Judith Dunn traces another fabled trade route for a commodity equally prized by science as art: amber.
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Lockets are as decorative as necklaces and pendants and as personal as rings. They have been made and worn for centuries and are thought to have evolved from ancient amulets. Worn as pendants, rings, brooches or watch fobs, lockets usually carry mementos such as a beloved’s portrait or lock of hair, along with good luck charms, fabric soaked in perfume and even poison.
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You may never have heard of her, and there’s a good reason: Suzanne Belperron pioneered the technique of setting precious stones in semiprecious materials, and was convinced that the originality of her jewellery made it so easily identifiable that there was no need for a signature.
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The man most often cited as being the inventor of the watch is Peter Henlein of Nuremburg, although the earliest known dated example dates from 1548 and was made by Caspar Werner. What is certain, however, is that ever since it first appeared in the 16th century, the watch has been both a status symbol and a fashion statement.
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In the early 1900s one hundred New York female factory workers attacked police officers who had arrested two of their comrades for making allegedly anarchistic speeches – all of them wielding hat pins.
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The Italian-born son of a Maltese embroidery designer, Andrew Grima (1921-2007) opened a jewellery emporium in the conservative London shopping district of Jermyn Street in 1966, despite having never formally trained for the jewellery trade and having no interest in classical design.
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Many people confuse the term ‘vintage’ with ‘antique’ when discussing jewellery, because they think they are the same. However , there is a difference, they do not mean the same thing.
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Throughout history and across cultures there’s a great deal of symbolism and tradition involving bees. For example, Celtic mythology saw the bee as a messenger between our world and the spirit realm. More broadly, in pagan tradition throughout the world bees symbolise fertility and sexuality and Christianity adopted the bee as a symbol of Christ’s attributes.
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The nineteenth century obsession with the natural world led to the acceptance of insects in jewellery.
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The hatpin had a very simple function – to keep a lady’s hat firmly attached to her head. How, then, could it be considered a deadly weapon?
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From a brief fifteen years of fame, the influence of the Art Nouveau style, with its sensuous curves and exotic forms, continues to be felt today. We look at the evolution of Art Nouveau jewellery.
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In the peacock world, pretty equals male. Even though his tail makes up 60% of his body lengthy and prevents him from flying far to escape predators, peacock evolution is focused on being the male with the most spectacular tail and that’s because he who has the biggest, flashiest, quivering tail gets the girls.
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The apple green of the peridot has long been admired. The Romans called it ‘evening’s emerald’ because its citrus tones remain constant, even under candlelight.
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As polite society evolved, mourning customs became a way for an individual to participate in society while going through a loss. Billy Robertson and Elizabeth Cheung look at love and mourning in the Victorian period.
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She might be one of the most successful costume jewellery designers of her era, but surprisingly little is known about French artist Lea Stein.
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Miriam Haskell was an elegantly dressed businesswoman who specialised in the finest handmade jewellery; Hollywood star Joan Crawford became such a fan it’s said she collected nearly every piece of jewellery produced in the 1950s and ’60s.
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According to the early directories of Halifax, in Yorkshire, England, Charles Horner (1837–1896) was the son of a local weaver but trained as a ‘watchmaker, jeweller, and silversmith’. After completing his training he set up a firm to retail and manufacture jewellery, watches and small silver articles in about 1867.
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Lea Stein. Her compressed plastic buttons, brooches and bracelets have seen her acknowledged as the most notable and innovative designer of plastic jewellery of the 20th century. But there are some Australian designers following in her footsteps…
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The French jewellery firm of Boivin, founded in Paris during the 1890s by René Boivin and known for the impeccable craftsmanship of its pieces, became a trailblazer of modern and sculptural jewellery design in the 1930s and ’40s when it was influenced by four remarkable women.
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He was a hugely talented silversmith, but it’s not his silver for which Jean Després is best known; it’s his bold and uncompromising jewellery, with its focus on obviously industrial shapes.
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The Victorians were nothing if not proper. In an era where undeclared love was discernible only in the heaving of a bosom or a flick of a fan, where pink cheeks hinted at pent-up passion and the viewing of an ankle was almost scandalous, there emerged some incredibly secretive ways in which to reveal your true feelings to your beloved…
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The ring wasn’t always associated with love and decoration. In medieval times, when magic, science and religion were intertwined, a ring may have been worn as an amulet, to help cure an illness or as a sign of faith. Rings were
exchanged to cement social relations and were carefully chosen according to the status of the recipient.
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Henry VIII’s passion for jewellery boxes was matched only by his passion for women. Often he combined the two, with royal craftsmen focusing on every detail to capture the king’s desires, the box and its jewellery to be presented to whomever he had chosen to woo. The jewellery box is far more than a simple box of treasures.
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Unlike many well-known gemstones that have been in use for centuries, the history of tanzanite – a vivid blue stone discovered by Maasai herders – is relatively modern.
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Despite there being absolutely no supporting evidence, the amethyst has for centuries been credited with preventing drunkenness, making it the perfect gemstone for anyone planning a big night out.
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Pearls are for girls, diamonds for dowagers, emeralds and amethysts for fashionable married women, garnets are for unmarried women, amber is for working girls, and paste is only for actresses…or so thought the tres chic French followers of fashion of the 18th century.
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Why wear your fortune around your neck? A good question, and one Coco Chanel famously asked in defence of her own jewellery creations.
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When Siegfried Bing (also known as Samuel) opened his shop, La Maison De L’Art Nouveau in Paris in 1895, he could never have envisioned the enormous impact it would have in the world of fine arts. Or could he? Delving into the secret world of the so-called ‘father of art nouveau’…
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When Charlotte de Latour published Le language des fleurs in 1819, she could never have imagined the effect her little book would have on society. We look at the blossoming of floriography and how it shaped jewellery design.
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Since Neolithic times beads have been used as a symbol of power, status and, above all, objects of beauty and desire.
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In the wake of a major new exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, we look at the history and mythology of a perennial status symbol.
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Jewellery was a male-dominated art form until well into the 20th century, at least in appearance. Many women probably worked behind the scenes, but some entered into fruitful partnerships and they were able to make their mark, even in Victorian and Edwardian times. In these more egalitarian days, a significant number continue to do so.
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From 1921 to 1946, designer Rhoda Wager produced approximately 12,000 pieces of jewellery, all of them meticulously recorded in her sketchbooks. Described as a clear-headed, industrious businesswoman, Rhoda was strong willed and determined, generous, lively and witty.
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It took five years, but the ‘Precious Puppy’ has finally been found. And with it comes a boost to the already popular collecting fashion of 1960s animal brooches.
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The art of piqué – a pattern created using tiny gold or silver points on tortoiseshell – was first practiced by Neapolitan jeweller Laurentini in the mid-17th century. Pronounced pee-kay, although it became a popular form of decoration for jewellery, piqué was initially used mostly on snuff boxes, tobacco boxes, small decorative items and scent bottles.
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AAADA member John Hawkins explains the appeal of an unusual collection: jewellery made using baby teeth.
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In December last year, new world auction records were set for Frank Hale and Edward Oakes Apart from sounding like a 1980s music duo, who in fact were Hale and Oakes?
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Although the wristwatch has become a statement for the modern man, it was actually women who were the first to wear watches on their wrists. While men were prone to whip out their pocket watches to impress present company, elegant women wore their watches in the form of decorative jewellery.
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Shimmering and iridescent, dragonflies swooping and diving over a pond in the late afternoon sunlight appear delicate and fragile. But looks couldn’t be more deceiving. Dragonflies are apex predators, with a hunting success rate of 95%.
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How an economic disaster opened the door to an economic success: Cartier and the aquamarine.
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The federation of the Australian colonies on January 1, 1901 gave rise to much patriotic celebration, says AAADA member Trevor Hancock.
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AAADA member Anne Schofield looks at the fabulous house of Cartier.
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AAADA member Anne Schofield looks at opals in Europe and Australia.
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The distinctive Antipodean jewellery of the gold rush era is among the first to depict the native flora and fauna of the continent.
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He’s probably the Tiffany designer you’ve never heard of. George Paulding Farnham started work at Tiffany & Co in 1875, when he was just sixteen, and over the following thirty or so years he created some of the firm’s most exquisite and lauded designs.
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Little-known but fascinating pieces of Australian colonial history were unearthed at the AAADA Antiques Fair in Sydney in August, writes Hugh Batters. Extraordinary examples of 19th century gold jewellery, from the most exquisitely intricate to the positively ordinary.
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