Jewelers Of Renaissance

(via 5000 Years of Gems and Jewelry) Frances Rogers and Alice Beard writes:

But the untrammeled imagination of the jeweler chose even more often themes and figures from ancient mythology. Of all the gems provided by nature large baroque pearls seem to have been made especially for the satisfaction of the sixteenth century goldsmith. In their strange and irregular formation he saw fantastic resemblances to varied and innumerable objects such as the torso of a man, the white breast of a woman, the body of a swan, or the bubbling crest of a wave.

Having decided what his baroque pearl looked like, he proceeded to complete the picture by adding its missing parts. Head, arms, wings or whatever was necessary were developed in gold, enamel and gems. Pearls naturally held suggestion of the sea, and mythology teemed with tritons, mermen, nereids, sirens, and fabulous monsters of the deep. The imaginative jeweler delighted in them.

One of the most extraordinary pendants of the period represents a triton whose body is a single baroque pearl, the head and arms of white enamel, and the tail of brilliant green, blue, and yellow enamel encrusted at intervals with gems. In one hand he holds a weapon and in the other the mask of a satyr, by way of shield. Three large pendant pearls dangle from this marvelously wrought creature.

A favorite design was a ship with masts, rigging, forecastle, cabin, even the ship’s lantern and sometimes the mariners, all complete in gold, enamel, and gems. As may readily be understood, many of these jewels required close inspection, so minute and intricate was their detail.

Pendants were used as containers, hinged cases for the relic of a saint, miniature of a sweetheart, perfume, cosmetic, bejeweled toothpick and what not. It is impossible to list the infinite variety of these jewels.

The Renaissance jeweler even impinged on the province of the sculptor and fashioned his precious materials into statuettes not intended to be worn. Some of them are set on standards whose base is seal, but others disdain utility and stand (or fall) on their right to be regarded as objects of art. There are delightfully absurd specimens of the jeweler’s efforts in this direction at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among them is a Roman senator bedecked with diamonds and emeralds; manfully he expands his chest, composed of a single baroque pearl. There is something slightly amiss with the anatomy of that chest—but still it does surprisingly suggest a human torso, especially considering the fact that it was modeled by an oyster.

Diverting also is the little brown negress, carved from ambergris. The figure is nude except for necklace, bracelets and head ornaments of gold and gems. While ambergris is not really a gem material, it was, by reason of its fragrance and supposed curative powers, so highly prized that it is usually listed as one of the ‘marine gems.’

Jewelers Of Renaissance (continued)