Sep
24
Renaissance Jewellery and Precious Stones
September 24, 2009 |
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.