Sep
24
Baroque Antiqies: Louis XIV Style
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Needless to say the furnishings of these buildings had to match
setting and once again it was Rome that led the way, this time in
scorative arts, particularl) furniture.
iggeration was the order of the day, in size, scale and proportion.
Jng was lavish and the Renaissance sense of proportion was often
scrollwork and mouldings. This was the furniture of the sculptor
Different styles of turned leg used on
wilh its large leafy scrolls, flower garlands, putti and human figures.
Perhaps one of the reasons for the 19th century’s derisive attitude to the
Baroque was that it was seen out of context. The furniture of this period
was designed exclusively for the room it was to occupy; take it away from
the painted ceilings and the richly hung walls and its ornateness and
massiveness become more obvious. Not all the furniture of the Italian
palaces was so designed, for the members of the household lived mainly
in smaller rooms above their large Baroque chambers. Here the furniture
was of the simpler type common in the 16th century.
As the 16th century progressed the Baroque revolution influenced
other Italian craftsmen including goldsmiths, metalworkers and glass-
workers. It was in France however that the Baroque was further ela-
borated into the Louis XIV style, an interpretation of Baroque that
spread to the rest of Europe in one degree or another.
The reign of Louis XIV, ‘Le Roi soled’, (1643-1717) was a period of
French pre-eminence in European history. An age of cultural and
political ascendancy for France, Louis’ reign saw the origins of an in-
fluence on international fashion that still lingers today. Paris replaced
Rome as the art centre of the world and French became the language of
European courts and diplomacy. The Louis XIV style in the decorative
arts was largely due to Louis himself for he believed that art should be
in the service of the king rather than the Church as it had been for cen-
turies past. Through his minister Colbert, Louis established academies to
standardize style in art. and the style he favoured was a dignified and
stately, but still sumptuous form of Baroque. The over-zealousness of
the Italians was refined into a new classicism.
In England it was not until after the Restoration in 1660 that Baroque
influences appeared. Before that date furniture had remained more or
less in the Elizabethan style and other arts and crafts had made little
progress for a quarter of a century.
A fuller expression of the Baroque only appeared in England with the
reign of William and Mary (1689-1702), after whom the style was named.
The Huguenot refugees from France after 1685 played a significant role
in the propagation of the Baroque, for many of them were skilled crafts-
men bringing with them French techniques and designs at a time when
the Louis XIV style was at the height of its fashion. The influences upon
English decorative arts were both French and Dutch. Dutch Baroque
was characterized by an element of realism which they introduced into
their art by their rejection of the old world peopled with angels and saints
and their acknowledgement of the new Dutch middle class in which the
artist worked not for a sole patron, but for the market.
The Baroque era followed the inspired humanism of the Renaissance
with inflated statements of pomp, power and splendour. During the 17th
century, the institutions of the Church in Italy, the state in France, and
all courts of Germany, spawned materialistic monuments to their
hjlglory in architecture and fine and decorative arts.
■ Italy, papal families such as the Barberini, Pamfili, Aldobrandini
anc Borghese constructed elaborate villas, and filled them with works
■ and expensive furnishings. At Versailles, the association of Louis
V with the sun-god Apollo required the development of an interior
setting not quite of this earth.
I lttiated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the Baroque architectural and
ntural style retained classical elements, but took liberties with
iciples of symmetry and restraint. Columns became twisted, sculp-
tured figures contorted, carvings expressive and exuberant. Baroque
inti nors achieved striking effects through a colourful welding together
irchitecture, sculpture, and painting, which dazzled the eye with
qdour and variety. Rising numbers of wealthy merchants, bankers
and Inewly-aristocratic families resulted in a refinement of rules of
etic uette and ceremony in order to define rank rigidly. The villas of
prii wes, cardinals and courtiers were replete with devices that filtered
anc arranged guests and residents to exclude those of lower rank from
the more intimate courtly gatherings. Private audiences were held in
cat sets and closets, small rooms richly decorated with fine furnishings,
hai stings, crystal, porcelain and paintings.
ink determined access to the ‘public’ levees and touchers of heads of
staM princes and nobility in state bedrooms, where elaborately hung
bee s were generally enclosed inside alcoves or behind ceremonial
bal istrades. Rank also determined the allocation of seats: ornate, gilded
throne chairs in Italy and elsewhere were reserved for heads of house-
hol i and state, and progressively less imposing chairs and stools were
use i according to social position. In Spain, ladies were relegated to floor
cus uons.
Franee, privileged women received in bed, and guests sat on cushions
in hie ruelle, or alley, beside them. Fixed positions of most furniture
pie as emphasized the formality of Baroque interiors. Chairs generally
line d room walls, and were put back in place there by servants after use.
I Mended to impress, these palatial interiors were lined with Turkish
tapestries, Genoese cut velvets, Lucchese silks and Spanish embossed
an< gilt leathers that were exported throughout Europe. Ceilings and
wa Is were painted with brilliant frescoes and self-glorifying messages
we e not uncommon. Gilding of ceiling panels and wall ornaments
bee une increasingly fashionable.
/. though still relatively scarce. Baroque furniture took on the pro-
cla c^tory aura of the pompous fittings around it. Carved sconces,
guerdons and chandeliers provided glittering supports for candles, and
the ij gilded surfaces were reflected in cascades of light by decorative
miirors in elaborate carved frames.
I % Italy, large villas such as the Ca’Rezzonico in Venice housed suites
of (late apartments, including galleries, libraries, dining rooms and
sal< ns, all decorated with hangings, gold galloons and fringes, lacquer-
wo k and ivory and marble wainscoting. The furnishings of these rooms
we e objects of sculpture and art, rather than comfort. Produced by lead-
ing contemporary artists, scale, exaggerated style and cost precluded
casual use. The private family apartments located above the show rooms
of the piano nobile were furnished very simply.
Baroque furniture was bold, vigorous and sculptural. Naturalistic
carving in high relief supported tables, beds, chairs, stools and cup-
boards, Carved dolphins, eagles, shells, putti and grotesques were
combined with volutes, dense scrolling and foliage, and placed beneath
seats or slabs of marble to form chairs or tables.
Gilded chairs with outstretching arms and velvet upholstery were
carved with broad, ribbon-like forms which twisted and furled to in-
corporate putti and foliage. Decorative console tables were carved by
sculptors such as the Venetian Andrea Brustolon (1662-1732) in vigorous
compositions of animals, blackamoors, shells and figures.
Brustolon’s training began in his native city of Belluno and was con-
tinued, from his fifteenth birthday, under the Genoese sculptor Filipo
Parodi whose late Baroque style no doubt influenced him. His earliest
known work is a pair of angels for the sacristy altar in the Frari, Venice,
probably about 1683 and it seems that much of his life was spent creating
religious works for church use. The only furniture that can definitely be
attributed to him is a suite, sometimes called the “negro suite’ which he
made for a prominent Venetian, Pietro Venier, sometime before 1699
and now in the Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice. The chairs of this suite are
carved in boxwood, and the arms are fashioned as creeper-entwined
branches supported by negros with lacquered heads and arms. The
largest piece is a side-table in which Hercules, flanked by Cerberus and
the Hydra, supports a platform on which two river gods lie holding por-
celain vases with three nude negros supporting yet another vase in the
centre of the table. Only two other suites can be tentatively assigned to
Brustolon, one made for the Correr family and now in Ca’ Rezzonico
and the other for the Pisani which can be seen in the Quirinal, Rome.
The collection of Lord Burnham in Beaconsfield holds four armchairs
similar to the Venier pieces.
Features of the Italian Baroque reached France during the reign of
Henri IV, who established craft workshops in the Grand Galerie du
Louvreon the example of the Florentine ducal manufactories. Aided by
cardinals Jules Mazarin and Armand Jean de Richelieu, who wished to
establish a national style, Louis XIII continued to promote the emula-
tion of Italian and Flemish achievement in the decorative arts.
In 1661 Louis XIV acceded to the throne, and in 1667 Jean Baptiste
Colbert, his minister of arts, founded the Manufacture Royale des
Meubles de la Couronne, known as the Gobelins after the workshops
previously established in 1622. Under the directorship of the artist
Charles le Brun, and stimulated by the personal interest extended by
Louis XIV, the Gobelins workshop developed into flourishing collabora-
tive manufactories, in which designs of le Brun, Jean Berain (1638-1711),
and Jean le Pautre (1618-82) were completed by craftsmen contributing
diverse skills and talents. Among the most prominent were Jacques
Caffieri (1678-1755) and Andre Charles Boulle (1672-1732).
Boulle is undoubtedly France’s most celebrated cabinetmaker and
his name has been internationally adopted to describe the style of furni-
ture produced in his workshops. In 1672, he was given rooms and a
shop in the Louvre by Louis XIV, where for the next thirty years
jade furniture for the Court and the nobility, receiving the title
ier ebeniste du roi. While he made a great deal of furniture for
VerMilles, only two fully documented pieces are known - a pair of
commodes made for the king’s bedroom at the Trianon. It is not certain
whether boulle actually invented the commode but he certain!) spent
son e time experimenting with the concept and played an important
role in its development. The original versions of the commode were not
the bureau but with fewer drawers which extended the whole
and sometimes provided with doors and the top in either mar-
or marble. While marquetry was fashionable at this time, it was
: who brought the technique to perfection. The technique involved
glueing together thin sheets of brass and tortoiseshcll and then pasting
on to the surface a piece ol paper on which the required pattern had been
drawn. I he pattern was cut out with a saw and the layers separated to
givel two kinds of marquetry, the first called premiere-partie in which the
pattern of brass was on a tortoiseshcll ground and the other, contre-
partie which was the reverse. His most magnificent achievement was the
cabinet of the Dauphin, completed between 1680-83, which was
iestroyed.
French Baroque incorporated the exuberance and lavishness of
designs, forms and ornamented carving into a more restrained
Classical style. Rectilinear gilt upholstered sofas, day-beds and
were made at the Gobelins along with other furnishings for the
ce at Versailles. Tall, imposing cabinets, bureaux, and commodes
were covered with floral marquetry, or the delicate interlacing composi-
tions of contrasting toitoiscshell and brass popularized by boulle’s
craftsmanship. Heavy ormolu mounts of mythological scenes,
s, lions and acanthus leaves appeared on tables and case pieces,
i Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and the great reductions
)belins’ output which the government imposed for economic
is, forced many craftsmen to leave France. Thedesigns of Huguenot
te Daniel Marot (1663-1752) proved especially important in the
lination of the Louis XIV style.
Sep
24
Antique Linen Embroidery
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Linen Embroidery
Sw is linen embroidery was at its height in this century, declining after
6. Most of the work comes from the German-speaking cantons,
Jcularly those where linen was also produced such as St Gall, Con-
ic and Schaffhausen. The linen they used was of blue or brown yarn
because they used only small looms, larger works required the strips
joined. This in itself provided an opportunity for imaginative work
amental overstitching, embroidered braid or lace insertions,
lie Catholic Church had always been the prime inspiration for Swiss
in<£iji embroiderers and during the 16th century when the Swiss, like the
ish embroiderers, were studying books and woodcuts for new
ns, Bible woodcuts took pride of place. Renaissance motifs were
i slowly accepted by the Swiss and certain motifs, such as architec-
scrollwork, were never used.
Spain and Italy
Spanish embroidery, though it owed much to the long Moorish tradi-
tio l, was also influenced by the Incas of South America, for the plunders
of civilization were now reaching Spain. The Incas had achieved
Pair of embroidered gloves given by
Henry VIII to his friend Sir Anthony
Denny.
Embroidery
high artistic standards in their own textile work and their stylized animal-
istic motifs were given a new interpretation in Spain.
The standard of embroidery was high and as well as the previously
mentioned influences, designs were also taken from the Spanish painters
of the day, such as Murillo. Altar cloths, not surprisingly in Catholic
Spain, provide some of the more luxurious examples.
Italian embroiderers were also influenced by the painters of the day
but took greater pains to imitate as closely as possible even the smallest
gradation of shade or colour.
Metal armour has been used by warriors for thousands of years but,
apart from a very occasional excavated piece of Roman or Greek armour,
very few pieces pre-dating the late 16th century are likely to be available.
By this date the wearing of armour was already in decline, for firearms
were changing the face of war and making armour obsolete.
The 16th century had heralded a distinct division of armour into two
types depending on its role. On the one hand there was the late Gothic
style called ‘Maximilian’ armour which was used mainly for pageants
and display and plain, undecorated armour which was used on the battle-
field. The latter is distinguished by the use of chain mail skirts and closed
helmets and by the employment of sabbatons instead of sollerets as foot-
guards. Battle helmets consisted of the crown which had a ridge, usually
roped down the centre and with two cheek-pieces meeting and fastening
at the chin. The visor and bevor were formed of one piece with horizontal
apertures to see through and small holes for ventilation. The chain mail
skirt had been growing in popularity during the second half of the 15th
century and was now in general use. Made of fine mail it usually hung
to about the middle of the thighs, though occasionally it reached below
the knees. Sometimes it had short slits back and front to facilitate riding.
From about 1500 male fashions in general began to change from
close-fitting garments to more ample clothing with slashed doublets.
This interest in new fashions was also reflected in armour design which,
coincidentally, was under review, particularly in Austria by the Emperor
Mi ximilian I, with a view to improving its efficiency. The ‘Maximilian’
sly i lasted, with a few changes, until about 1600 and was characterized
sbveral supplementary fittings for additional protection and the use
decorative fluting. On the helmet, which was of the closed type, the
flu ing usually ran from front to back, while the visor was formed of two
pa ts, the upper, or visor proper, which fell down inside the second section
or bevor which could be raised independently of the visor.
1 rrom about 1545 the fluting on all parts of the armour was discarded
be< ause it had been found that a lance meeting the fluting tended to be
caught and the point directed to vulnerable parts. The fluting was re-
placed by rich engravings and repousse work as well as gold and silver
damascening. As a result, the armour of the aristocracy tended to
be< ome a luxury, lined in velvet or silk, but made of relatively thin metal
an I so useless as a protection.
‘ ‘he armour worn by the lower ranks however tended to be less uniform.
Th b infantry at this time was made up of pikemen, arquebusiers, canoniers
and archers. The pikeman wore a pot-de-fer helmet with a turned down
brin i from about 1530 until later in the century when it changed to a classic
en sted helmet and later still to the cabasset helmet. He wore a breast-
an I packplate but probably only occasionally had arm and thigh armour.
In the early part of the century the arquebusier wore little armour but
about 1550 he was wearing a type of armour called ‘almayne rivets’ a
na ne taken from a German system of metal connected by sliding rivets.
Thsfcavalry wore mainly half-armour consisting of a closed helmet or
cas que and a breastplate and tassets which reached to either the middle
of tie thigh or to below the knee.
During the late 16th century there was an increased use of helmets
without face pieces, and these burgonets were worn by both cavalry and
infantry. Probably the commonest form is that known as the lobster
tai ed burgonet which was popular during the period of the Thirty Years
W; i (1618-48) and the English Civil Wars (1642-8). It had a domed
sku 1 with a peak through which passed a curved bar, the nasal, which
ga 4 some protection to the face. The back of the neck was covered by
a fl ired guard made of several overlapping strips or lames. Two ear flaps
pr< rected the cheeks.
Another light helmet was the morion which had a skull with just a
na rtow brim and perhaps earflaps. Another form had a high central
conb and a very pronounced curve in the brim.
7 till suits of armour are very rare and many of those which do appear
on t ie market are composed of parts from different armours. A number
of Victorian copies also exist and these will seldom deceive the collector
foi t tiey are usually ‘tinny’, light and lack the graceful lines of the original.
Llthough full armours are rare there is a great deal of interest in the
collecting of component parts. Helmets are probably the most desirable
pieiSss. Early 16th century examples of the close helm have a fluted
sui f ice designed to give greater strength. This style is known by collectors
as Maximilian and is very attractive. Some rather crude examples of
clo se helmets may be found and these are usually church helms which
we e hung above the tombs. They were often put together out of odd
piejcjes and many have a crest fitted.
German breastplate decorated with
etching.
Thd word Baroque is thought to have come from the Portuguese word
bartqco meaning an irregularly-shaped pearl. The term did not receive
wid Bjusage as a description of the predominant style of the 17th century
unt 1 the 19th century and, as the translation of the word indicates, it
was originally used disparagingly being applied particularly to post-
Rei a issance architecture. Nevertheless the perjorative use of the word
dis; ppeared and the Baroque style came to be seen as an original style
witl inuch intrinsic merit and beauty.
Whereas the previous two centuries of the Renaissance were an age
of < tcovery, the 17th century was an age of expansion and the art that
it produced, the Baroque, personified this expansive urge. Baroque art
has been described as spacious, dynamic, colourful, sensual, opulent and
exl avagant. It was an age that was to last for over 100 years.
1 He origins of the Baroque have not been well defined but it is clear
tha St began in northern Italy around 1600, the full transition taking
only a quarter of a century before it spread into most of Europe. It is
thought that the Baroque was initially the reaction of papal Rome
agatlst the spread of Protestantism and certainly echoes of this idea can
be :den in the flight of the Huguenots after the Revocation of the Edict
of I lantes in 1685 from France, which by then had become the model of
BaiDque for the rest of Europe. Ironically it was the Huguenots who
wei b among France’s finest craftsmen, and it was they who subsequently
car ied the Baroque to England and other Protestant countries.
I ‘Rome was the birthplace of the Baroque then Michelangelo seems
to 1 ave provided the base on which it was built even though he died in
156|| From Popes Paul III (1534-49) to Sixtus V (1580) a successful
campaign had been led against the rise of Protestantism after which
Six us determined to rebuild Rome more magnificently than before as
an < difice against paganism. For him, the style of the Renaissance carried
elei lents of the paganism he was opposed to. The building of St Peter’s
beg ih by Michelangelo earlier in the 16th century was continued (1606-
12) inderCarlo Moderna and became Rome’s greatest Baroque project.
11 w; s in the amendment of Michelangelo’s basic plans that the Baroque
por entously emerged, but it was left to Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680),
“eatest artist of the Baroque if not the originator of true Baroque,
lplete the design for St Peter’s,
hje desire of the papacy to create a pomp and splendour that would
up the Church and attract more members spread to the nobility
i\y, who had palaces built which reflected the ecclesiastical magni-
ficence.
Sep
24
Renaissance Jewellery and Precious Stones
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Another Nuremberg pewterer working in the same style was Albrecht
Preissensin, a colleague of Horchhaimer. The large bowls made by both
men are usually decorated with scenes from the Passion or from classical
mythology; their small bowls have only arabesque motifs and are much
sought after by collectors.
Relief pewter decorated using the Lyons technique was also made in
Nuremberg, one of the best-known craftsmen being Kaspar Eilderlein
who achieved his fame by making exact copies of the Temperantia Dish
made by Briot.
Jewelry
The significant difference between Renaissance jewelry and the jewelry
of the Middle Ages was that the former concentrated on jewels for the
body rather than for dress. The bracelet became popular, false hair was
worn and adorned with chaplcts of pearls and narrow headbands with
a star-shaped gem at the forehead were worn by many women around
1500. Earrings, finger rings and pendants were all worn to set off a
woman’s body rather than her dress.
The most important jewel during the Renaissance, holding pride of
place, is undoubtedly the pendant and it is in this form that the finest
examples of the jeweller’s art are to be found, many achieving the stature
of miniature sculpture. By the beginning of the 16th century, the subject
matter of the greater part of these jewels was almost exclusively pictorial
or involved in the portrayal of figures in one form or another, often
within an elaborate architectural frame. Noted exceptions are the designs
by Hans Holbein, the celebrated court painter of Henry V111. His work
mainly emphasizes the use of precious stones for their own sake in an
esse 1 ially non-figurative composition with the sole addition of coloured
enai lei and engraving.
T n* ability to attribute a jewel to a particular country is very rare with
piec :s made during this period. 1 lolbcin was nol an artist craftsman, but
mere y produced designs which were (lien executed by a goldsmith,
probably Hans of Antwerp. This trend was being carried out in the rest
of E urope as jewellers issued pattern books of engraved designs which
: gradually circulated from country to country.
infiltration of Renaissance taste and ideals from Northern Italy
le rest of Europe evoked a hunger for the new jewelry in the rising
it courts of France, Germany, England, the Low Countries and
Benvenuto Cellini, perhaps the archetypal Renaissance artist
tsrnan, himself worked for a time under the patronage of Francois I
in F rpnee, while in Germany, Nuremberg and Augsburg quickly estab-
themselves as great centres of the goldsmith’s art, the latter centre
ng Vergil Solis (1514-62) whose widely published designs were
extrbmely influential. Other worthy designers are Androuet Ducerceau,
Daniel Mignot, Etienne Delaune and Theodore de Bruy.
T ie formidable wealth that Spain was to enjoy through the coloniza-
tion Of the Americas and the vast quantities of gold and precious stones
ther :py made available, rendered the Spanish court an important patron,
Ir turn, the jewelry produced in Spain at this time lead European
fash ons from around 1540 until the Thirty Years War. Typical of the
shoi tlgold chains. In France and England, such chains were usually worn
by men and were particularly popular with Henry VIII. They were
liven to ambassadors and other people who had rendered a service
King. In Flanders and Germany, similar chains were worn by
in.
rise in interest in time-keeping, astronomy and astrology was
reflected in the jewelry of the late 16th century. For instance, rings were
lilted with watches or miniature astronomical instruments. An example
of t ie former, now in the Schatzkammer der Residenz in Munich, has
the vatch set in a hexagonal case with a winged lid thai opens to show
Ihe Crucifixion scene in coloured enamels. An assay mark suggests il
was made in Augsburg in 15X1). Another surviving ring of this period
opens out into a simple astrolabe. Astrology, which had been imported
into Europe in the Middle Ages from the Middle East, was in vogue in the
16tl tentury and rings and pendants showing the signs of the zodiac
ofte 1 mixed with Christian symbolism became common. Talismanic
jewt li;y was also popular - a piece of red coral set in enamelled gold for
instance, was believed to protect against a blood vessel bursting. A novel
typa af talismanic jewelry found in Italy was the ‘fica’. The ‘fica’ is a
gestjire, usually considered obscene, which involves placing the thumb
betv een the middle and index finger of a closed fist or alternatively form-
ing circle with the index finger and thumb. The gesture however, was
also considered protective by the Romans and Greeks centuries earlier
and in the 16th century fica-shaped talismans of gold, silver and ivory
bee: i ie popular, the wearers believing either that they would be pro-
tected or that they would have an assurance of fertility.
The art of the gem engraver reached its peak in this century with Milan
as the undisputed centre. The Milan craftsmen were encouraged by
Emperor Rudolph II who personally employed many Milanese cameo-
cutters. What has become known as ‘Rudolphinian art’ was the curious
interest of the Emperor in having vessels cut out of semi-precious stones,
cameos and gold in pursuance of an ancient belief in the supposed
medicinal powers of these materials.
As the 16th century progressed and the High Renaissance gave way to
the elaborate ornamentation and excesses of Mannerism, so jewelry
quickly adapted to the new taste and fashion. Designs for pendants in
particular reflected the peculiarly bizarre nature of all ornament at this
time as, gradually, the link with painting and sculpture was abandoned
in the search for more and more exotic motifs. Mythology remained a
major source of inspiration, but interest also lay in fabulous creatures
such as mermaids and mermen, nereids and hippocamps. The large,
misshapen baroque pearl, previously thought unsuitable for jewelry,
was seized upon to suggest the bodies of such creatures, the figure
completed in richly enamelled goldwork.
No element of the composition was left unembellished, or any surface
left plain and unenriched with coloured enamels or stones. Dress designs,
too, reflect this obsession with decoration in the extraordinary com-
bination of elaborate patterns and rich fabrics, jewelry being used in
profusion to add colour and opulence to the general effect.
Throughout the 16th century there had been a gradual move away
from minute and elaborate enamelled figures and finely worked gold
towards a greater emphasis on gemstones themselves. This trend was to
be consolidated during the following century, radically affecting the
history of jewelry design. It was a movement which was echoed in all the
decorative arts as the elaboration and profusion of Mannerism gave way
to the sustained opulence and dignity of the Baroque.
The upheavals of the Reformation as well as outbreaks of bubonic
plague took their toll and effectively ended the great days of church
embroidery, but by the 16th century needlework was already taking on
a new emphasis. It was now based firmly on a secular footing in the courts
of royalty and in the homes of the rich, who adorned themselves and their
furnishings with an increasingly exotic array of embroidered fabrics.
Blackwork was a form of embroidery widespread in the 16th century
but which died out early in the 17th. It consisted of all-over designs of
trailing tendrils and leaves interspersed with flowers, fruit and animals
worked in black silk on linen. Sometimes gold and silver threads were
introduced for richer effect. Blackwork is said to have originated in
Spain, where it developed from Moorish work. It soon became popular
for collars, caps, cuffs, shirts and other clothing.
Victoria and Albert Museum has panels of ivory damask and
on satin embroidered with gold.
hile Italy, France and Flanders excelled in the production of lace
tapestries, England reigned supreme in the realms of domestic
an
embjroidery. English ladies covered bed-hangings, cushions, wall panels
am , of course, costumes, in a profusion of flowers, birds, butterflies and
an nals worked in wools on canvas, or silks on linen. They look their
des gns from woodcut illustrations in newly available books, from
hei rials and, increasingly as the century wore on, from books of designs
esp Bcially published for embroiderers. These came from the presses of
Ita y, Switzerland, France, the Low Countries and England, and con-
tin ted to be used by many generations of domestic embroideresses.
habit - which was universal - of using favourite old designs for
embroidery, makes dating extremely difficult, and, in the absence of other
evii lence like a date or supporting document, embroideries are notoriously
hai I (o place within 50 years or so.
16th-century development was the working of samplers as a method
of ecording stitches and designs. The earliest ‘exemplars’, as they were
cal ed, are generally worked in coloured silks on linen and they must have
pre vided invaluable reference material at a time when embroiderers’
des ign books were still rare and expensive. Often they formed long strips
of nalerial and were clearly added to over many years.
some scholars are of the opinion that the quality of em-
broidery declined from the end of the 15th century until about 1575, all
agr ft that the Elizabethan period saw a remarkable advance. Probably
this had much to do with the ever-increasing popularity of embroidery
am >ng lay-people which in turn spurred on the embroiderer’s guilds.
Elibeth granted its first charter to the Broders’ Company in 1561. The
que en herself may have given embroidery new life, being an embroiderer
of lb small ability. Since most of her clothes were richly embroidered it
wa i Inevitable that the middle classes sought to follow the royal fashion.
Sep
24
Antique Clocks. English and German Clocks
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
A notebook of Leonardo da Vinci’s from about 1500 cqntains
the first known illustration of a fusee and it also seems likely that the
first spring clocks came from Italy, although no early examples survive,
only references to them in early papers dated 1482 and 1493.
Peter Henlein of Nuremberg was responsible for the first significant
technical advances in the spring-clock in the first decade of the 16th
century. One of only three suriving clocks of the early 16th centufy is in
the possession of the Society of Antiquaries in London and is signed
‘Jacob Zech’ (Jacob the Czech). The clock has a year wheel show ng the
position of the sun in the zodiac and an hour circle that could be ac justed
for countries such as Bohemia and Italy that used a 24-hour day. Other
than these two clockmakers the only other known one is Caspar Werner.
The first spring driven clocks were horizontal with the cases either
drum-shaped, square or later hexagonal. The sides were fully enclosed
and frequently highly engraved. Progress was rapid and soon highly
ornate and more complicated clocks appeared. Greater accuracy was
possible and so minute hands were added. Automata and astronomical
dials appeared, together with complicated strike and chime mechanisms.
An alternative method of enclosing the mechanism was devised in the
early part of the century. The top-plate and dial-plate are fixed to the
movement frame while the sides and back are left open. The whole
assembly is then slipped into a case which has much of the fron open.
This method, by providing the large bare surfaces of the case, gave
ample scope for decoration.
Centres in South Germany produced the finest clocks at this date.
Organized guilds in these areas were particularly strict and by now
distinct from those of the blacksmiths, locksmiths and gunsmiths. The
Parisian Clockmakers Guild had also been granted a charter by Fi ancois
I, but the Company of Clockmakers was not established in Engladd until
lie advent of the mainspring opened the door to the possibility of
traf/elling clocks. Although there is some doubt about the authenticity
of he story, it is said that Louis XI (1423-83) was the owner of the first
tra felling clock, which it was said, was small enough to fit into the sleeve
of his gown. The clock was supposedly delivered to the king in 1480 by
Jeanlde Paris, so that if the story is true the king owned a clock that was
no Weight-driven, so preceding the earliest known Italian examples first
se« lin 1485. Mher than the Zech clock, another clock of German origin from
c.l 550 and now in a private collection, is a further step on the road to
travelling clocks. Drum-shaped, with no engraving on the case, it has an
iron movement with a tall fusee and large balance, but no balance spring.
Th sjclock has a leather travelling case with lock and key.
Drum-shaped table clocks with detachable alarums were in use on the
coi tinent from c.l 540-1600 and many were equipped with leather cases.
On w late 16th century table clock by Roweau of Paris, which has a
circular balance but no balance spring, would appear to be just a table
clock except for the fact that the leather case has a window to show the
dia J implying that it was not only meant to be carried but was also in
op Ration while travelling.
Watches undoubtedly developed from portable clocks, the latter becom-
ing possible once the source of motive power was the mainspring rather
thalri weights. It is now thought that the mainspring was possibly in use
by pie 1450s and it was definitely known by 1477.
There is some uncertainty about who invented the watch but references
in Qosmographia Pomponiae Melas (1511) by Johannes Cocclaeus point
locksmith Peter Henlein of Nuremberg. However, Italian clock-
xers were active in this period and by 1488 small portable clocks and
probably watches were being made there. A school of watchmaking in
France did not exist until the second decade of the 16th century. Another
tion that arises in connection with the originator of watches is that
one would expect the shape of the first watch to have been drum-
ed, following the pattern of portable clocks, Peter Henlein’s early
£hes are known to have been spherical. The earliest dated watch
48) has a tambour case.
jarly German movements were made of iron with a verge escapement
foliot with a stackfreed to equalize the power of the spring. Cocclaeus’
references to Henlein, however, speak of his watches running for forty
hours, whereas watches with a stackfreed run for only twenty-six hours.
It BJpossible that Henlein used ’stopwork’ which was a device to prevent
over-winding of the watch and to enable the middle turns only of the
mainspring to be used, giving a more even torque. Examples of early
Nuremberg watches with stopwork are well known. French and English
wctjhmakers preferred the use of a fusee rather than a stackfreed.
Watches
Initially these used a gut line, but this was replaced by the chain
Striking and alarm mechanisms were incorporated in very early
watches and, as had happened with some clocks, calendar and astro-
nomical indications also became popular. Dials had only one hand, the
hour hand, and were marked in hour and half-hour divisions. Since
glass covers had not been invented, either a solid cover was used or one
that had been decoratively pierced so that the tip of the hour hand was
visible.
Decoration on the dial usually consisted of a star or sun with twelve
sunbeams connecting the hour numerals to the centre. Dials became
more elaborate as the century progressed, with engraved work replacing
the central sun.
Cases of this period fall into two groups - drum and spherical - both
characterized by a restraint in decoration which probably emphasized
the greater importance of the movement at this time. Many watch cases
were pierced so that the movement could be seen. Spherical watph cases
were shaped from copper sheet and then chiselled and engraved; drum-
type cases were usually cast. After about 1585 the German drum shape
was replaced by a circular case with domed front and back covers.
Patterns of 15th century metalwork continued into the 16th century
which saw a few innovations. Firebacks originated around the beginning
of the 15th century. They were, it is thought, first made for use in
the newly-introduced wall-fireplace, both to protect the wall and to
radiate the heat of the fire. The first ones were probably simple! slabs of
cast-iron, but they soon became decorated. A plain board was used as
the basic pattern, and the mould was open topped. After the pattern’s
removal, decoration was impressed into the sand. The commonest im-
pressions were taken from stiffened lengths of rope, pushed into the
sand to form patterns such as pentagrams, triangles, squares and borders.
Sometimes the founder would push the impression of his hand or of
some of his tools into the sand. Such decorations long persisted and were
used alongside more sophisticated decorations on the same backs.
In time, firebacks made from patterns carved in one piece became the
norm. The earliest English specimen dates from 1548. Decorations vary
enormously and include heraldic devices, flowers and allegorical.
Biblical and domestic scenes. Shape also altered somewhat over the
years; at first firebacks were simple horizontal rectangles, sometimes with
a pointed or curved top. Later they became less elongated and had more
elaborate tops; from the end of the 17th century they became roughly
square, again with decorative tops, to fit into the newer, smaller type of
fireplace. They were made into the 19th century, and reproductions are
still cast.
Firedogs or andirons have an even longer history than firebacks. They
were used in Roman times, long before the invention of the wall fireplace,
whehjthe fire was made in the centre of the house and the smoke escaped
thro igh a hole in the roof. Their parts are known as the stauke (the front,
usu Hy decorated, upright) and the billet (horizontal) bar. The billet bar
supj orted the logs and the stauke was to prevent them from falling out
of t e fireplace. The earliest liredogs were made of wrought iron, but
Iron the middle of the 16th century the staukes were cast on to the billet
bars.
F om the 16th century, firedogs became more elaborate, and though
impler types were still used in ordinary houses and the kitchens of
big louses, the more flamboyant types were used in the main rooms of
the big houses. Before long they became no more than a decorative
adjunct to the fireplace, in elaborately-wrought and highly-polished
braskJ bronze, steel and even silver.
Cast-iron holloware should also be mentioned (cauldrons, bowls and
mortars for instance), which was made in the low Countries and in
England in great quantities from the 16th century onwards. Design
followed that of similar bronzework, albeit more simply.
Pewter
Although domestic pewter was well established by the middle of the 15th wrough,
cent try, it was not until about 1550 that there was any attempt to move
awa ‘ from traditional designs. The reasons for this are various, notably
that pewter was not made in Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and
so tli ere was no school of pewterers to lead the way. Possibly as important
as he fact that until the 16th century there was no real market for luxury
pewrerware for the rich were still buying silver. As a result most of the
pewjer made before 1550 was entirely functional not artistic.
Tie Renaissance caught up with the pewterer at the same time as did
the general increase in wealth which manifested itself in the new middle
class .As a result the second half of the 16th century saw the arrival of
the ige of ‘display* pewter, which for the middle class became their
ansver to the display silver of the nobility. Display pewter was entirely
non-functional and is characterized by its relief decoration, for which
reas it is sometimes called relief pewter. It originated in France and
sooi (became popular in Nuremberg, but was never enthusiastically
rece ved in England. One of the earliest surviving pieces is a tankard by
Rolyn Griffet who lived in Lyons from 1528 68. Ihe creator of relief
pew ter though was Francois Briot of Lorraine, who is still best known
lor his masterpiece the ‘Temperantia Dish’ which was made between
158f 490. The dish is accompanied by a ewer as is another dish he made
decorated with the seated figure of Mars. Other surviving pieces of Briot’s
de a salt cellar and a bowl portraying the figure of Susanna.
The pewterers of Nuremberg were quick to follow Briot’s example and
decoration became even more popular there than in France. The
first Nuremberg pewterer to use the technique was N icholas Horchhaimer
who specialized in large bowls with low relief figures. His particular
technique of relief decoration was rather different from that of the Lyons
pew erers who used engraved moulds. Horchhaimer’s technique is
knoton as the ‘wood-cut’ style since the final product is a flat two-tier
relief reminiscent of wood-cuts.
Sep
24
Antique Bohemian Glass
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
England
By 1567 Jean Carre had arrived in London from the Lorraine by way of
Antwerp and commenced making window glass by the Lorraine method
under licence. Several Continental glassmaking families had already
settled in England. The Schurterres in the 14th, the Peytowes in the 15th,
and in the mid-16th century the famous Huguenot families ofTyxach
(du Thisac), Henvey (de Hennezel), Tittery (de Thietry) and Hoc (de
Houx) arrived to lay the foundation of the Stourbridge glass industry.
Carre obtained his licence for making cristallo d la facon de Venise at
the Crutched Friars Hall, a glasshouse which apparently was already in
existence in 1564 or 1565, though seemingly not particularly efficient.
Carre therefore sent for Venetian craftsmen, among them thei great
glassmaker Jacopo Verzelini, who supposedly arrived in London from
Antwerp in 1571. There are sources which indicate that he may already
have arrived in 1565 and initiated the manufacture of Venetian cristallo,
and this opens an interesting field of speculation as to the merits of Jean
Carre’s role in the manufacture of cristallo at this early period. Suffice
to say that in 1572, after Carre’s death, Verzelini was the master: of the
Crutched Friars glasshouse, and in 1574 he obtained a Royal Patent
from Elizabeth I to manufacture Venice glasses for a period of 2 lj years.
Of the dozen or so glasses associated with Verzelini today, about nine
can be attributed to his London glasshouse. The earliest, dated 1577, is
in the Corning Museum, New York. Typical features are the stejri with
hollow mould-brown knop or bulb, bowl of ample size, and of clear,
faintly greenish or greyish metal. Diamond engraving in the hatched
Italian style is associated with Anthony de Lisle who had come to England
from the ‘Dominions of the King of France’ and applied for citizenship
in 1597. A lozenge motif on the bowl and sometimes foot, scrolU, floral
sections, friezes of trees, stags and hounds and commemorative inscrip-
tions seem typical of de Lisle’s work. Occasionally, Verzelini’s (glasses
are decorated by enamelling or gilding, but this has worn badly. Glasses
made at the same period in Hall, in the Tyrol, are in some instances so
similar to Verzelini’s work that they might have been produced in his
glasshouse, and bear testimony to the communication and exchange
between glassmakers throughout Europe.
Despite malicious acts by jealous merchants and importers, Verzelini
led the industry until his retirement in 1592, and thus initiated the era
of monopolies. Sir Jerome Bowes held the monopoly until 1604, when
the licence was sold by one profiteer to another.
Bohemia and the German-speaking Land
Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia are the areas involved in Czech
gl ssmaking. In common with the Rhenish product, the greenish bubbly
Waldglas appears in traditional forms. The beaker with applied prunts
-. hppenbecher - appears in various modifications: the Igel (Hedgehog)
with prickles, and the tall Krautstrunk (cabbage stalk) covered with
pc ipted prunts in circular arrangement. The antique sprinkler emerges
as the Angster or Kuttrolf with bulbous body and long, slightly twisted
glass tubes. The Maigelein (a low cup) still appeared in the 15th century.
C( njnmon vessel forms are the Humpen, a tall cylindrical glass of giant
pr )jportion, the Passglas and the Stangenglas, of narrow cylindrical form
applied hollow foot.
ith the expansion of the German mining industry, fuel costs rose
steeply and in the 16th century a number of small glasshouses and in-
dividual glassmakers moved to Bohemia and Silesia where conditions
wire more favourable. The big landowners and nobility were quick to
realize the advantages of possessing large tracts of forest land. They
began to set up glasshouses on their estates, attracting glassmakers and
their families by granting special privileges - a development paralleled
in France.
Baroque and Rococo prosperity, the support by the Church of artisans
ard artists, and the monastic activities of winemaking and ale brewing
al encouraged an expansion in drinking glass manufacture. This in turn
pr Miferated enamelled decoration of a most fascinating kind which
lie urished particularly during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Scenes
from the domestic and political life of the nobility and of influential
arlikans or tradesmen, Biblical subjects, representation of the ‘Seven
Ages of Man’, the double-headed eagle (Reichsadler) with armorial
shields of all embracing lands, and entire families and family trees are
enchantingly represented in a refreshing rustic style. Emblems of Trades
ds and scenic representations, as for instance the Ochsenkopf, a
ntain in the Fichtelgebirge, frequently have added inscriptions and
hiit easy identification. Small beakers, straight or everted at the rim,
rated with brightly enamelled heraldic motifs are usually ascribed
axonian manufacture.
the beginning of the 16th century, increasing quantities of silver were
be ng mined in Germany, Austria and Hungary. The mines of India and
th: Americas further increased the supply. This coincided with a turbu-
lei t period in Italy, when in 1526 Rome was sacked, and the consequent
di persal of artists carried ideas to other centres, both in Northern Italy
and beyond. Rulers all over Europe now began to vie with each other in
the culture and the magnificence of their courts, setting themselves up as
pa Irons and collectors in the manner of 15th-century Italian princes and
embracing the new style learnt from Italy, which everywhere gradually
16th-century stangenglas decorated with
prunts, late 16th century.
Gold and Silver
drove out Gothic motifs in favour of classical decoration.
Court artists were employed to create designs for goldsmiths to follow,
an arrangement which can occasionally be detected in the unsuitability
of a design for the material in which it is nevertheless superbly executed.
Important centres of goldsmiths’ work at this time were Paris, Awgsburg
and Nuremberg. But as the artists who worked in these and other centres
came from all over Europe and used designs by Court artists such as
Guilio Romano, J. A. Ducereau, Hans Holbein and Cornells Floris -
which were subsequently engraved and passed round lesser workshops
- it is difficult to detect any particularly national flavour in work of this
period.
The power and prestige of Hapsburg Spain (which also included the
Kingdom of Naples) and of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire, with a
sphere of influence which stretched from Antwerp across Europe to
Prague, was enhanced by Spanish control over the rich imports of bullion
from the New World into Andalusia. Much of the treasure coming into
the Iberian peninsula was used to make objects for ecclesiastical use.
Gold brought back from India by Vasco daGama, who first rounded the
Cape of Good Hope in 1497, was used to make a monstrance. Although
the goldsmiths of southern Spain were the first to receive the increased
supplies of gold, silver and precious stones, it was not until the 1570s
that a national Spanish style evolved out of the varied work that had
previously been carried on in the many regional centres. From the 1570s,
however, the richness and austerity associated with Philip II’s building
of the Escorial continued to be associated with silver, until the baroque
style emerged in the next century. In the greater part of Europe tl e clarity
of Italian Renaissance forms gradually became obscured because
Northern artists, frightened of empty spaces, tended to overload a
design with detail. At the same time, a complete mastery of his craft by
the goldsmith led to ever greater display of virtuosity. Wenzel Ji mnitzer
of Nuremberg (1508-85), for example, is renowned in part for his
dazzling technique, learnt from Paduan artists.
Jamnitzer’s earliest surviving work is the ‘Merckelsche’ tabe-centre
now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The piece is a remarkable
example of many of the goldsmith’s techniques - embossing, erjgraving,
enamelling and so on, as well as an example of Jamnitzer’s penchant for
casts of insects, reptiles and grasses. His other surviving pieces include
a nautilus shell set in silver gilt, c. 1570 and the Kaiserpokal or Imperial
cup, made in 1564, which is less elaborate than many of his table-centres
and has a statuette of Emperor Maximilian II on the lid.
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71) is probably the most famous of all gold-
smiths, although our knowledge of his actual skill is entirely reliant on
his only surviving piece, the famous salt-cellar made for Francois I of
France and now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Sometimes overshadowed by Cellini is the Italian goldsmith Antonio
Gentili (1519-1609), who is best known for the magnificent cjross and
accompanying pair of candlesticks in silver gilt made for Cardinal
Alessandro Farnese who gave them to St Peter’s in Rome in 1682. The
set is still used on the high altar on special occasions. The influence of
Michelangelo on the architectural and figurative elements of these pieces
irly visible. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has in
iijssession a silver knife, fork and spoon which it is thought may be
ily other Gentili work now remaining. The evidence for the
irship of these pieces is a drawing of a spoon, also in the possession
of the museum, which is almost identical to the existing spoon and
which is signed by Gentili. In addition, the elaborate handles in classical
motifs correspond to descriptions of Gentili’s work by his biographer
(iiovanni Baglione.
Between 1515 and 1523, Enrique de Arfe (1470-1545) made a custodia
a Spanish portable tabernacle lor I oledo Cathedral which has been
desc ribed as ‘the last word in Gothic ecclesiastical silver’. It stands some
3 met es (III ft) high, weighs more than 3 hundredweight and is adorned
wi th 26 ) statuettes scattered amongst Gothic arches and pinnacles. De
Arft was born in the village of Harff in the Rhineland, from which he
takes his name. He trained in Cologne and went to Spain before the turn
ol the century. His earliest known CUStodia, which is also his first known
wor was made for the Abbey ol San Benito at Sahagiin. A custodia he
leted in 1518 for Cordova Cathedral can still be seen, unlike a ten
ligh custodia he made for L6on Cathedral which was destroyed in
to help pay for the war against Napoleon.
fique was succeeded by his son Antonio whose first recorded
pa was for the Cathedral of Santiago di Compostella, begun in
15391 and finished in 1545.
In politically restless Northern Italy, a style of decoration evolved
from the beginning of the 1520s in which interlacing leather-like straps,
ending in curls resembling wood shavings, were used at first to frame,
then to decorate and finally to dominate interior decoration. This strap-
work was pushed to its extreme in designs for metalwork and all through
the oth century its influence was felt throughout northern Europe. Its
nervous uneasiness was allied with grotesques derived from late 15th
century Italian revivals of Imperial Roman decoration. Mannerist
designers continued to use Renaissance decorative ideas, but gradually
the stylish way in which a theme was expressed became more important
die theme itself. To express an idea in una bclla maniera, to use the
current phrase, could become the only goal of an impoverished
and brilliant technique might slickly embody a worn out theme.
Clocks
11 seems likely that the first successful spring was not made before the
last auarter of the 15th century, the problem lying in making a spring of
sufficient power that would continue to drive a clock without breaking.
Brass was probably the material of choice lor the fust Springs. One of
the I rst difficulties that the inventor would have faced is that as the spring
nds it gradually loses power, driving the clock unevenly. Two solu-
to this problem were eventually found - the stackfreed and the fusee.
Sep
24
Antique Venetian Glass. Vases
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
German salt-glazed stoneware jug c.1575.
Towards the end of the 15th century, the Venetian glassworkers began
to lose interest in pictorial decoration and sought ways to use it lesfs or
not at all, instead giving more attention to the material itself.
The greatest Venetian development was the re-discovery, c. 1500, of
decolorizing agents, resulting in the production of a colourless, trans-
parent glass metal, cristallo. To retain its clear property, cristallo’ had
to be blown fairly thin, and although brittle it was exceptionally pliable,
a joy to the gaffer who exploited this sometimes to the point of absurdity.
A distinctive style emerged, resulting in graceful airy shapes and exag-
gerated winged glasses with applied handles, writhing and snakejlike,
and sometimes in a clear strong blue colour contrasting well witn the
colourless body of the vessel. Finials and handles were often additionally
manipulated by pinching flat with a patterned tool, and rims ‘were
crenellated and wavy. Despite the interest in clear glass, one of the inno-
vations of the late 15th~early 16th century was ‘chalcedony’ glass, named
after the semi-precious stone which it resembles. A variety of objects
were made in ‘chalcedony’ - jugs, plates and ampullae with small spouts.
A significant development was the latticinio or lace glass technique.
This most decorative glass effect is achieved by embedding opaque (white
enamel threads in a clear matrix, produced by blowing clear glass into a
mould lined with canes of opaque white glass. The canes adhere \o the
colourless glass mass and the paraison is then manipulated to f0rm a
variety of patterns, the tour de force being the true criss-cross filigrjee net
(Netzglas). The whole is then covered with a layer of clear glass, and
the filigree pattern is truly embedded. When the white threads) were
arranged in spiral or interweaving patterns the method is known as
reticello (’net-working’). The threads were often so close together that
they completely covered the object: colours were not restricted to white,
red and blue also being used. Reticello was fashionable throughout the
16th century.
Alexandrian colour techniques were successfully revived in tne late
16th and 17th century. Schmelzglas, a process by which glass of several
colours are allowed to fuse and run into each other in a natural stone
design in imitation of various agates, is found in graceful forms of
Grecian-inspired urn or ewer shapes. It was revived during the 19th
century in several countries and particularly by the Italian, Salvi&ti.
Around the middle of the century enamelled decoration fell into] disuse
and was replaced by a freddo, a method of painting on glass without
having to reheat the object. Such painters worked particularly on the
underside of the bases of plates, glasses and goblets and their motifs
were taken from prints and wood engravings of the period.
The Venetian craftsmen also revived a technique of decorating glass
after it had been moulded, in which the design trees, branches and so
were traced around the edge of the object with a diamond or flint,
ss chosen for this type of treatment was usually transparent or deep
or blue. The cuts or incisions were extremely light and feathery, but
ite the gracefulness of this work it did not reach the standard of
ilar Dutch and Flemish work.
ne of the most practical inventions of the Italian gaffer is the folded
. The glassmaker needed a firm base for his vessel and by folding the
glass under to obtain a foot rim of double thickness, this was
achieved. This important innovation was quickly adopted elsewhere.
Ice or crackle glass was another Italian invention but was only short-
ed. It was produced either by brief quenching of the hot glass bulb in
wi ier, which caused numerous fissures on the surface (which could then
bt reheated and blown to requirement), or by rolling the glass bulb in
powdered glass fragments which adhere to the warm glass, and then
further blowing and reheating to obliterate sharp edges. This last
method was revived in 19th century France and named brocs a glaces.
Iri contrast with the fanciful shapes of plain brown facon de Venise, ice
gl iss is of more down-to-earth design - beakers, standing cups with
added decoration applied in the form of gilt lion masks and glass pearls.
All these processes are seen in glass produced in Netherland glass-
houses such as Antwerp and Liege, where Altarist and Venetian glass-
makers had settled. It is therefore frequently impossible to distinguish
between facon de Venise made on Italian or Flemish soil.
A branch of glassmaking that began in Venice during the 16th century
w s the manufacture of mirrors. It is not certain who first used glass in
place of metal for a mirror but it is thought that it may have begun in
G jrmany. It was left to the Venetians however to spread the art and to
use them in their homes. Early glass mirrors were quadrangular in shape
w th a frame made of glass held by metal connectors. Both the mirror
i the frame were often incised with floral or figurative motifs,
enice monopolized the Italian glassmaking industry throughout the
ury. Elsewhere in Italy much of the industry was devoted to producing
yday domestic wares rather than the luxury goods of Murano. In
province of Tuscany, particularly at Empoli, Pisa, Lucca and
ence, the well-known fiasche or bulb-shaped glass bottles held in
were made. There is evidence that the Tuscan glassmakers were
at empting to make table glasses in the 14th century, but even by the
It th century they had not achieved the quality of the Venetian product.
Some goblets with winged stems, bowls and cups have survived and are
ribed as alia veneziana. The glassmakers of Florence became re-
ned for their medicinal and pharmaceutical glass,
ith the opening of Eastern trade routes, Venice too commenced
production of milk-glass in imitation of the newly imported porcelain.
During the 18th century, the Miotti glasshouse in particular responded
to llhe latest fashion with drinking vessels and table-ware in milk-glass
(It nimo), decorated with exquisite enamelling in bright colours and in
black or sepia. By this time, however, Venice had lost her monopoly of
glassmaking industry and this was taken over by Bohemia and
Jland. Each was very different in its concept, but both produced glass
iccellent quality and design.
Several factors had contributed to this transition. The European jlass
industry had grown so successful that there was a decrease in jglass
imports from Venice. Spain and the Netherlands had developed into
maritime powers due to the discovery of new trade routes by way ol the
Cape of Good Hope, and Venice was losing her supremacy on the seas.
There was still a demand for mirrors and chandeliers, but a new invention
pushed aside the fragile Venetian cristallo - the invention of a sturdyjglass
metal capable of supporting decorative treatment by deep cutting and
engraving, gilding and enamelling by annealing. Bohemia and England
shared this success - one with a potash-lime glass composition, the other
with the sparkling lead crystal.
Sep
24
Antique Tudor Furniture
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Tudor furniture
In England the prospering wool trade and the sale of monastic lands
after Henry VIITs dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s 1 :d to a
national proliferation of manor houses, reaching an extreme fom with
‘prodigy’ houses such as the magnificent Longleat in Warminster begun
in the 1560s. These stately homes were enlarged and multiplied in
Elizabeth I’s reign, when the expense of entertaining the Queen’s en-
tourage, and of improving features that her critical eye might find
defective, led to more than one devious scheme to keep her away.
The geometric gardens and curious plans of these buildingi, some
shaped as their owner’s initials (as was the ornament often ca|ved on
the furniture they contained), expressed the Tudor delight in intellectual
curiosities.
Many English beds, cupboards and refectory tables resembled the
massive and bulbous forms illustrated in Flemish and German pattern-
books, especially those of Hans Vredeman de Vries. English pieces were
generally joined of oak, with turned stretchers and legs that occasionally
dominated design, as in the wholly-turned bobbin chairs with triangular
sei a. Various local woods were combined in the geometric pattern,
chequering, and strapwork inlaid into gate-leg tables, beds, chairs and
the pilasters that commonly divided the oak wainscoting of room walls.
The use of the word ‘cupboard’ in Tudor times is something of an
anomaly, for although it originally meant ‘cup-board’ that is a table for
cups and plates, it began to acquire partly or fully enclosed sections.
Hi 1 and parlour cupboards for instance, were made in two stages, in
wh ch either both stages or the upper one only were enclosed by doors;
the press cupboard on the other hand was completely enclosed by doors.
Fo cupboards were often made with doors that had ventilation holes
cut into them.
The court cupboard was an Elizabethan innovation and corresponded
to he old sense of cup-board for it was an open three-tiered side-table
used for holding the family plate. The central and upper stages often had
dn iters decorated with strapwork. The word ‘court’ seems to have been
dei ved from the French court, meaning short, for these cupboards were
rarely made more than four feet high, but on the other hand they were
widely used at Court.
Another Elizabethan development was the draw table which, as the
name suggests, was an extendable table with two leaves beneath the
main surface. The first reference to such a table is in an inventory, taken
in 1552, of the Duke of Somerset’s furniture. A particular feature of the
tables is the large bulbs on the legs called ‘cup and cover’ from their
similarity to silver covered cups.
airs of this period with panelled backs and arched crests were
d with strange conglomerations of Tudor roses, Gothic linenfold
ent, dates and grapes, pomegranates and foliage, grotesques,
stumpy figures and other motifs ornamented tables, beds, benches and
X-shaped chairs.
Th i 16th century spanned the middle and late periods of the Ming
Dynasty in China, a century which finally saw the arrival of mass-
produced ceramics and the beginnings of the export trade to Europe.
Th Portuguese were the first to reach China in 1516, although it was
not until 1595, when the Dutch East India Company established itself
in Canton, that large-scale exports began.
The craft of the potter was influenced as never before by the Chinese
court which for the first time began sending large orders for porcelain
des gned and decorated in a manner specified by the court. As a result,
both the quality and style of porcelains reflected the often widely differ-
ing tastes and desires of both the various Emperors and others who had
influence at Court, in particular the despotic Moslem eunuchs employed
the e.
Cheng-te 1506-21 Chai-ching 1522-66 Lung-ching 1567-72 Wan-li 15/’i -1619
During the reign of Cheng-te (1506-21) supplies of ‘Mohammedan
Blue’ became available again after a lapse of some 60 odd years. This
was the cobalt ore imported from Persia, that had been responsible for
the blue of ‘blue and white’ since the 14th century. Also at this time
deposits of cobalt ore of good quality were discovered near Ch ng-te
Chen. The so-called ‘Mohammedan wares’ are interesting examples of
the blue and white of this period. They were so named because they were
heavily influenced by the Moslem eunuchs at the Emperor’s court. Most
of the articles made were writing table utensils - ink slabs, brush rests,
boxes and vases. They are usually inscribed with a motto in Arabic and
are often decorated with Mohammedan scrolls or arabesques.
Although the Imperial factories were dominated by the eunuchs, other
blue and white pieces of non-Moslem character were also made. These
represent a transition between the classical styles of the 15th century and
the mass-produced styles of the Chia-ching and Wan-li periods. Bowls,
ewers and vases were made in abundance with characteristic 15th century
decoration. The blue of this period has a somewhat greyish huei as do
some of the wares of the previous reign of Hung-chih (1488-1505). From
surviving pieces made in private factories it would seem that some
potters at least were making an effort to continue the traditional styles
of decoration, regardless of the Moslem influence.
Cheng-te was succeeded by Chia-ching (1522-66), a devout Taoist,
who had little or no interest in governing. Nevertheless, despite the lack
of Imperial direction the blue and white of this reign, when prqduced
for the court, was of a high standard. The cobalt deposits discovered in
the previous reign were now reaching the potter, who began to ust them
in preference to Mohammedan Blue.
Because of the Emperor’s dedication to Taoism, the commonest motifs
were Taoist, in particular a peach tree shaped into the form of sh m, the
Chinese character for longevity. Children at play or wa-wa decdration
was also popular and indicates a growing trend towards a new nati ralism
and less use of traditional motifs. Much of the porcelain of this period
however, was below Imperial quality as mass production became the
order of the day.
The decline of the Ming Dynasty became clearly evident during the
reign of Wan-li (1573-1619), a decline which was reflected in the quality
of Imperial porcelain. The potter’s work was made more difficult by
various factors, not least of which was the exhaustion of the fine clay
beds at Ma-ts’ang and the oppression of the potters by the court eunuchs
who were intent on amassing their own porcelain collections. Neverthe-
less the period was one of innovation; a pair of delicately potted
Italian Maiolica
Italian maiolica, which was well-developed by the end of the 15th
ceiiiury, maintained its distinctiveness well into the 16th century. Two
cei Ires of note are Deruta and Gubbio.
The Gubbio workshops of Giorgio Andreoli specialized in the applica-
tion of a brilliant ruby-coloured lustre. This factory remained in the
farhily until 1576. Deruta, in Umbria, started to produce wares with a
brassy-yellow lustre from about 1500, but the fine quality rapidly
deteriorated from about 1530. From the late years of the 19th century,
the lustres of Deruta have been imitated in a poor manner, by Cantagalli
of Florence, who uses a boldly painted cockerel in blue as his mark.
The principal development in maiolica in this century was the style of
pa nting called istoratio, pictorial representations of the writings of men
such as Ariosto, Ovid, Pliny and other authors of antiquity, as well as
th« (Bible. Painters took their inspiration from both engravings and
woodcuts; after 1830 the principal engravings used were those of
Marcantonio Raimondi after the works of Raphael. Wares of this latter
type were at one time referred to by collectors as ‘Raphael wares’. The
finest examples of this much copied fashion were produced originally
in the workshops of Orazio Fontana in about 1565.
lljwas during the middle years of the 16th century that Italian potters
appear to have become increasingly acquainted with Chinese porcelain,
the* result being to leave the thick white tin-glaze with little or no decora-
tiojnL a form of ware (bianchi) which soon found favour abroad.
German Salt-Glazed Stoneware
Despite the popularity of tin-glazed earthenware, the use of a clear
leadj-glaze over the natural coloured clay bodies was to continue
thiojughout Europe and had by the 16th century reached a very high
standard. But wares of this type were to take second place in Germany
lt-glazed stoneware, a development which took place towards the
of the 14th century.
oneware has all the advantages of a hard-paste porcelain, merely
ing the colour and the quality of translucency. Due to the high
nt of silicic acid, the material vitrifies at a high temperature and
pugh a glaze is not essential, the appearance and texture were im-
proved by throwing common salt into the kiln at the peak firing-
terhperature. The resultant close-fitting glaze was often coloured an
attractive brown by the previous application of a clay slip rich in iron.
The earliest of these wares were probably made at Siegburg, in the
Rhineland, where the tall slender jugs, known as Jacobakennen were
made as early as 1400. Wares from the 16th century can sometimes be
identified by the initials or signatures of such well known Siegburg potters
as uyniitgen, Symonds, Flack or Oem, all of whom were engaged in
producing a wide variety of well designed vessels, including the tall
cone-like tankards (Schnellen), or the long-spouted ewers (Schnabel-
kaake), wares usually decorated with moulded or carved relief decoration.
Ex irnples of these stonewares sometimes have English silvermounts.
Sep
24
Renaissance Antiques - Furniture, Glass, Porcelain, Pottery, Silver
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
The discovery of the Baths of Titus and Nero’s home stimulated a leap
forward in the decorative arts. The stucco decoration of both buildings
witl animal, floral, human and grotesque motifs all symmetrically
placed was adapted to furniture, metalwork, gold and silversmithing,
pottery, textiles anil jewelry in the early 16th century.
The Renaissance should not be seen however as a backward-looking
sear :b for the glories of a lost empire but as a momentous”advance in
hun ; n culture a desire not so much to re-create classical culture but to
use t as a springboard to the future. 1 he innovations of the craftsmen
of tl e 16th century are a notable illustration of this desire.
The cabinetmaker was, for the first time, primarily concerned with
the oportions of his furniture to which he could then apply classically
pure) decoration. Italian cabinetmakers turned away from oak which
was i flicult lo carve and decorate, to ebony, walnut and soon, framing
was ; dapled as a method of construction which allowed decorative
technques not used before. Both Italian and Spanish cabinetmakers
u ere nfluenced by their contacts with Islam. The geometric and natural-
istic motifs of Moorish decoration were highly appealing to the Renais-
sance artist. New furniture forms were also developed, reflecting the
needs of a population who were becoming accustomed lo more per-
manent dwellings as the political turmoil of the Dark Ages subsided.
The cassone was a development of the Gothic chest while the cassajpanca
was a form of sofa which evolved from the cassone as the cabinetmaker
sought newer forms. The characteristic ‘X’ or scissor chair which had
been a portable folding chair now became a rigid piece of furniture that
was richly decorated. In Spain the chest evolved into the vargueno, a type
of desk. Tables were no longer designed to be folded away thus opening
up a whole variety of forms and decoration to the cabinetmaker.
Italian gold and silversmiths also drew heavily on the surviving
buildings of ancient Rome and Greece for their inspiration, tend ing to
use clean, well proportioned lines for the form and to use decorative
panels. The smiths of Florence achieved renown throughout Europe for
their ingenuity and originality of style and their casting techniques.
Venice, on the other hand, was the centre of the world’s glassmaking
industry. Although the secrets of making high-quality glass had been
lost in the Dark Ages they were rediscovered around the 11th century
and by the 13th century a glass industry was established on the island of
Murano. Venice began to rise to its pre-eminent position in the 15th
century and reached its peak in the 16th century. The glassware of the 15th
century though reflecting the splendour of the Renaissance by the) use of
colour and enamelling, tended to be influenced by silverware of the day
and was rather heavy and massive in shape. By the 16th century lighter
design had opened the way to more fanciful forms and the inven ion of
cristallo was the piece de resistance of the Venetian glassmakers. The
fragility of cristallo led glassmakers to concentrate upon form rather
than applied decoration. Thus glassmaking came of age.
The Renaissance reached France sometime after 1450 at a time when
the Gothic style was at its peak. As a result the first effects of the Renais-
sance were restricted to applied decoration. During the reign of Francois
1 (1515-47) the first distinctive Renaissance style came into being and
underwent subsequent changes during the reign of Francois’ successor,
Henri II, and later (1610) with Louis XIII.
Spain first showed signs of Renaissance influence at the end of the
15th century where it became known as the Plateresque style because
decorative work was similar to the fine work of the silversmith. Although
the goldsmiths of Spain borrowed much from Renaissance Lornbardy
in their designs - foliated scrolls, classical heads, mythical beasts and so
on - they made a style all of their own and their work is amongst the
finest of the Renaissance metalworkers. The skill of the Spanish metal-
workers extended to wrought-iron grilles, railings and so on. Spanish
tables, as elsewhere, were no longer designed to be portable arid were
notable for being bound by wrought-iron stretchers.
The Renaissance did not reach England until the reign of Elizabeth I
(1558-1603) and even then the transformation remained incomplete,
the Gothic style determining form with Renaissance decorative motifs
added on.
By the middle of the 16th century in Italy the creative outpourings of
the Renaissance were all but spent and until the end of the century the
short-lived style called Mannerism was the dominant influence. The
Mannerists ceased research into nature and natural appearance a$ source
material and turned back instead to the masters of the High Rem issance
suqrias Michelangelo, and to relief sculpture for inspiration. But around
the turn of the century a new style began its march across Europe. The
age] of the Baroque was beginning.
Renaissance had been evolving in Italy for nearly a century before
[fiuence reached Northern Europe in the early years of the 16th cen-
The Netherlands were the first to adopt Renaissance forms and it
from there that the style was disseminated to Germany, Scandi-
and England through circulated prints such as those by Cornells
is (active in the 1550s), who introduced Renaissance scrolled
orriament and grotesques to the Low Countries and Germany in mid-
ceriniry. Engravings by Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527—C. 1604) and his
son Paul (1567-c.1630) accelerated the diffusion of northern Renais-
sar ce design.
bound 1580 in Antwerp, de Vries published a pattern-book showing
kg Italian Renaissance and Mannerist influence in his designs for
poster beds, tables, chairs, cupboards and other furnishings. The
Sees, caryatids, pilasters, arches and other architectural details
[rated in these plates were to be as important for northern European
tture production as his depictions of scrolls, spindles, figures, heavy
str^pwork and gem-shaped bosses.
|te Renaissance joined cupboards of the Netherlands, particularly
thdjjB of Antwerp, were characterized by this heavy style. Set on bun
feeLjthey had panelled doors ornamented with rectangular mouldings
and separated by pilasters or consoles. Turned supports of spheres,
blocks and balusters, the latter often fluted, appeared on Flemish stools,
benches, chairs, tables and beds, often joined by similarly turned
st res tellers.
Germany, prints executed by Albrecht Diirer (1471-1528), Peter
inspired forms and motifs which furniture-makers had widely adopted
(c. 1485-1576) and the de Vrieses, circulated Renaissance-
le mid-16th century. Engravings by Lorenz Stoer (active 1555-
(.1620) popularized designs for the inlay and marquetry ornament of
is and cabinets, with involved and complicated perspective views
thajt included overgrown architectural ruins, strapwork, rollwork and
olyhedral forms such as dodecahedra.
the conservative and more commercially isolated north, stylistic
chdriges occurred more slowly; pieces were heavily formed and enriched
wit i massively carved figures and ornament. Gothic vestiges, such as
lintnfold ornament on cupboards, lingered well into the mid-16th
centiiry.
Application of classical architectural motifs to French furniture forms
in the first half of the 16th century created the bold, vigorous Francois I
sty e Tables carved with griffins and grotesques, beds with baluster posts
and) pictorial hangings and panelled chairs, benches, stools and cup
English oak armchair with panelled hack.
boards exhibited the initial ripples of Italian influence in their ornament
and form. In the second half of the century the integrated, mors in-
dependently French Henri II style developed, shaped largely by the
engravings of architecture and furniture executed by the designers
Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (c.1520- 1584) and Hugues Sambin
( 1520-r. 1601). Architectural details, fruit and foliage, caryatids and
lion, ram and eagle forms ornamented the heavily carved armoireS and
tables of this period. These also appeared on the characteristic Four-
doored cupboard in two stages, which was often carved with figure > and
crowned by a broken pediment.
Du Cerceau’s first book of architecture appeared in 1559 and s:rved
to establish his reputation firmly. He went on to publish several ather
books of engraved designs for silver, textiles and furniture as well as
architecture, drawing heavily on the silver designs of Hans Broiamer
and the engraved ornaments of Polidoro, Agostino Veneziane and
Perino del Vaga. He was the first French architect to publish furniture
designs in the Renaissance style and despite the fantastic and elat orate
style of many of his designs, several pieces of furniture still exist, pa rticu-
larly sideboards and cupboards which are clearly derived directly from
his book. Other pieces in which his influence is apparent omit someof his
more imaginative details.
It is not known whether Sambin ever actually made a piece of furniture
and his reputation seems to rest mainly on interior work for the Palais
de Justice in Dijon, notably a wooden screen which separates the chapel
from the Salle des Pas Perdu, as well as on his book Oeuvre de la di >ersite
des Termes, dont on use en Architecture. Some existing cabinets seem to
show the influence of Sambin particularly in the style of their term: igures
which exhibit the curious fantasy quality typical of Sambin.
The school of Fontainebleau combined the styles of du Cerceau,
Sambin and the Italian craftsmen imported by Francois I and Henri II
to decorate the palace of Fontainebleau in the Renaissance manner.
French furniture craftsmanship in the second half of the century
showed increasing mastery and refinement of the techniques of carving,
dovetailing and joinery.
Sep
24
Antique and Collectible Embroidery
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
It was customary for the royal courts of Europe to employ professional
embroiderers to work heraldic insignia and all kinds of furnishings. The
church was also a lavish patron, and although some work was done in
n onasteries and convents, the best and most valued was made by pro-
f( fconal specialists. From early on ‘the labours of the distaff and needle’
re considered of prime importance for ladies all over Europe, and
spinning, weaving and fine needlework formed an important part of
eyery girl’s education prior to her marriage.
In the medieval period the finest of all embroidery was the ecclesiastical
work produced in England. Opus Anglicanum, as it was called, was
w arked with coloured silks and couched gold and silver threads, and the
designs - of saints, angels and heraldic motifs - have close parallels in
tl e manuscript illumination of the time. Opus Anglicanum was exported
t( Europe on a large scale, and although France, Germany and Flanders
produced embroidered vestments of a similar style, their quality rarely
matched the fine work which came out of the ateliers of London and
East Anglia.
The ground for most of these embroiderers was twill-weave, silk-lined
w iih linen. Velvet was used from the early 14th century instead of linen.
Other grounds used included samit, taffeta, camoca (a combination of
fi le camel hair and silk) and, from the 14th century, satin. Some of the
most common Opus Anglicanum stitches include Opus conscutum -
applique, Opus phrygium - gold work. Opus anglicanum stitch - split
Border motif from vestments of St Thomas
of Canterbury c.1200-50.
Embroidery
stitch, and Opus pectineum - woven or combed work.
Inventories and accounts from the Vatican are a valuable soiirce of
information on Opus Anglicanum, for it was favourite with man} Popes
and the bulk of Vatican embroideries of this time were of this kind Many
of the best examples of this work are ecclesiastical vestments and one of
the finest copes now remaining is the Syon Cope in the Victoria and
Albert Museum. A study of the copes of the whole medieval period has
revealed that there were three distinct periods in the evolution of Opus
Anglicanum.
The earliest period is from 1250 to 1275 and the principal features of
the designs are saints or Biblical events enclosed by a medallion. Group-
ings are arranged in concentric circles. Few examples of this period now
survive.
The second period is from 1275 to about 1325 and the Syon Cope was
made at this time. Rather than being confined by circles, the figures and
scenes in the design are ringed by Romanesque quatrefoils sometimes
interlaced. Another surviving cope of this period is the Daroca Cope in
the Museo Arqueologico, Madrid.
The last period occupies the remainder of the 14th century. Figures
now stand under Gothic arches and the scenes are separated by cc lumns.
The finest Opus Anglicanum comes from this period.
Chasubles have also survived and a typical example in the Victoria
and Albert Museum is in red brocade with scenes from the life o “Christ
with saints standing under Gothic arches. Mitres were embroicered in
Opus Anglicanum though only fragments have survived, such as the
remains of one belonging to Bishop William of Wykeham (1367 -1404),
now in New College, Oxford. The embroidery used both silvei thread
and gems.
The Victoria and Albert Museum also has an altar frontal fiom the
late 14th century. Worked on a ground of crimson velvet, the fig ires are
appliqued in gold, silver and coloured thread and surround the cruci-
fixion scene. Palls have survived in greater numbers, many of which are
in the possession of London livery companies such as the Vintn :rs\ the
Saddlers’ and the Fishmongers’ Companies.
The quality of Opus Anglicanum work began to decline during the
15th century, although a magnificent pall belonging to the Fishmongers’
Company which, it seems, could not have been made before 1 536, has
suggested to some experts that the age of Opus Anglicanum might be
extended by a hundred years.
Although the emphasis in 14th and 15th century Europe was on
ecclesiastical embroidery, there was at the same time a growing use of
domestic embroidery. Woven tapestries, for example, were
portance in furnishing the draughty castles and houses of the rich, and
embroidered bed hangings were also invaluable in the cold wmters of
northern Europe.
There was an increasing use of embroidery for costume and personal
adornment. Much of this, whether it took the form of fine linefi under-
garments or the embroidered and bejewelled purses for which
was famous in the 15th and 16th centuries, was done domestically as
well as by professional and religious embroiderers.
i has been used by men for tools and weapons for hundreds of
inds of years. Man made knives, axes and spears in great quantities.
heads were expendable and were produced in particularly large
^ers and, consequently, are still readily available at quite reasonable
Generally speaking, the earlier ones are cruder and lack finish,
while those of the Neolithic period are polished and well shaped. Many
arc barbed and most have a short neck which was used to secure the
head to the wood or reed shaft. Main primitive cultures continued to
manufacture arrow heads of Hint long after metal had replaced its use
for other weapons. Some Red Indians of North America and the
Abdrigines of Australia were still making them at the beginning of this
centur\
Flint is brittle and is unsuitable for constructing long blades, so swords
of Hint were not practical. When man discovered the secret ol melting
tin nd copper together to make bronze he was able to cast a greater
varie y of weapons in moulds of clay or stone. Axeheads. daggers,
aire ws and spear heads and swords were produced all over Europe and
sufficient have survived to ensure that some still appear on the market:
swords are likely to be the rarest and most expensive. Many of the
bronzes available today are from Luristan in Asia Minor, and are
generally of good quality although unfortunately a number of very good
copies have begun to appear so care when buying is essential.
By the 1st century A.D. iron had largely supplanted bronze as the
metal for weapons. While iron was better for manufacture it was fjar less
able to survive the centuries. Bronze could resist rust and rot, ironl could
not and swords dating from the 1st century until the 15th century are
extremely rare and very early examples are likely to be little morje than
masses of blackened rust. The few good quality examples whic|i have
survived will certainly be very expensive.
Probably one of the most ancient of all edged weapons was the g
or guisarme which receives frequent mention from the 12th
17th century in Europe and was a form of long-headed axe thjat ter-
minated in a sharp, strong point. A little way down the blade a flattened
hook projected. In medieval times it was known as a fauchard
towards the end of the 15th century it is possible that the term “gisarme’
was used to describe the halberd.
The halberd seems to have been of Swiss origin and the first mention
of it occurs in 1287, although it was not introduced into Fran
England until the end of the 14th century. It appeared in various:
as basically an axe-blade surmounted by a spike and balanced by
a si 6rt fluke at the rear of the blade. By the end of the 15th century the
blade had undergone several changes through oblong and horizontally
wit er to crescent-shaped on some examples.
1 lie great age of the pike began in the late 15th century and lasted until
the 17th century. A simple weapon, the pike consists of a long, narrow,
lanpe-like head of steel with lengths of metal running from the head
down the pole to protect the latter from sword strikes. At the other end
of he pole an iron shoe or point protected the pole base when it was
stu k in the ground to resist cavalry attacks. Other edged staff weapons
in Use in the 15th century included the partisan - usually a long double-
edged blade, wide at the base where it was provided with projections of
various kinds. The Ranseur and the Spetum were variations on the
par isan.
1 he Voulge was very similar to the gisarme and originated in Switzer-
lan The Bill was one of the commonest weapons of the foot-soldier and
wa; derived from the agricultural scythe and so had a crescent-shaped
heal the inside of which was sharpened while a section of the top of the
blade was double-edged. Variants often had the top of the blade dividing
into a spike and forward curved hook. The Bill was particularly popular
in England. The Glaive had the cutting edge on the opposite side to that
on he Bill and had hooks and spurs near the base of the blade.
Until the first half of the 15th century the lance was simply a wooden
staff some 3-4.25 metres (13-14 ft) long, fitted with a lozenge- or leaf-
shaped blade. During the 14th century jousting lances began to be fitted
wit l a circular hand-guard or vanplatc.
Generally the medieval sword had a long, straight blade, usually
doi $le-edged, fitted with a simple cruciform cross guard, a leather
co\ ejred grip and a counter-balance weight (the pommel) at the end of
the grip. These swords were essentially slashing weapons designed to
ha< k at armour and mail and some were made big enough to be gripped
with two hands. One, known as a hand-and-half, was small enough to
be (ised in one hand but with a grip big enough to hold with both hands
to deliver a very powerful blow. A larger version, the two-handed sword,
was so large that it could only be used with a two-handed grip.
Very few swords and daggers dating from the 12th—15th centuries
ap ear on the market, but those dating from the 16th century onwards
are more readily available.
It is not surprising that the Renaissance, which was in part a revival of
clas jjcal culture, had its origins in Italy, the heart of the old Roman
Empire. Since the new movement represented a change in human
attitudes towards the world it made its first appearance in literature and
then spread to architecture, sculpture and painting, from where it in-
fluenced all the decorative arts. The Italian Renaissance is divided into
threjeperiods: Early, 1400-1500; High, 1500-40; and Late, 1540-1600.
Throughout the 15th century a spirit of research which accompanied
the new reflections on the world, led to the rediscovery of classical
worp of literature and the excavations of the archeological remains of
the Roman Empire. With every new discovery the artist was provided
witl further inspiration and stimulus to advance the state of his art to
ever greater heights. Of particular importance was the rediscovery of
Dc Architectura, which were the manuscripts of the Roman architect
Vitruvius who worked in the reign ol Augustus, and the exca\ation of
the Baths of Titus and the Golden Home of Nero in Rome in 1488.
In! 1485 Leon Battista Alberti published his Ten Books on Architecture
(De\te aedificatoria) which was a masterly synthesis of Vitruvius’
principles and much original material by Alberti himself. He advocated
a system of ideal proportions in architectural design, believing that the
ation of mathematical ratios to building was in itself beauty-
cing. Alberti thus made a significant break with all his predecessors
e visible result was a clean, dignified and stately style in which the
tion was primarily columns and pilasters.
Sep
24
16-18th Century Jewellery
September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Good jewelry of any period speaks to us in many ways. It says much of
the designer’s love of precious materials, it betrays the manufacturer’s
skills with metals, enamels and stones, it shows, very often, an attempt to
express in miniature a notion of perfection and it also says a great deal
about the person who purchased it and wore it and about the society in
wjhich he or she lived. Jewels were designed not only to be admired from
a instance, but also to be handled and the collector or enthusiast is always
limited if his knowledge is restricted to viewing pieces behind glass in a
museum or shop.
To handle a piece of jewelry is to experience its particular charm, its
own special magic, the magic that early craftsmen imbued in all their
work. Pick up a fine 17th-century pendant and turn it over. The illusion
is. not immediately shattered, but sustained through fine modelling and
engraving. There is no facade behind which the supports, struts and
scaffolding may be plainly seen. Jewels were designed to be viewed in
llie round, like a piece of sculpture.
Primitive societies recognized this mystical element in jewelry and
Jewelry
buried pieces with their dead as talismans and amulets to serve the ov ‘ner
in the afterlife. With the advent of the Christian epoch, however, this
custom was to die out and as a result we know more about the jeweliy of
classical Greece and Rome than about the medieval period.
Another major contributor to the scarcity of early examples lies wi thin
the jewels themselves. The materials used in jewelry have three major
elements in common: first, and perhaps principally, beauty; secordly,
rarity; and thirdly, durability. It is this last element, the durability ol’the
materials, which allows the continual re-working and remodellin > to
follow the vagaries of fashion and taste, that has spelt destruction fc r so
many early and fine examples of the art.
The 14th Century
The first decades of the 14th century were an age of Gothic romanticism
and love of natural beauty that was reflected in the jewelry of the t me.
The scope of the jeweller was being broadened by the increasing abund-
ance of gemstones and by the advent of pointed and table-cut diamonds
lo complement the existing cabochons. Enamelling was also an inno-
vative area, marked by the discovery of translucent enamels around 1J00.
The early application of the new enamels involved covering a flat relief
engraving in silver with a transparent film of enamel so allowing the
background to reflect in colour.
One of the great techniques of the Gothic enameller was etna I de
plique the use of translucent cloisonne enamelling on gold. The method
was practised only in the 13th and 14th centuries and may have origin ited
in Paris. Notable surviving examples are the falcons sewn on a pal otto
of brocade given by Archbishop Carandolet (1520-44) to the Cathedral
of Palermo.
The increasing use of gemstones in the 14th century led to them being
regulated by law and in 1331 a law was passed in Paris forbiddinj the
use of paste gems, while in 1355 jewellers were forbidden to use rivei and
oriental pearls together, or to use coloured foil as a backing for some
cabochon-set stones.
Finger rings were popular throughout the 13th and 14th centuries) and
unlike earlier examples they were not always based on classical des gns.
Instead, greater attention was paid to simple elegance and refined 1 nes.
Two rings of this period, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, one
a sapphire and the other a ruby ring, have such simple, clean lines that
could just as easily have been made in recent years. Cabochons were used
for rings until the late Middle Ages, while the claw setting conti med
into the Gothic period, although it began to be overtaken by the u»e of
high collets fashioned to follow the lines of the stone. The lover’s ring
originated at this time and was often inscribed with simple pro>e or
verse.
As the 14th century progressed more exotic tastes in jewelry beiame
evident at the French Court and throughout Europe jewelry had
achieved such social significance that its use was regulated by law tb the
extent that what a person could or could not wear in the way of jewelry
was determined by his social standing.
Head ornaments and belts were becoming fashionable, the fcjrmer
often reaching quite fanciful heights, while belts were studded with gold
of enamel plaques on silk or gold tissue. The number of buttons and
a Qessories on all kinds of dress was increasing and any opportunity to
wear still more jewelry was welcomed. It was during this period that
jewels began to be worn as individual ornamentation, separate from
their function as dress adornment and the jeweller towards the end of
the 14th century, though still heavily controlled and restricted by the
courts of Europe began to show a new freedom of style that eventually
b ossomed in the 15th century.
The 15th Century
The wind of revolution that blew through all the arts in Europe during
the 15th century also had a dramatic effect on jewelry. For the first time
the jeweller was able to emerge from the goldsmiths’ guilds, where he
had been confined throughout the Middle Ages to manufacturing litur-
1 objects under the patronage of the Church, or jewels commissioned
by princes or noblemen, and to develop his art alongside his colleagues qo1mc
in painting and sculpture. Indeed, the new style evident in jewelry of
this period may be partly attributable to painters and sculptors such as
Verrochio, Pollaiuolo, Brunelleschi and Botticelli, many of whom
ted their careers in the goldsmith’s workshop.
Jewelry, thus freed from the constraints of the Church, was allowed
develop freely and become a perfect expression of individual taste, a
ns of personal expression that was to prove indispensable to the
lay of prosperity of the emergent mercantile classes. Exploration
trade overseas was already adding to the materials available to the
st craftsman. This, combined with the general increase in wealth
ent throughout Europe, accounts for the extraordinary number of
Is which survive even today, testifying to the ostentation and
lendour of the time.
(Unlike painting and sculpture. Renaissance jewelry was not a redis-
covery and celebration of classical Greece and Rome, rather it borrowed
from these sister arts, especially sculpture, to develop a pictorial vocabu-
lary of its own. It is likely the general techniques of goldworking had
ived since the classical period, but there were very few pieces avail-
for study. Perhaps the only direct link with Greece and Rome was
ugh the revival of the glyptic art (the technique of carving and
igraving hardstones) with the result that many classical cameos were
copied, imitated, and incorporated into rings, brooches and pendants.
Jewellers also borrowed certain decorative motifs from the antique -
the arabesque and scrollwork that Raphael had popularized through his
decoration of the loggie at the Vatican, and the grotesques inspired by
the frescoes discovered in the ‘grottos’ of the Baths of Petrus.
The emphasis during this period was upon harmony of design and
craftsmanship rather than a display of wealth. This is not to say that
stones were unpopular, rather they were incorporated into a design for
their chromatic value and emphasized through the subtle use of coloured
enamel and elaborate settings. The most common type of cutting of this
period is the table-cut, where, as the name implies, the stone was roughly
faceted so that it displayed a flat top, though many coloured stones re-
mained en cabochon, like a pebble. Settings were generally of a square.
famidal design with the top edges lapped over to retain the stone, very
Jewelry
often with the additional ornament of imitation claws. The jewels them-
selves were nearly always pictorial in design, or at least contaijned
pictorial elements drawn from the wide range of subject matter which
the new literature had made available. These included subjects tajken
from classical mythology, romance and heroic poetry, as well as medi :val
symbolic images such as the ‘pelican in her piety’, and, of course, the
mythical unicorn.
Perhaps the most original type of jewel to be created during this period
was the hat badge or enseigne, which derives from the medieval pilgrim
sign, and was quickly adopted to display the taste and individuality of
the wearer through the choice of subject matter. Many of the conlem-
porary portraits illustrate quite clearly how the jewel was worn. The
most notable perhaps, are those by Francois Clouet, Bartolom ueo
Veneto and Holbein.
The signet ring served the same purpose as the enseigne in exhib ting
the personality and individuality of the wearer. These were often set vith
an intaglio of either contemporary or classical manufacture, or engraved
with a device, monogram or cipher to act as a seal. Other rings vere
more elaborate, often richly enamelled and with caryatid suppor s to
the high collet, or set with portrait cameos or miniatures. Diamonds
were used in the natural octahedral form so that the point of the stone
protruded from the collet, allowing the owner to use it as a scribe on
glass. Rings were also used to celebrate certain events. The most at rac-
tive are those connected with betrothals or weddings, most notably the
fecle ring where the bezel is formed by a pair of hands clasping a heart or
stone. Mourning rings were also popular, the shanks engraved with
s eletons, the bezels set with death’s heads or coffins. Contemporary
portraits indicate how liberally rings were worn, gracing every ringer,
n the thumb, and very often the first and second joints as well,
ecklaces were worn in profusion and were generally of exceptional
lejnjgth, encircling the throat several times and cascading over the bodice.
Many different types were often worn together, contributing to the
opulent effect. Chains of plaited wire had survived in popularity since
tl e Middle Ages and were augmented by more elaborate designs in-
corporating plaques and cartouches enriched with enamelled grotesques
ajid arabesques and set with various gems. Pearls strung into long ropes
a n also evident in the portraits of the time, and were often hung in
ft stoons at the middle of the bodice from a central brooch.
jbroidery - the embellishing of fabric with stitches - was already a
1-established craft in 16th-century Europe. For several centuries
professional embroiderers had been among the most respected of crafts-
men, their art linked with that of the illuminator. Most of them, at least
in England and France, were organized into powerful guilds which, by
maintaining high standards of workmanship and by protecting the
ii ffirests of the embroiderers, helped to ensure the high standing of the
craft.