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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Clocks
The origin of the first mechanical timepiece is obscure. Although scholars
have studied manuscripts dating from the 5th century, it has not been
possible to reach any dogmatic conclusions. One difficulty lies in the fact
that any references to a ‘horologia’ can also allude to a sundial or water-
clopk and not necessarily to a mechanical clock.
0he commonly held belief is that the clockwork mechanism originated
Clocks
in the Islamic World where the sciences of astronomy and mat! ematics
were far in advance of those in the Western Hemisphere. Whe
her this
is correct and that descriptions carried back to Europe by the Ci usaders
engendered experimentation is uncertain, but strong evidence i
idicates
that it was in the late 13th century that mechanical clocks began t<»appear
on the Continent, spreading at a later date to England. The earliest
examples were large, iron and weight driven with a verge ard foliot
escapement. A large bell struck the hours. Apart from small hoi r mark-
ings on the motion wheel and a fixed pointer this was the only
used to indicate the hour. It was not until further technical advan
had been made and the process reversed (the pointer to travers: a fixed
dial), that dials were added.
Evidence suggests that the first true striking clocks originated
soon after 1330, for in a manuscript entitled the Chronicle of
Fiamma written in 1335, the author, while talking of the churc
Beata Vergine in Milan says ‘There is there a wonderful clock,
there is a very large clapper which strikes a bell 24 times acco
the 24 hours of the day and night, and thus at the first hour of the night
gives one sound, at the second two strokes - and so distinguishes one
hour from another, which is of the greatest use to men of every
In an earlier account written by this author in 1306 he makes no meniion
of such a clock anywhere in Milan.
Although at least one expert suggests that the first striking cldck, and
certainly the first in England, may have been one at Salisbury Cathedral
by 1306, there is more sound evidence showing that Edward
missioned a striking clock at Westminster in 1365-66 which m|ay have
been the first English clock of its kind.
Initially, clocks were made by blacksmiths under the super\|
monks. It must be remembered that prior to the Reformation all
was the prerogative of the Church and the monasteries the only
method
leairling. It was also the monks with their strict hours of devotion both
day and night that had the greatest need for a mechanically regulated
timfekeeper with an alarm bell. However, by the 14th century large public
clocks were appearing on churches, palaces and other buildings through-
out! Europe. References can be found in contemporary literature to
clocks on the Church in Milan (1335); the Carrara Palace at Padua
(1344), at Rouen (1389) and many other locations. Many of these are
longer extant but one of the oldest clocks in England - that of
sbury Cathedral (1386) - can still be seen in the North Transept of
the Cathedral.
ilarge dials embodying astronomical data as well as indicating the
time of day began to appear as skills grew, while others incorporated
automata - a feature especially popular on the Continent of Europe to
this day.
Possibly the first astronomical clock was made by the Abbot of St
Albans, Richard of Wallingford between 1327 and 1336, which had dials
for an astrolabe and showed the motion of the sun (and possibly the
plahets) and the phases of the moon. A touch of genius was shown how-
everSn the clock made by Giovanni De’Dondi, a professor of astronomy
at the University of Padua, and completed by 1364. The clock, which
waii unfortunately destroyed in the 16th century, not only reproduced
motions of the sun and moon but also of the five known planets in-
cluding Mercury with its unusual orbital patterns. Though it took
Dondi 16 years to make the clock, its sheer complexity as well as the
technical problems he had to surmount suggest he was a man of rare
ity.
The earliest domestic clocks were also of iron and were weight driven
l a verge and foliot escapement. The movements were held by an
open four-posted frame, but although the posts and dials were decorated,
thejades were left open. As well as striking on the hour, some had provi-
sion for quarter striking or alarm mechanisms. They were intended to
be ipng on a hook or stood on a wall bracket to enable the free fall of
weights. These early Gothic clocks, as they are generally called, first
ieared in Italy and some fine examples have survived to this day. It
wai Jhowever, only a short time before the craft passed to South Germany
with the towns of Nuremberg, Augsburg, Cassel and Ulm becoming
recognized centres. Similar clocks were also made in France and
Switzerland, but England produced few domestic clocks in this period.
Domestic Metalwork
The- development of domestic metalwork is quite similar to that of
architectural metalwork, except that in many cases it was the smaller
objects of domestic use that preceded the larger architectural applications.
The ancient world was dominated by bronze, and some of the objects
made in the first two millenniums B.C. remain unsurpassed for beauty,
for example the multitude of hand mirrors made in Egypt, Greece
Domestic Metalwork
and the Roman world. The basic design, wherever the mirror happened
to be made, was largely the same as that of a modern mirror: i highly
polished disc to provide the reflecting surface, sometimes decoi ated on
its reverse, with a handle which was also usually decorated. The handles
of mirrors were sometimes cast in the form of a figure, human o ‘ divine,
sometimes the periphery of the disc had cast figures of cupids or; inimals,
and sometimes the reverse side of the disc was engraved with an all sgorical
scene as in some charming Etruscan examples.
But bronze was used for all kinds of things: for votive objecls by the
Celts, for throne decorations by the Assyrians, for vases, larips and
boxes by the Greeks and Romans, for plaquettes by the Byzanti tes. The
list could be extended almost indefinitely. In China, fine cast brc nze was
in extensive use by the second millenium B.C. for objects as varied as
those made in the West, from hollow vessels to statuettes. The develop-
ment of Chinese bronzework was unique in many respects.
Iron in antiquity was probably used for domestic objects to < greater
extent than is now evident, for rust and other corrosives must have
destroyed much, with the result that, apart from a few fragnents of
various artefacts, one or two andirons (fire-dogs) and similar objects,
there is nothing to indicate how widely it was used.
Lead, too, is only represented by a handful of objects, though these
are varied in form, among them Egyptian votive slabs, Roman < ups and
lamps, Greek weights, vases, boxes and plummets.
The same pattern of usage for these metals and alloys contini ed from
the fall of the Roman empire until the dawn of the Middle Ages. Artistic-
ally, as may be expected, design was cruder in the early part of thi»period,
yet it often has a barbaric strength and compelling spontaneity. It varies
from the relatively simple design and decoration on bronze itewpots
made by Huns, to highly decorated cruciform brooches made b i Anglo-
Saxons. Such a splendid specimen as the wonderful shrine of St Patrick’s
bell or Bell of the Will appears later (about 1100). This was made to the
order of Donal O’Loughlin, King of Ireland (National Museum,
Dublin), and consists of bronze worked in a combination ol casting,
sheet metalwork and forging, decorated with gemstones. Anc ther im-
portant work is the font decorated with three-dimensional figures
illustrating the life of John the Baptist and supported by bul s, in the
church of St Barthelemy, Liege, Belgium (12th century).
The Gloucester candelabrum made about 1112 and dedicated to the
Abbey of St Peter at Gloucester, England, is of almost oriental s ilendour
(Victoria and Albert Museum, London). Another handsome 12th
century candelabrum, this one having seven branches, and n easuring
5 metres (over 16 ft) in height, is in Brunswick Cathedral, Germany; it is
said to have been the gift of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxonjf. A 12th
century bronze door-knocker in the form of a lion and a ring is in Lau-
sanne Cathedral, Switzerland. A bronze thurible of the same century,
architectural in form, inscribed with the name Gosbertus, is in the
Cathedral of Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). Among its archi-
tectural details it embodies busts of Moses, Aaron, Isaac and Jeremiah,
with Solomon enthroned at its apex. Laton or latten was als) used at
this time, especially for such utensils as ewers, like the |3tl century
Gentian specimen in the form of a lion in the British Museum, London.
iiiitle domestic ironwork survives from before the 12th century. Few
large pieces remain, so it is hardly to be expected that smaller works
will have survived. However, there are a feu fragments which remain:
one or two early locks and furniture fittings, and here and there a horse-
shoe, but little more.
Lead was widely used, mines being operated in France, England,
Saxony, Silesia, Bohemia and Andalusia, yet an insignificant amount
survives. Two examples will suffice: a lead sheet in the British Museum
inscribed with an edict of Charlemagne, in which he assumes the title
of fjmperor of the West, and bearing the date 18 September 801; and a
I 2th century casket in the form ol two boxes, one inside the other, which
onofi contained the heart of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, discovered in 1838
in the choir of Rouen cathedral, France and bearing the inscription:
I IK jac l I COR RICARD1 REGIS ANGLORUM (Here rests the heart of Richard
King of the English).
vVith the 13th century came the beginning, especially in France, of a
period of brilliant domestic ironwork dominated by the technique of
the |locksmith and closely influenced by that of the armourer. Such
objects made at this early date are very rare, but those that do remain
illustrate the virtuosity of which craftsmen were already capable. One
such is a pair of watering irons, a pair of tongs with its terminations in
the form of two engraved plates, between which batter is poured, and
which are then healed so that wafers for communion hosts are made.
Later the irons were adapted for household purposes, such as making
waffles. This pair of irons is so elaborately engraved that it is a tour de
force in this respect alone, and is to be found in Cluny Museum. Paris.
Despite the rarity of actual specimens of 13th century benchwork, one
or two pattern books survive which give some idea of the scope of the
work made at this period. One series of designs by the architect Ales-
sandro Romani is in the Public Library at Siena, Italy.
In the next two centuries, and indeed until the 18th century, the objects
made by benchwork multiplied enormously. It would be difficult to
imagine greater refinement in ironwork than that which was achieved in
this work. The vast amount of labour involved, to say nothing of the
loving care in making a lock, is almost impossible to assess. There is. on
a miniature scale, as much carving in a few square inches as would be
present on many a cathedral wall or icredos. The minute jewel-like
precision attained in such an uncompromising material, well matches
the mathematical construction of Gothic architecture in general. And
although the lock is a marvellous specimen, it is by no means unique.
Such locks, large and small, are the pride of fine collections at the Cluny
Museum, Paris, at the Le Secq des Tournelles Museum, Rouen, and at
the Victoria and Albeit Museum. London. I he> were made right up to
the latter part of the 18th century, reflecting the taste of the period in
which they were made. Sometimes, in the later periods, they were
decorated with pulli and other allegorical figures. Padlocks also were
madje throughout these centuries.

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The British Isles
There is evidence that glaziers from Gaul were called to Britain
as early
as A.D. 680. Glassmaking families from Normandy and the I orraine
Surrey,
oved to
found satisfactory sites for their craft in the forest areas of
Sussex and Kent, and when the fuel supply became exhausted ni
Gloucestershire, Staffordshire and other suitable regions. Laurence
in the
40 was
sites in
Vitrearius (the ‘window glassmaker’) settled at Dyers Cross
Chiddingfold district of the Weald at about 1226, and by 1
making glass for the Abbey at Westminster. The old glasshouse)
the Weald yield fragments which correspond with Continental glass made
during this period - bottles, beakers and cups of yellow or greeni; h metal
of inferior quality. The industry concentrated on making window glass,
though the best was still imported from the Continent. Laurence’s son,
William ‘le verrier’, carried on by producing hollow glass and
Chiddingfold received a Royal Charter.
Between 1350-57, John le Alemayne supplied window glasb for St
Stephen’s Chapel and also produced some ‘cuppis to drinke’, but
table glass came from Venice.
Gold and Silver
Gold and silver, unlike other materials used in the decorative ar
until this century, had two distinct and easily reversible functio is: they
could be made into coin of the realm or into objects of use and beauty.
For example, in 1540, Francois I of France gave the Italian gddsmith.
Benvenuto Cellini 1,000 gold crowns to be melted down and m ide into
the magnificent salt-cellar which is now in the Kunsthistoriches Museum
in Vienna. Conversely, at the end of the 17th century Louis XIV of
France, in an attempt to pay for his disastrous wars, enforced sumptuary
laws which called in all objects made of precious metal and ordered their
melting into coin. This included all the silver furniture that glittered at
Versailles when the court was first installed there in 1682. Gold and
silversmiths would, of course, also melt down older pieces as a source of
metal for their own work. All these factors constitute one of the reasons
why little secular medieval gold and silver now remains from which we
can judge styles and designs.
However, from manuscripts and tapestries and from the ecclesiastical
pieces which survive in slightly greater numbers, we may infer that
throughout the Holy Roman Empire, from the time of the crowning of
Charlemagne in A.D. 800, designs deriving from the old Roman Empire
began to be augmented with flat, interlacing arabesque patterns of Near
Eastern origin. These were brought in by returning Crusaders and by
trade through Venice. From this same source, new techniques were
assimilated. Vertical architectural features were incorporated in gold
and silver vessels, which might also be decorated with human or animal
figures or with inscriptions in Lombardic or Gothic script, imitating the
use of Kufic script in pattern making.
Mazers are the commonest surviving drinking vessels, made of dense,
impervious wood, decorated with a silver lip band and a disc in the
middle of the shallow bowl. Later, the low and wide mazer shape became
deeper and was gradually raised up on a foot and a stem. There was also
a fi:ted cover. Such cups became objects of great ceremony and the
cus dms associated with passing round such cups at banquets still exist
in s jjne societies today. Exotic objects like coconuts (which supposedly
hat magical properties), ostrich eggs, shells, precious rarities like im-
ported Chinese and Turkish ceramics, minerals like serpentine and
root crystal, were converted into drinking vessels by mounting them in
silver gilt. They have often survived because too little silver had been
used in their mounting to warrant it being melted later on. Highly prized
Venetian glasses were also mounted sometimes, and this goblet shape
was copied in silver.
Medieval etiquette placed the greatest importance on the use of a
vessel of silver gilt to mark the place at the table of the most honoured
person at the gathering, and precedence was regulated by position above
and below it. In France, this place was marked by a model of a ship called
a ‘nlef’, and existing ones show 15th century goldsmiths’ work at its best.
In lihgland, a great salt cellar stood in the centre of the high table, the
piece itself was often tiered and always impressive, but the salt container
was relatively small.
Ewers and basins were much in use, because their decorative shapes
made them suitable for display and diners had frequently to rinse their
fingers in the course of a meal eaten only with spoons. Attendants took
the lewer - filled with warmed and scented water - the basin and a napkin
roukd to each guest and in this way the lavish beauty of the plate was
shown off.
Inl 15th century Florence the verticality of former designs began, in all
the;decorative arts, to be replaced by a greater horizontal emphasis and
by decoration taken from the Greek and Roman precedents. The Renais-
sance spread outwards from Tuscany, and putti, masks and trophies,
acanthus, anthemion and rinceaux gradually superseded the oldt r style.
European Gold and Silversmiths
There are several individual European gold and silversmiths who
is known from the centuries before 1500. One of the earliest was
(c.850), this name being known from an inscription on the high
the church of San Ambrogio in Milan, which reads vuolvini
phaber meaning Vuolvinus or Wolvinus Master Smith. The alta|
earliest known representation of a real goldsmith and is genera
sidered to be one of the most beautiful examples of the work of
goldsmiths. The front is composed of bands of enamel framing
gold repousse work and is set with cabochons, pearls and
cameos. The sides and back are silver, gilt, all framed with enamel]
Ugolino di Vieri (c. 1329-80), from Siena is remembered for
quary of the Sacro Corporale in Orvieto Cathedral, which he
in 1338. The work, still in the Cathedral but on public view
Easter Day and the feast of Corpus Domini, stands 139 cm
high and is based on the facade of the Cathedral itself. It is not
whether the twelve main enamelled panels are the work of di
self or someone he commissioned for this part of the work,
surviving reliquary by him is one of gilt brass set with enamel
made for the church of San Savino and now in the Museo dell’
Duomo, in Orvieto.
Antonio del Pollajuolo (1431-98) is perhaps best known as on
greatest Florentine early Renaissance painters, but during his lifejt
was more renowned for his silverwork. It is thought that he was
ticed to Lorenzo Ghiberti or his son Vittorio at the time they werfe
ing on the Baptistery doors in Florence. His first commissioned
which he made in collaboration with two other goldsmiths was
silver crucifix for the Baptistery made in 1457-9. His only other
works are reliefs on the Baptistery altar finished in 1483.
Pre-Columbian Gold and Silver
One field of early gold and silverwork that has recently begun to
collectors is that f rom the pre-Columbian civilizations of South
in particular Peru. Certainly the work of these craftsmen is
most beautiful ever made and an increasing number of pieces are
their way on to the market in Europe and the United States.
While the Incas are probably the best-known pre-Columbian
tion, little of their gold survives, most of it having been plundered
Conquistadors and melted down on its arrival in Europe. Pre-
gold was in fact still being melted down in England in the 19th
The gold and silverwork of earlier civilizations, however, has
discovered in the last century or so and no doubt much
found.
The first South American goldsmiths were probably from the Chavin
culture from the northern Andes of Peru. The techniques th ;y used
were confined to hammering and embossing, although they must
have known about annealing. Among other objects made by the Zhavin,
headbands, crowns and ear and pectoral ornaments are tl e most
freduent. Their motifs abound with naturalistic themes, in particular the
jaguar and puma which were regarded as gods.
The two cultures which immediately followed the Chavin were the
Mochica of northern Peru and the Nasca in the south, both civilizations
las ing until about the 8th century A.D. Although the Nasca smiths still
relied on hammering and embossing alone, the Mochica were skilled at
cas :img, soldering and smelting. Typical of the Nasca are their funerary
an< i ceremonial masks of which the most curious is the ‘mouth’ mask
wh ch was suspended from a perforation in the nose. The Mochica were
both more skilled and artistic than the Nasca. Some of their most beauti-
ful and interesting objects were small figures, about an inch high, of
birds and animals which were worn as earrings or as mounts for pins and
From about A.D. 500-900 the Mochica and Nasca were dominated
by [the Tiahuanaco from the Lake Titicaca area in Bolivia. One of the
most remarkable objects of Tiahuanaco origin remaining today is a
gold 'whistling vase', composed of two chambers joined by a tube. The
front chamber is a human figure with a whistle hidden in the head, while
the] rear one is a beaker. As the water flowed from the back to the front,
air was drawn through the whistle causing it to sound.
The Tiahuanaco were succeeded by the Chimu, who were even more
skilled than the Mochica. Among their finest works are beakers of thick
shejet embossed with highly stylized geometric and zoomorphic designs
and inlaid with turquoise. Their ceremonial knives, with a semi-circular
blade supporting human or animal figures intricately worked and inlaid
with turquoise must rank as masterpieces.
The Incas overran the Chimu in the 13th century, perhaps attracted
by the abundance of Chimu gold, for the metal was sacred to the Incas.
From the little Inca gold and silver work that has survived one can judge
that their style was sober and restrained but nevertheless possessed of an
unsurpassed beauty. Perhaps best known of the remaining Inca gold
pieces are the little llamas either cast or built up from plates which were
soldered together. An example of the latter technique is the llama now in
the British Museum, but this is overshadowed by a cast silver llama with a
sadjdle blanket of inlaid gold and cinnabar now in the American Museum
of Natural History in New York.
Gold and silver work of equal interest is still being discovered in other
countries of South America, notably Colombia and Venezuela, though
the collector should be wary of the flourishing market in fakes.

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PORCELAIN

Bow
A sweetmeat centrepiece, formed as six scallop shells, naturally fluted, the interiors painted in colours with bouquets of flowers and with puce and gilt rims, on a pierced rockwork base encrusted with shells and coral, enriched in green, yellow, puce and ochre, surmounted by a phoenix, the birds red, green, blue and yellow plumage gilt, 8J in high 336 0
A figure of a girl emblematic of spring, seated on a flowering tree stump, with flowers gathered in her apron, in yellow hat, green and yellow bodice and floral skirt, on high gilt scroll base, 7 in high, anchor and dagger mark 230 0
A figure of a youth, standing before flowering bocage, his left hand on his hip, in blue lined yellow hat, yellow lined puce coat, flowered breeches and turquoise shoes, the high pierced base on scroll feet enriched in turquoise and gold, 8 in high, iron red anchor and dagger mark 168 0
A pair of figures of putti as gardeners modelled standing naked in front of a tree stump holding a basket filled with flowers in one hand and a single flower in the other, with garlands of flowers round their heads and over their shoulders, on mound bases with applied flowers, 5J in high, one with iron red anchor and dagger mark 84 0
A figure of a cow, modelled recumbent in front of a tree stump with head to the left and tail forward, naturally coloured in shades of brown, on a mound base with applied flowers, 3J in wide 50 0
A pair of vine-leaf pickle dishes painted in underglaze-blue with scattered flowers and with serrated blue-edged rims, 3i in diameter 30 0
Bristol
A Lund’s blue and white cream jug, with scroll handle, of pear shape, painted with Chinamen fishing within moulded scroll cartouches on a pleated ground, 3| in high 115 10
A coffee pot and cover of pear shape with a faceted spout and crabstock handle, the sides and cover painted with sprays and sprigs of coloured flowers and the tip of the spout and the pot rim edged in brown, 7 in high, blue enamel cross and 10 mark
A circular bowl, the exterior painted in colours with bouquets of flowers and flower sprays, 6} in diameter, blue enamel cross mark
Caughley
A blue and white bell-shaped tankard with fluted handle, the sides transfer-printed with a Chinese lady and child on a terrace, the reverse with a fisherman on the banks of a river with a man looking through a trellis, 5 in high, crescent mark
A blue and white mug of cylindrical shape, transfer printed in underglaze-bluc with ‘Parrot and Fruit’ by Robert Hancock, 5} in high, crescent mark
A bowl transfer-printed in underglaze-blue on the outside with bouquets and sprigs of flowers with butterflies hovering around, the interior with a lily of the valley, a passion flower and another lily, 11 in diameter, crescent mark
Chelsea
A rare pair of candlesticks of fable type, one with a hound lighting a fox and a cat climbing in a tree, the other with two foxes beneath a tree, the animals naturally decorated in red, brown and manganese, the trees with gilt scroll trunks and flowering branches and bunches of grapes, supporting pierced foliage wax pans and candle nozzles enriched with gilding on gilt scroll bases, 13} in high, gold anchor marks
A figure of a masquerader, standing before a tree stump in dancing attitude his right leg raised, playing the flute, in black tricorn hat and mask, iron red jacket with yellow sleeves, green and yellow cloak and pink breeches, a lantern by his side, on a florally encrusted gilt scroll base, 8 in high, gold anchor mark at back
A rare circular fable plate, of silver shape, painted by J. H. O’Nealc, the centre with the fable of the bull and the frog, the shell-moulded border with three naturalistic sprays of flowers and fruit and a butterfly, the waved rim and three moulded shell panels enriched in chocolate, 8] in diameter, raised anchor period
A beaker-shaped vase, the slightly flared sides with a central pale claret knop, on either side of which are finely painted sprays of garden flowers, the rim and foot with gilt dentil borders, 7J in high, gold anchor mark
A mazarine blue two-handled chocolate cup and cover, of bell shape, the scroll handles and finial enriched with gilding, the sides painted in colours with four horizontal panels of Chinese children seated under trees, with gilt sunflower motifs below within gilt scroll cartouches on a mazarine blue ground, 5J in high, gold anchor mark
A shaped circular saucer dish painted in colours with flower
sprays including roses and tulips, with a brown rim, 9 in
diameter, brown anchor mark 71 0
Chelsea—Derby
A pair of plates, from the Duke of Northumberland service, the bright blue borders with pink roses, 9} in diameter, gold anchor and script ‘N’ marks 78 10
A pair of vases and covers of urn shape, the bodies decorated with vertical gilt lines on a blue ground, reserved on either side are two oval medallions, one with a portrait, the other with a landscape, the whole standing on a high foot rising from a square plinth, the double loop handles moulded with scales and the domed top with a round knob, 9 in high (handles repaired) 62 0
Four cups and saucers, the interlaced handles enriched with gilding, painted en camaieu verte with swags of flowers suspended from gilt dentil rims, gilt anchor and ‘D’ marks 44 0
A white Group of Music from a set of the Arts, modelled as a young woman standing playing the flute, with two naked putti by her side, one playing the viola, a column supporting a tambourine and the rocky mound base scattered with sheets of music and instruments, 9 in high, N217 incised 25 0
Coalport (Coalbrookdale)
A pair of vases, the shield-shaped bodies painted in colours with pastoral scenes of lovers in rectangular panels reserved within gilt borders on a gros-bleu ground, the shoulders set with winged and crowned terms over a border of white oak leaves on a gilt ground, the flared necks and square plinths also richly gilt, one inscribed Gessner’s Pastorals, the other with a couplet by Thomson, 14} in high, impressed numeral ‘2′ 120 0
A rectangular plaque, attractively painted with a bouquet of summer flowers, including dog roses, ranunculas and convolvulus on a white ground, 8 in by 6 in, framed 44 0
A flower-encrusted scent bottle, of slender pear shape, finely painted with scattered insects and applied with coloured branches of forget-me-nots, convolvulus, roses and auriculas, the domed cover surmounted by a rose knop, 7 in long 35 0
A jug painted on either side with a bouquet of tulips, roses and other flowers and in the centre the monogram ‘JC’ within a wreath in gilding, 7 in high 24 0
Davenport
A fine turquoise-ground dessert service, each piece painted in the centre with a cluster of fruit, including pineapples, currants, strawberries, peaches and plums, within turquoise borders edged with scrolls in apricot and gilding, and the gilt with fruiting vine, comprising: three fruit stands in sizes, two circular dishes on low feet and twelve plates, marks printed in blue and pattern no. 1422 170 0
A garniture of three two-handled vases of baluster form with scroll handles, painted in colours with garden flowers on
ledges and with picturesque landscapes, the flared necks pierced and the royal blue grounds enriched with gilding, 9} in high and 8J in high
Derby
A tea and coffee service, each piece attractively painted in undcrglazc-blue with a border of still leaves reserved on a vermicular gilt band, comprising: teapot, cover and stand, sucrier and cover, milk jug, bowl, 2 saucer dishes, 11 coffee cups, 12 teacups and 12 saucers, crown, crossed batons and ‘IV marks in red, numerals ‘19′ and pattern no. 726
A figure of Neptune, standing on a shell with a dolphin at his side and with billowing cloak, his hair and beard in puce colour and his drapery in yellow with flowers and lined in pink, 6} in high
A landscape plaque, well-painted with fishermen unloading a barque which lies at anchor in an estuary, with a castle on the wooded bank and ships lying at anchor in the distance, the light of the sinking sun reflected in the calm water, 7} in by 5| in, framed
A mug of cylindrical shape, with scrolled strap handle, finely painted on one side with a traveller in a landscape with a distant view of a mansion, the reverse with a cottage by the side of a river in a wooded mountainous landscape, gilt borders, 5 in high
A figure of a shepherdess, seated playing a mandolin, in pink bodice and flowered yellow skirt, pierced scroll base with a sheep sitting by a flowering tree, 5} in high
A pair of figures of Turks, of small size, the boy in long yellow coat, flowered jacket and red breeches and his companion in long pink coat and flowered skirt, 3} in high
A Bloor plate with fluted and pierced latticework rim decorated with pink-scale diaper and gilding, the centre painted with garden flowers, 10 in diameter, printed mark in red
A candlestick group, showing the figure of Cupid, naked except for a yellow-lined pink drapery, kneeling with his quiver of arrows at his feet against a flowering bocage support, which rises to support a foliate candle nozzle, the scroll base edged in turquoise and gilding, 10 in high
Liverpool
A William Ball blue and white mug of pear shape, painted in the oriental style with flowering plants issuing from rock-work, with a border of triangular panels above and semicircular panels below, 4} in high
A William Ball’s factory blue and white saucer painted with two vases of flowers on a terrace with mountains and birds in the distance, the border with a herringbone design, 6 in diameter
A part tea service painted in Chinese style in iron red, blue and gilding with two medallions of a phoenix and stylized flowers surrounded by scrollwork and interspersed with sprays, the
rims with flower panels reserved on pink diaper bands, comprising : milk jug, bowl, 3 teabowls and 3 saucers 30 0 A tea pot and cover, the loop handle and spout enriched with foliage designs painted in iron red, the sides painted in colours in the oriental style with figures at various pastimes, 6} in high 21 0
Longton Hall
A rare sweetmeat dish moulded in the form of a leaf edged in brilliant apple-green, the centre well-painted with flower sprays, the rope-twist handle set at an unusually upright angle, 5i in diameter 170 0
A barrel-shaped teapot and cover, with scroll handle and acorn finial, the sides transfer-printed at Liverpool in black with The Tea Party, and Shepherdess and Lover, with scattered birds, insects and flowers between,
Lowestoft
A rare blue and white dated mug, of bell shape, with scroll handle, inscribed Ann Sawyer 1733 within a typical Lowestoft rococo scroll cartouche, with sprays of flowers to either side, with cell pattern border to the interior, 4$ in high, workman’s mark 336 0
Two tea bowls and three saucers painted in colours with exotic
birds on leafy branches, with iron red double line rims 47 0
Minton
A dessert service painted with clusters of different flowers, including carnations, fuchias, auriculas, violas, petunias and roses, the scalloped rims edged with a border of entwined turquoise and gilt, comprising: 4 tazzas, and 14 plates, impressed marks and date cypher for 1857 100 0
A rare octagonal tray painted and signed by Samuel Bourne, the centre with a pastoral scene, the sides richly gilt with scroll-work and various diapers reserved with four vignettes, including a ducal coronet and the monogram ‘H.E.G.S.’, 9 in wide 100 0
An early cylindrical mug, the scroll handle and the royal blue ground enriched with gilt scrolls and foliage and reserved with flowers on a gilt shelf within a lobed gilt cartouche, 4J in high, interlaced L. and M mark 32 0
Nantgarw
An ornithological plate, from the Mackintosh service, the centre with a cock pheasant standing among foxgloves in a landscape, the border gilt with scrolls enclosing bouquets of flowers in colours, 9} in diameter, impressed Nantgarw C.W. 504 0
A very rare oblong dish, painted by Thomas Pardoe, with a bird perched on a branch and roses and other flowers on a brown ground, the marbled gilt border with green dentil rim, 11 in wide, puce crown and Nantgarw mark 273 0
A blue and white circular plate, painted in blue enamel with bouquets of flowers enclosed by moulded ‘C and foliage scrolls, 8 J in diameter, impressed Nantgarw CW 50 0
New Hall
A part service, eacli piece painted witli scattered flowers, within pendant tendril and ribbon festoons and florettes at the rims, comprising: teapot stand, 8 teabowls and 10 saucers
A punch bowl painted in ‘famillc-rose’ style with the ‘window pattern’, showing a Chinese boy gazing out of a window at three figures on a terrace, divided by river scenes in iron red within puce scale borders, the interior with three mandarin figures on a terrace by a pavilion, within a border of floral garlands, insects and diapers in bright colours, 12 in diameter, pattern no. 425 in black
Plymouth
A very rare cylindrical mug, with fluted loop handle, painted in lilac monochrome with the monogram ‘JEM’ within a gilt rococo scroll cartouche, the border decorated in colours with flowers entwined round a gilt chain suspending floral swags, 4} in high, tin sign
A group of two putti, emblematic of spring, the two children partly draped in yellow, puce, blue and brown, garlanded with flowers seated on stools holding between them a long garland, on a high scroll base enriched with puce, 5} in high
Rockingham
A green ground oval basket, the flared lips and elaborate scroll handle enriched with gilding, the fluted sides and shaped quatrefoil stand enriched with gilt designs, 6 in wide, puce griffin mark
A set of three saucers, with petal-shaped gilt-edged rims, each one painted with a central flower spray within a scalloped gilt medallion reserved on a periwinkle blue ground, 6 in diameter, marks printed in red and pattern no. 665
A pair of figures of pointers, both animals in typical alert attitude with black patches and gilt collars, on mound bases with gilt lines, 5} in wide
Spode
A dessert service painted with a Japan pattern in tones of pink, red, green, blue, yellow and gilding, with central panel of flowers enclosed by a blue line, the rims with shaped blue and gilt borders edged with red peonies and other flowers, comprising : centre-piece, 3 shell-shaped dishes, 2 diamond-shaped dishes and 12 plates, marked Spode 2630
A basket of circular shape with moulded, beaded border, painted in Imari style with oriental flowering shrubs in green, red, underglaze-blue and gilding, 6} in wide, mark and pattern no. 967 in red
A pair of pot-pourri vases of shallow campana shape, supported on circular bases moulded and gilt with palmettes, and resting on three gilt lion-paw feet, painted in Imari style with oriental flowering shrubs in a fenced garden, within a border of various diapers, 5} in high, marks in red and pattern no. 967
Swansea
A rare plate, the centre painted by Thomas Pardoe with The Little Brown and White Duck, with fluted well, the border moulded with C-scrolls and foliage enclosing bunches of fruit and flowers, with gilt dentil rim, 8 in diameter
A pair of cushion-shaped dishes from the same service, painted by Evan Evans, with narcissus, rose, strawberry and other sprays, 8J in wide, red stencil marks
A shaped oval dish from the same service, painted by Evan Evans, the centre with a rose and a narcissus, the border with a strawberry and other sprays, 10J in wide, red stencil mark
Worcester
An early leaf-moulded sauceboat, formed of overlapping cos lettuce leaves, the crabstock handle with leaf and flower terminals, the sides well-painted with sprigs of flowers and insects, the interior with a flower spray, brown-edged rim, 7} in long. First Period
A porcelain plaque of rectangular shape, painted by R. F. Pcrling, signed, with a highlandcr leading his pony, returning from stalking, the pony laden with two stags and with two dogs looking out over the moors, 14 in wide, framed
A pair of blue-scale teacups and saucers, each painted with oriental flowering shrubs growing amongst banded hedge, in tones of iron red, blue, green and gilding, within vase and mirror-shaped panels reserved on the well-defined blue-scaled ground, seal marks, First Period
A teapot and cover of globular shape, painted in ‘famille-rose’ enamels on each side with three oriental figures in a garden, within circular panels, divided by landscape vignettes in puce reserved on a ground of scrolls in gilding, the domed cover with flower knop, 5J in high, First Period
A pair of transfer-printed teabowls and saucers, each one printed with The Milkmaids by Robert Hancock, showing two milkmaids in a farmyard with pails on their heads, a farmer helping one milkmaid, and with animals in the background, the reverse of the teabowls with a similar rural scene, and the interior of each with a swan, First Period, each signed RH Worcester
A pair of blue and white bowls, each one moulded on the exterior in low relief with a broad band of scrolling flowers on a ground of scattered tear drops, the interior of each with a naturalistic chrysanthemum head in blue, within a border of scroll vignettes, 6 in wide, crescent marks, First Period
A blue and white basket of circular shape, the pierced sides formed of interlacing circlets and applied on the exterior with blue florettes, the interior with a border of trellis diaper divided by lambrequins, and with a carnation spray in the centre, 9f in, crescent mark, First Period
A coffee pot and cover transfer-printed in grey and coloured on each side of the pear-shaped body with groups of Chinese figures around a table, the neck and the cover with formal
SOME AUCTION ROOM PRICES : 1968-69
borders in underglazc-blue, the latter with flower knop, restored, 8} in high, script \V mark, First Period
Worcester-—Flight Barr and Barr
A circular pot-pourri vase and cover, with flared rim, the goat’s mask handles and sphinx finial gilt, the cover pierced with alternate gilt lozenge and circle designs, the side painted in colours with a view of Malvern Church, named on the base within a gilt cartouche on a claret ground, on circular stem and square gilt base, with gilt and beaded rim, 6} in high, script mark
A pair of sauce tureens and covers of urn shape with double birds heads and wing handles, decorated in Imari style with birds and flowers, square bases, 6 j in wide
An interesting handle-less cup, the flared sides with two oval portrait medallions of the King of Persia, Fath ‘Ali Shah and the Prince Royal of Persia, Abbas Mirza within burnished gilt borders and flanked by two oval panels filled with vases of flowers, all on an apple-green ground, gilt script marks and titles over a sepia wash on the base
Worcestershire—Chamberlains
A fine dessert service painted on each piece in botanical style with an individual cut flower, within a gilt berried wreath, the lavender blue ground moulded in white relief with sprays of shamrock, thistle and rose, between gilt line borders, comprising : a pair of urn-shaped sauce tureens and covers, 4 shell-shaped dishes, 3 square dishes, 2 kidney-shaped dishes, 2 lozenge-shaped dishes, and 26 dessert plates, printed red marks
A yellow-ground beaker, of bucket shape, decorated with a castle standing on the banks of a tree-lined river, within a gilt-edged rectangular panel reserved on the pale yellow ground, 4} in high
A flared beaker painted in the oriental style with the Bengal Tiger pattern, with alternate mythological beasts and vases of flowers on tables in gilt ogee panels, the border with formal designs in iron red, green and gold, 3} in high, base marked Chamberlain’s Worcester No. 75
A pair of spill vases, with flared lips, painted in colours with flower sprays within gilt vase and mirror shaped cartouches on a blue ground, standing on four gilt lion’s paw feet on a square base, 5 in high

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