set with paste

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Tortoiseshell piqué chignon comb (the tortoiseshell is carved in a design, then inlaid with gold and silver), French, c. 1880.

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Novelty rebus pendant in gold and enamel with central bee – ‘Don’t be cross’.

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Gold, sapphire and diamond bee brooch with ruby eyes, English, c. 1880.

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Gold brooch set with a crystal intaglio of a bee, the reverse inscribed: ‘The gift of H.R.H. the Princess Mary of Cambridge to S.L. June 12th 1866’.

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Diamond brooch in the form of the Barberini bee, gold setting, Italian, c. 1860.

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Set of three gold flies signed ‘Boucheron’, French, c. 1900.

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Gold and lilac enamel flower brooch, concealed pendant fitting, c. 1890.

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Gold Orientalist pendant in the form of a vase with a fan inside, engraved with a butterfly and reeds.

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stones became extremely popular in the twentieth century. The nineteenth century was a time of curiosity about the world and discovery in distant lands. The British Empire was at the height of its power, and the Victorians were fascinated by the natural world as colonial botanists had discovered all kinds of insects and animals unheard of in the Northern Hemisphere.

Every variety of flower, plant, animal and insect was fashioned in jewellery. Every variety of flower, plant, animal and insect was fashioned in jewellery. All kinds of materials were used, as well as semi-precious gemstones, coral and jet – lava stone from the volcanic mud of Vesuvius, bog oak from Ireland, tiger claws from India, tortoiseshell from Indonesia, even fossils and ammonites. Garnets and amethysts were prized because of their dramatic

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colour, and turquoise was much-loved and used in flower motifs like forget-me-nots. An unusual piece in my menagerie was a small brooch

Pair of Japanese shibuichi buttons with a design of mice at play.

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in dark metal with a gold snail and a smaller silver snail. In the Hull Grundy catalogue, published by the British Museum to document the collection Anne Hull Grundy donated, I discovered a group of items created with a

Japanese shakudo brooch depicting leaping frogs, c. 1880.

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similar technique. It is a form of Japanese metalwork, with gold, silver and copper inlaid together with a range of coloured alloys on a dark base which is either a silver alloy (shibuichi) or a copper alloy (shakudo). It

Shakudo snail brooch, Japanese, c. 1890.

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was originally developed to decorate the sword mounts

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C

and guards of samurai warriors. When Emperor Meiji forbade the wearing of the samurai sword in 1876, the highly skilled metalworkers began making small pieces of jewellery for the export trade. The fashion for ‘Japonisme’ became popular in the mid-nineteenth century among people involved in the Aesthetic Movement and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and the Liberty shop in Regent Street, London, sold all kinds of Japanese lacquer work, watercolours, calligraphy, combs and jewellery. The popularity of ‘Orientalisme’ was satirised in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, first staged at the Savoy Theatre, London, in 1885. This interest in designs of the Orient was a refreshing change from the obsession with romantic historical revivals. English jewellers began to design and make gold brooches in the form of Japanese fans, and silver lockets, necklaces and bracelets decorated with Japanese cranes, butterflies, reeds and bamboo. The famous Parisian jeweller Alexis Falize created wonderful necklaces and earrings decorated with colourful cloisonné enamels in the Japanese style.

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C ha r l o t t e N e w m a n

Three pendants by Charlotte Newman, all held in original fitted cases labelled ‘Mrs Newman Goldsmith and Jeweller, 10 Savile Row, London W1’. The gold and moonstone pendant has a laurel leaf design and the silver pendant is set with moonstone and decorated with blue enamel. The gold and enamel pendant is also in a laurel leaf design, the berries lapis lazuli, with a Mexican fire opal central stone and pendant drop.

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My visits to London always include a major antiques fair; an inspiring lecture at the Society of Jewellery Historians; and visits to the V&A, Wartski in Grafton Street, SJ Phillips and the Bond Street jewellery shops. Once I bought from Peyton Skipwith – a most charming and knowledgeable man specialising in the Arts and Crafts, Aesthetic and Pre-Raphaelite movements at the Fine Art Society shop – a lovely pendant necklace, handwrought in gold and set with moonstones, in its original fitted case, labelled ‘Mrs. Newman, 10 Savile Row London W1’. I later bought two more of her items, each in its original labelled box. I wondered: ‘Who was Mrs. Newman?’ My enquiries led me to a descendant, Mrs Newman’s great-grandson, Philip E Johnson from Canada, who was researching his family’s history. Philip provided me with much useful information. I learned that Charlotte Isabella Gibbs had trained at the South Kensington Art School and in 1860 married a fellow student, Philip Newman, artist and designer of stained glass, tiles, decorative interiors and jewel-

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lery. Charlotte joined the London firm of jewellers John Brogden, as a designer in the mid-1860s. Brogden exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, where he won the Légion d’Honneur and Charlotte was awarded a ‘medaille d’honneur’ as a ‘collaboratrice’. The V&A holds examples of many of her lovely designs in the popular Classical and Renaissance styles which she created while at Brogden’s. After Brogden’s death around 1885, she set up her own shop at 10 Savile Row, London, a sign on the shopfront proudly proclaiming ‘Mrs. Newman, Goldsmith’. Here she proceeded to develop her own distinctive style influenced by the softer, more organic designs of the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements. In February 1894, Charlotte Newman read a paper entitled ‘Goldsmiths’ Work, Past and Present’ at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts Manufacture and Commerce. The chairman offered a vote of thanks, noting to members that, whatever their views might be with regard to ladies taking part in politics, they could have no doubt of the propriety and advan-

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tage of ladies engaging in so interesting and highly intellectual a subject as this. Charlotte herself thought the work would be a good opening for girls ‘if they had no objection to spoiling their hands’!

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A u s t r a l ia n jewellery

Gold brooch with an emu and a kangaroo on either side of a palm tree, c. 1850.

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In the late 1970s, the Craft Council of Australia was preparing an exhibition of contemporary Australian jewellery, which was to tour to Pforzheim in Germany and to London. I was asked to contribute an introduction to the catalogue, providing historical background. I realised I knew quite a lot about English and European jewellery but very little about jewellery made in Australia. I set about travelling throughout Australia, gathering information about jewels and jewellery makers and seeking portraits of people wearing jewellery. I had already contributed a short piece to a book, Australian Antiques: First Fleet to Federation, which grew out of a 1976 National Trust exhibition at ‘Lindsay’, in Darling Point, Sydney. This exhibition marked the beginning of a resurgence of interest in Australian heritage and all kinds of decorative arts, including jewellery, and the emergence of a group of serious collectors of Australiana, led by the indomitable Ruth Simons and Trevor Kennedy, who cornered the market for several years.

The Charlotte Medal, engraved in 1788, depicts the journey of the First Fleet ship Charlotte. Australian National Maritime Museum.

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Gold brooch with an emu, set with a small diamond above, c. 1850.

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Australian gold brooch featuring a central goldbearing quartz among foliage, c. 1856.

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Publisher David Ell urged me to write a book on Australian jewellery, to be released in 1988, the bicentennial year. I spent ten years gathering material, and any item of Australian-made jewellery which came into the shop for valuation or repair was instantly recorded and photographed. The book was not ready for publication in 1988, but with the help of detailed research by the late historian Kevin Fahy, Australian Jewellery: 19th and early 20th century was published in 1990, the very first book on the subject. Indigenous Australians wore jewellery made from natural products from their environment, such as shells, feathers, kangaroo skin and animal teeth. As the penal colony was established, love tokens were made by convicts awaiting transportation. Many of these were made of leather or copper pennies, drilled with a hole to be worn as a pendant, and engraved with initials or the names of a loving pair, a heart, or a motto such as ‘true for ever’ or ‘love for life’. In 2008 the National Museum of Australia bought a collection of 300 such tokens, including one engraved

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Western Australian goldfields brooch depicting a pick and shovel, a sledgehammer, a crowbar, and a winch and bucket, c. 1895. Paddy Hannan was a gold prospector credited with the discovery of the Kalgoorlie goldfields in 1892.

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Western Australian goldfields brooch, 1890s to early 1900s. Featuring the name of the mine or the provenance of the gold was common practice from the 1890s in Western Australia.

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with a sailing ship and the words, ‘Accept this dear Mother from your unfortunate son’, attributed to Thomas Alsop, dated 1833. One of the most famous pieces of such jewellery is the silver Charlotte Medal, which recordsthe eightmonth journey of Charlotte of the First Fleet from Spit Head (off Portsmouth) on 13 May 1787, to Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope and on to Botany Bay, arriving on 20 January 1788 (see page 104). Most jewellery worn in the colony was brought from England by wives of governors and military officers. A gold and garnet parure in Trevor Kennedy’s collection comprises a long chain, a pair of bracelets, a brooch/ pendant and earrings, c. 1854, said to have belonged to Harriet King, wife of Rear Admiral Phillip Parker King. The population explosion after the gold rushes of 1851 in Bathurst, New South Wales, and Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria attracted highly skilled immigrant jewellers not only from England, Ireland and Scotland but also from Germany, Denmark and France. These

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jewellers were fascinated by the exotic flora and fauna and used them as design motifs

in

brooches,

bracelets, lockets and earrings. The goldfield jewels of the 1850s and ’60s were made sometimes on the goldfields or in the city shops as souvenirs of a lucky find, and often taken back to Europe. A brooch made by Danish-born jewellers Hogarth and Gold brooch set with a fine Queensland boulder opal, signed ‘TTJ & Son’. By Timothy Jones, Sydney, c. 1880.

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Erichsen of Sydney around 1858, in the Powerhouse Museum collection, is designed as a cluster of Australian flora, featuring banksia, native pear and fern leaves. A bracelet by the same jewellers depicts a kangaroo, an emu, a kookaburra and a dingo. Goldfields jewellery was also made later, during the 1890s gold rush in Western Australia. These designs were less

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elaborate, but equally charming, sometimes bearing the name of the mine – Kalgoorlie or Coolgardie. At the beginning of the twentieth century inexpensive jewels were made to celebrate the newly formed Federation of the Australian states in 1901. These included gold and silver maps of Australia showing the states; Southern Cross brooches, the stars set with coloured paste or gemstones; and wishbone brooches enclosing a small map of Australia; and brooches in the form of boomerangs. All were reasonably priced and easily accessible to the general public. Also during this time, the establishment of Arts and Crafts societies attracted Australian designers who made original hand-wrought jewellery in silver and semi-precious stones. Today’s Australian jewellery celebrates cultural diversity, with designs incorporating Indigenous and multicultural influences as well as European traditions. It is created using a wide array of materials including synthetics and new metals such as titanium.

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Arts and Crafts

Silver and blister pearl brooch by Rhoda Wager, Sydney, c. 1935.

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My three daughters’ birthdays and Christmas were times when they might expect a small trinket, but their twentyfirst birthdays were special as I asked them to choose a coveted item from the shop. Nell chose a classic long rope of exquisite akoya pearls which she could wear with anything – a pair of jeans or a formal gown. Two years later, Emma chose a lovely gold gimmel ring, which she could wear constantly, and Tess chose an heirloom piece – a wonderful pendant necklace in bright orange fire opals in its original fitted case, labelled ‘The Artificers Guild’. This guild was founded by Nelson Dawson in 1901 and was one of the Arts and Crafts guilds set up in England following the establishment of the Guild and School of Handicraft in 1887–88 by architect and designer Charles Robert Ashbee, who was inspired by the writings of John Ruskin and William Morris.

Silver, rock crystal, moonstone and blister pearl pendant necklace by Sybil Dunlop, English, c. 1920.

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The Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction to the mass production of all types of decorative arts – silver, furniture, ceramics, glass, textiles and jewellery – in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The movement flourished in England and Europe, advocating a return to the medieval idea of the artist craftsman who would design, create and be responsible for the complete work. Jewellers of the movement often worked in silver and less expensive semi-precious stones, enamels and foiled pastes to achieve rich effects in artistic jewels, often inspired by RenaisSilver pendant necklace set with Mexican fire opals, the central stone a fine Australian opal. The original fitted case was labelled ‘The Artificers Guild Maddox St London W1’.

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sance and ancient Celtic designs. The movement spread quickly throughout Europe and America. The Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop) was founded in Vienna in 1903 by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser and lasted nearly thirty years, closing down in 1932.

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Similar Arts and Crafts societies were set up later – by Georg Jensen in Copenhagen, in the USA in Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago and New York, and in Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart. One of the best known and most accomplished Australian jewellers who worked in this style was English-born James WR Linton who trained in art and architecture, and then became accomplished in a number of other crafts – woodwork, leatherwork, silversmithing and enamelling. Linton had been despatched to Western Australia by his father in 1896 to investigate a failing mining investment near Coolgardie. He soon established himself as a merchant in Perth, and by 1902 he was employed as an art instructor at the Perth Technical School, where he remained for almost thirty years, becoming the guiding force behind the Arts and Crafts movement in Western Australia. Another accomplished jeweller working in the Arts and Crafts style was Rhoda Wager, who trained

Two silver brooches by Georg Jensen, one set with a central labradorite within a border of moonstones (1909) and the other with labradorite and opal (1904).

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at the School of Art in Glasgow and worked in Birmingham under Bernard Cuzner, who made jewellery for Liberty of London. She settled in Sydney in 1918 and worked continuously between 1926 and 1946 at various Sydney addresses – Martin Place, Market Street and Rowe Street. In the early 1980s I wrote a weekly article on collecting for The Sun newspaper. While exhibiting at the Sydney Antiques Fair at the time, I showed a set of blue chalcedony marked ‘Wager’, and another dealer had a set of cherry amber (imitation red amber, probably Bakelite) also marked ‘Wager’. My article that week was headed ‘Has anyone heard of Rhoda Wager?’ I was bombarded with letters from people who had visited Rhoda Wager’s premises and bought or commissioned special treasures from her. One of her former clients commented, ‘In an age of mass production she had originality

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and flair’. Rhoda favoured Australian eucalyptus leaves and other flora in her silver settings and used all kinds of local and imported gemstones, including citrines, opals, moonstones, lapis lazuli, amethysts, chalcedony, rose quartz, turquoise, coral and pearls. After World War II the use of Australian materials and motifs in jewellery design was embraced by a generation of jewellers who also desired to keep in touch with the latest movements, fashions and techniques in Europe and Great Britain. The industry in the 1940s and ’50s was enhanced by migration of experienced jewellers from Europe, which led to the appearance of new and exciting modern Australian jewellery designs. To celebrate her first visit to Australia as Queen, in 1954, Elizabeth II was presented with a wonderful yellow and white diamond brooch in the form of a spray of wattle (Australia’s national floral emblem) which had been commissioned by Drummonds of Melbourne from the Hungarian-born jewellery designer Paul Charles Schneller.

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R e n é La l iq u e and Art Nouveau

Tiara with an elderberry design from the 1900s, in purple-tinted carved horn set with moonstones, by Frederick James Partridge, in its original case labelled ‘Liberty & Co’.

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A visit to London in 1987 happily coincided with an exhibition of sensational jewellery by René Lalique at the Goldsmiths’ Hall. The works of art on display included exquisite brooches, pendants, slides and chokers, all created in unusual materials – plique-à-jour (transparent) enamel, sheets of opal representing water – and diadems, combs and hair pins in stained and coloured carved horn. I realised that many people were familiar with Lalique glass but did not know that René Lalique began his career as an art jeweller in Paris around 1885, achieving great success and contributing jewels to the opening exhibition of Samuel Bing’s Paris shop, La Maison de l’Art Nouveau, which gave the movement its name. Art Nouveau style is characterised by strong, free-flowing organic curves and derives its motifs from nature and plant forms.

Gold necklace by René Lalique; the pendant with two-layered opal carved in a floral design suspended with opal, the chain with opal beads at intervals, c. 1900. Wartski London.

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Gold necklace by René Lalique, the centre section with diamond-set damselflies decorated with plique-à-jour enamel centred and suspended with aquamarine, c. 1900. Wartski London.

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In the mid-1890s Lalique began working with the French actress Sarah Bernhardt, inspired by her flamboyant and adventurous personality, and made some amazing stage jewels for her. Bernhardt is credited with introducing Lalique to the Armenian oil millionaire and art collector Calouste Gulbenkian, who commissioned a series of 145 jewels and objets de vertu – the most fantastic and extraordinary jewels of Lalique’s career. I became fascinated with this connection and made a special visit to the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon to view these remarkable jewels, all made between 1895 and 1912. In The Studio magazine, a journal on fine arts and decorative arts published in London, Gabriel Mourey praised Lalique’s exhibit at the Paris Exhibition of 1900: Here in the jewellery section of the Esplanade des Invalides he appears as a more direct observer of Nature … his new combs with pansy and sycamore leaf motifs in horn, silex, black enamel and obsidian with golden insects here and there, show him still anxious to extend the field of his experiments, never tired of seeking fresh subjects and testing new materials.

Carved-horn pendant with a design of leaves and berries by Georges Pierre, French, c. 1910.

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French pâte de verre pendants; meaning ‘glass paste’ in French, the term refers to a technique where a paste of ground glass of different colours is sculpted or moulded, then fired, and cooled very slowly. The pendant with the ladybirds is by Gabriel Argy Rousseau, c. 1914. The other with the beetle is by Almeric Walter, Daum Factory, c. 1910

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Lalique’s first glass exhibition was held at the Place Vendôme shop in Paris in 1912, and it was as a designer of glass that Lalique achieved lasting fame. As jewellery historian Vivienne Becker has lamented, ‘his fame as a glassmaker unfortunately eclipsed his genius as a jeweller and goldsmith’. The most important Art Nouveau designer in America was Louis Comfort Tiffany. The firm of Tiffany & Co. had been founded in the mid-nineteenth century but during the 1890s the creative talents of this designer took the company to new heights of international fame. His imaginative designs in plique-à-jour, enamels and coloured gemstones were inspired by the French jewellers René Lalique and Alphonse Fouquet. I recently bought a lovely Tiffany jewel from the Art Deco period: a closed-wing butterfly brooch set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, onyx and carved sapphires. Many European jewellers were influenced by Lalique’s designs and techniques, and in the 1920s a number of ateliers were set up in Paris making charming and inexpensive brooches and pendants

Carved-horn bee pendant, signed on the reverse ‘GIP’, by Georges Pierre, French, c. 1910.

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Carved-horn pendant with a cicada design by Georges Pierre, French, 1910.

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Carved-horn pendant designed as a fuschia, signed ‘Bonte’, by Elizabeth Bonte, French, 1910.

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Carved horn brooches in the form of bees and dragonflies, French, c. 1910.

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in carved buffalo horn, among them Elisabeth Bonté (mark Bonté) and Georges Pierre (mark GIP). Bonté had studied at the School of Decorative Arts in Paris. After experimenting with leather and fabric, she began to produce hair clips and combs in carved horn, later developing a thriving workshop and eventually joining forces with her rival, Georges Pierre. Although I could never afford to buy early Lalique jewels, which were fetching astronomical prices and being bought by museums around the world, I was able to buy some examples of Bonté and Georges Pierre’s beautiful horn pendants in the Art Nouveau style, carved with flowers and insects such as fuschias, poppies, bees and dragonflies (see pages 122–3). I also bought a splendid carved horn tiara studded with moonstones resembling drops of water, made by Frederick James Partridge for Liberty of London, which was later exhibited at the ‘Tiaras: Past and Present’ exhibition at the V&A.

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E d war d ian

The Edwardian period in England

je w eller y

roughly corresponds with the Art

an d p earl s

Nouveau period in France, covering

the years of Edward VII’s reign (1901–1910). The most popular jewels of the Edwardian period were diamonds and pearls, which complemented the whites and pastel shades of the gowns of that period. Royalty and aristocratic families wore natural pearls, and Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII, is famous for wearing six-strand chokers and several long ropes of pearls at the same time. The creation of the cultured pearl in Japan was a significant event as it made pearls accessible to the general public. After fifteen years of experimenting, Kokichi Mikimoto registered a patent for the culturing of pearls in 1908, and at the Anglo-Japanese Fair in London in 1910 he exhibited a model of his pearl farm. His son-in-law Nishikawa was granted a patent in 1916 and the technology was immediately applied to the Japanese akoya pearl oyster, but it was not until

Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII, in her coronation robes and wearing her royal crown, a four-strand pearl choker, long pearl necklaces, diamond bracelets and earrings, 1902. Royal Collection Trust/ © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

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Late Victorian diamond and pearl necklace complete with a silver frame converting it to a tiara, English, c. 1900.

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1928 that the first small commercial crop was successfully produced. The Japanese akoya oyster produces pearls ranging from 2 to10 millimetres in size. But in the 1950s the Paspaley family in Broome, Western Australia, set up a farm for culturing pearls from the Australian oyster, the Pinctada maxima, which produces much bigger pearls, ranging in size from 10 to 20 millimetres. Over the past fifty years the Australian cultured pearl industry based in Broome and Darwin has become one of the most successful export industries in this country. One of my favourite jewels is a pair of Broome baroque pearl earrings mounted with a small diamond, very similar to the one in Vermeer’s painting The girl with a pearl earring. I bought this jewel in the 1970s and wear it often, along with a classic pearl necklace of 12-millimetre Broome pearls.

Diamond and baroque pearl brooch with a lily design, French, c. 1895.

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Art Deco

Platinum and diamond Art Deco jewellery, 1930s.

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Possibly the most fabulous jewel I have ever bought is a magnificent aquamarine and diamond brooch by Chaumet, one of the leading Paris jewellers of the Art Deco period. The central fine-quality aquamarine, which weighs 342 carats, looks like a lake, in a platinum diamond-set mount resembling a wave, with diamond-set tassels terminating in pear-shaped drops. One of the great regrets of my life is selling that marvellous jewel. That brooch sadly passed out of my life and, despite my many valiant attempts to discover its whereabouts, I have never been able to locate it. The term ‘Art Deco’ derived from the title of the 1925 ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et

Art Deco platinum diamondset rectangular brooch with a central coral within an onyx border, c. 1925.

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Aquamarine and diamond brooch by Chaumet, Paris, c. 1925.

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Aquamarine, sapphire and diamond cocktail ring, 18-carat white-gold setting, Cartier, c. 1938.

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Industriels Modernes’ in Paris and came to describe the new modern style of the 1920s, after the end of World War I. Characterised by bold contrasting colours, concise and well-defined lines, and strict geometric harmony, these fine-quality jewels set in platinum were made by Cartier, Fouquet, Boucheron, Chaumet, and Van Cleef & Arpels. They were excitingly ‘modern’ and radically different from nineteenth-century jewellery.

They were radically different from nineteenth-century jewellery. After the war, Cartier created some of the finest jewels of the Art Deco period: tiaras, headbands, necklaces, bracelets and ear pendants with simple elegant lines in pearls and diamonds. More dramatic designs used unusual and colourful combinations of gemstones such as Chinese carved jade and coral, onyx and rock crystal, much favoured by clients such as Mona Bismark, Daisy Fellowes and Wallis Simpson, for whom the firm

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Art Deco platinum, onyx and diamond brooch in the form of a bow, by Cartier, Paris, c. 1930.

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Openwork platinum and diamond bow brooch, French, c. 1925.

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Art Deco brooch set with diamond, sapphire, ruby and emerald in the form of a chequered ribbon bow, c. 1928.

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Art Deco diamond, onyx, emerald, ruby and carved sapphire folded-wing butterfly brooch by Tiffany, New York, c. 1925.

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created the famous flamingo brooch with its body of diamonds and tail feathers set with rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Van Cleef & Arpels was established in Paris in 1906 by Alfred van Cleef and his two brothers-in-law, Charles and Julien Arpels, and their first salon opened on the Place Vendôme. The firm is credited with creating the first minaudière, a jewelled box in pendant

Art Deco platinum brooch set with diamonds and four carved jade flowers, with black enamel border, English, c. 1928.

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form which contained a section for face powder and lipstick. After the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, Van Cleef & Arpels made a wonderful range of jewellery with Egyptian motifs – sphinxes, scarabs, cobras, the lotus, and Horus, the Sun god. A woman walked into my shop one day and offered

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me a wonderful Van Cleef & Arpels Art Deco jewel – which I bought – as well as a fascinating story. It was a superb diamond bracelet with a design of Egyptian potters with rows of pots in rubies, emeralds, onyx and sapphires. It had been given to my client’s grandmother by her husband, who was an Australian horse trainer working in India for the Maharajah of Hyderabad, and the horse had won at Ascot. The Maharajah was so delighted he presented the horse trainer with this superb bracelet for his wife! I am constantly astounded by the amazing jewels which turn up in this country. I recently acquired a wonderful gold and blue enamel presentation box with a diamond monogram of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. The owner’s great-grandfather was a doctor working in Mamre, Sweden, and had won the box in a ballot held to raise money for a new children’s hospital. Several aristocratic families had donated items and objets de vertu for the ballot and this box had been given in thanks to a doctor who had attended Tsar Alexander II in 1875. Research revealed that this box was one of

Bird-of-paradise gold brooch with coral head; pearl body; and diamond-set beak, collar and tail feathers, marked ‘Sterle Paris’, by Georg Sterle, 1960s.

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Art Deco chrysoprase, black enamel and diamond brooch, c. 1935.

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Art Deco platinum, diamond and jade disc ear pendants.

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several similar objects made in Vienna for the purpose of gifts for services rendered to the Tsar. The happy outcome of the ballot was that the funds were raised and the children’s hospital was built.

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I n d ia n j e w e l l e r y

Indian gold tamania ‘happiness’ dowry necklace set with turquoise and small gemstones, midtwentieth century.

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My fascination with Indian jewellery began when I met an Australian collector based in India who brought to Australia a collection of gold and silver traditional jewellery. I was so impressed by the fine workmanship, the variety of design motifs and symbols, and the Indian belief in the amuletic qualities of gems and jewel-

Indian gold jewellery from the mid-nineteenth century; the dowry necklace with seven gold coin pendants symbolises prosperity, while the mamouli pendant, which pays homage to the ‘mother goddess’, symbolises fertility.

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lery that I bought the entire collection. In 1999 I held a special exhibition, ‘Traditional Jewellery of India’, which attracted much interest and many new clients. The designs on some of the pendants represented various Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Kali or Durga, Hanuman and Ramdev, and occasionally pendants were enamelled with the feet of the Buddha. Others were engraved with symbols such as stylised peacocks for beauty, or designed in the shape of yonis, mangoes or champa (Indian magnolia) buds, all representing fertility – very popular motifs. Two silver woven rope necklaces in my collection held lingham pendants, purse-like containers to hold

Indian jewelled armband set with a navaratna – ‘the nine gems’ (Sanskrit) are: diamond (vajra), ruby (manikya), emerald (marakata), coral (vidruma), pearl (mukta), sapphire (nila), garnet (gomedaka), topaz (pusyaraga) and cat’s eye (vaidurya).

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a phallus-shaped stone and worn by both male and female devotees of Shiva. One small silver pendant was engraved with seven female figures representing the seven goddesses who are always depicted together as ‘mother’ deities. Wearing such a piece is expected to ensure good sleep and ward off nightmares, particularly for children, and prevent physical and psychic dangers. These traditional designs have been made continually for centuries but the examples described here come from the early twentieth century. Another necklace was hung with seven rupee coins dated 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1907, the reverse engraved with the head of Edward VII and the words ‘King and Emperor’. Coin necklaces often feature in Indian marriage ceremonies, where jewellery is traditionally given to the bride as her personal property to be used in time of need. The many items of ‘dowry’ jewellery might include

Reverse of twentiethcentury diamond-set gold pendant from Jaipur, decorated with enamel, with five pink tourmaline drops.

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a gold coin necklace, symbol of prosperity; a tamania necklace, symbol of family unity; a gold necklace hung

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with auspicious units, such as stylised jasmine buds or the flower buds of the champa tree given as offerings to Shiva; or a simple gold thali pendant representing a particular religious sect or caste. Astrology pays an important part in Indian belief systems, so jewellery often features the sun, moon and stars and is sometimes set with nine gemstones which symbolise the nine planets of Hindu astrology. A jewel set with this combination of nine gems (ruby, pearl, coral, emerald, topaz, diamond, sapphire, zircon and catseye) is called navaratna; it is highly auspicious and

Indian gold hinged bangle set with lasque diamonds – a sliver or flat sheet of diamond – and with terminals in the form of a snake’s head, set with cabochon emeralds.

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The woven gold chain of this Mughal necklace from around the 1880s is hung with jasmine bud pendants mounted with pearls, decorated with enamel and set with lasque diamonds, terminating in pink tourmaline and pearl drops. The reverse is decorated with a floral design in red, white and green enamel – Margaret Olley, who bought the necklace on one of her trips to India, preferred to wear the reverse side up. The Margaret Olley Collection.

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is believed to protect the wearer against danger and disease. Another style of Indian jewellery, set with precious gemstones and decorated with enamel, has its origins in the Persian designs of the Mughal Empire of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and continues to be created to this day, especially in Jaipur, Benares and Lucknow. The Australian painter Margaret Olley was fascinated by the jewellery of India and bought, on one of her trips to India, a lovely Mughal-style necklace with jasmine bud pendants mounted with pearls and set with diamonds and pink tourmalines (see pages 144–5). She preferred to wear it reversed, displaying the beautiful red, white and green enamel design.

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j e w e l l e r y t o d ay

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Although my preference will always be antique and vintage jewellery, I have become interested in some contemporary jewellery design. A friend introduced me to a highly talented jewellery designer working in Vienna, Jacqueline Lillie, whose work is shown in design museums throughout the world and is represented in collections in Germany, Austria, the USA and Australia (the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and

Previous page Antique Manchu hair ornaments set with kingfisher feathers. The pair of floraldesign combs are set with amethysts, while the combs with the dragon design are decorated with gold tassels. The flying bat has wings of carved jade.

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the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra). I have held several small exhibitions of her exquisite jewellery made with antique glass beads, with clasps and fittings of titanium, silver, perspex or corian. Sometimes the clasps on her necklaces and brooches are magnetic. They are soft and sinuous and eminently wearable, although the colour pallete is quite dramatic, being similar to Art Deco jewellery and some African pieces. Jacqueline’s basic philosophy of ‘form, function and flexibility’ reflects her belief that each piece has to meet certain aesthetic requirements and also stand up to the rigours of a working environment. Jacqueline feels that:

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Antique Chinese hairpins decorated with coral, jade and kingfisher feathers.

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jewellery is no longer an expression of status – hence my insistence on crafting with simple glass beads and clasps that owe their roots to precision engineering. Jewellery is a reflection of one’s attitude towards life and one’s surroundings. At the same time the pieces should draw on the traditions of the past and take them a step further.

She adds that ‘all good jewellery should adapt to the wearer and be an extension of that person’s character’. Throughout the world jewels are made using all kinds of materials – whatever is at hand or affordable, be it shells, feathers, wire or plastic. I am fascinated when I see an item or a technique I have never seen before, such as a Chinese hair pin from the Manchu period inlaid with kingfisher feathers, and proceed to

Four-strand neck piece in black and white glass beads with black corian clasp, Jacqueline Lillie, Austria.

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seek out more examples and make a small collection of these jewels. Thus I have a collection including hair pins and hair ornaments made of coral beads threaded onto a wire frame to form a butterfly or a bat, then

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further decorated with kingfisher feathers and pieces of carved jade – extraordinary work similar to Chinese embroidery. I then seek out a book on the subject – in this case Kingfisher Blue: Treasures of an ancient Chinese art by Beverley Jackson – and learn more. In this way, my study of jewellery is an ongoing, constant learning process and an enduring, never-ending story.

A cknowledgments I am grateful for the support of Cate Blanchett, Richard Edgecumbe (V&A), Robb Gardner, Rick Gates, John Hawkins, Trevor Kennedy, Kathryn Lamberton, Jenny Maunsell, Fran Moore, Katherine Purcell (Wartski), Eva Czernis-Ryl, Leo Schofield, Nell, Tess and Emma Schofield, and Kathy Bail, Elspeth Menzies, Di Quick and Uthpala Gunethilake at NewSouth Publishing.

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glossary be z el

Flange of metal used to hold a gemstone in position. bright cutting

Sharp, slash-like decoration made on gold or silver. cabochon

A gemstone cut in a smooth, convex curve without facets. cameo

Design or portrait cut in relief on hard gemstone or shell. The stones chosen frequently have different coloured layers, the lower serving as a background for the relief. chalcedony

A type of quartz, usually milky white. chrysoprase

Translucent, apple-green quartz. c l addagh ring

Traditional Irish ring showing a pair of hands holding a heart, with a crown above. c l o is o n n é

Method of enamelling in which the design is outlined on a metal base with thin wires (cloisons) and the spaces thus created filled with coloured enamel. close set

Where the gemstone is set in a closed back setting, often foiled. Open set is where the back of the setting is open, allowing light into the back of the gemstone. cornelian

A variety of quartz, opaque and usually light orange to dark red or reddish brown.

e n tr e mb l a n t

French – jewellery mounted on small metal springs to create a trembling effect when worn. fede ring

A ring formed to depict clasped hands, symbolising love and fidelity. gimmel ring

From the Latin gemelli, meaning ‘twins’. Gimmel rings have two or more separate hoops that fit together. G ira n d o l e

Design for earrings, popular in the eighteenth century, consisting of a large gemstone at the top of the setting and three pear-shaped pendants suspended from a bow-shaped mount. granulation

A technique that covers the surface of the jewel with granules of precious metal. intaglio

A technique in which a design or pattern is carved into a gemstone; the opposite of a cameo. lasque

A special Indian diamond cut which produces a sliver or flat sheet of diamond. micro - mosaic

In jewellery, the use of small pieces of glass mosaic to create designs. organic and non organic gemstones

non-organic gemstones are formed from minerals. parure

A set of matching jewellery comprising at least three items, often more. Most parures contain at least a necklace, a pendant or brooch, and earrings. A demi-parure is less elaborate, comprising only two items. p â t e d e v e rr e

Literally ‘glass paste’ in French, a paste of ground glass of different colours sculpted or moulded, fired, then cooled very slowly. pi e tra d u ra

A technique where coloured stones are inlaid to create an image or record a landscape. plique-à-jour

French – ‘letting in daylight’; a transparent enamel where the design is outlined in metal and filled with coloured enamels without backing. rose cut

A diamond cut with triangular facets over the surface of the stone. Found in antique jewellery before the invention of the brilliant cut, where the stone is cut with 56 facets to make the most of its optical properties, in the early eighteenth century. sardony x

A variety of chalcedony or agate in shades of brown due to the presence of iron oxides.

Organic gemstones are formed from living organisms and include gems such as pearl, coral, amber, jet or ivory;

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