Jewelry in Baroque

Baroque Jewelry. Portraits of Nanette Kaula and Marie de Rabutin-Chantal

In early XVIIth century mostly strands of pearls were worn by women and for a short time it appeared that pearls indeed substituted other materials. Botany became a favorite source of inspiration especially when coupled with new techniques in enamel.
The growth of prosperous middle class caused increase in use of diamonds, sapphires, rubies and precious metals. Pearls were usually worn in profusion matched with necklaces and earrings.

The technique of painting enamels on gold was developed in early XVIIth century and quickly spread beyond France, and become one of the most distinctive features of Baroque jewelry. Flowers remained a constant theme of jewelry. Designs also show increasing prominence of faceted stones.

The new Baroque jewelry fashion slowly spread through Spain where designs inspired by religion continued to be very popular for a long time.
English jewelry was affected by Civil War and Continental fashions. Various forms of memento mori jewelry were current throughout Europe encouraged by wars and plagues. Jewelry commemorating the death of particular person emerged during second half of the XVIIth century.

The bow was one of the most popular motifs in Baroque jewelry. Examples of pendants, brooches and earrings are particularly noticeable in portraits from the middle of the century. The motif of a bow was visible in ribbon-like necklaces and bracelets made of linked loops and knots of enameled gold.

In 1677 Brandenburg brooch was introduced and a jewelry for men. It was a long, horizontal brooch with compact arrangement of stones that tapered at each end. Several matching brooches could be worn together arranged according to size.

As the XVIIIth century approached, the mounts of gem-set jewelry become more delicate, giving greater prominence to the closed packed stones. Earrings evolved together with the rest of jewelry. Although simple pearl drops remained popular more complex earrings were being worn. Women wore large ornaments in two or three sections, which reflected the patterns of larger pieces and were made of gold, gemstones, and painted enamel.
Men also wore jewelry but it was confined to special occasions. In was the most extravagant in France and most restricted in Spain, where men jewelry wearing was limited to neck chains and hat badges.

Design moved slowly from cluster settings to more flowing naturalism and ribbon bows that remained important until early XVIIIth century. As century progressed a clear division emerged between daytime and evening time.

In 1730s the Rococo style was born in Paris and influenced decorative arts throughout Europe. Most diamonds used for jewelry manufacturing were used as white stones but it was also a common practice to set them on a colored foil.

Diamond jewelry for the hair typically consisted of a single large asymmetrically placed ornament known as an aigrette, which might be in the form of bunch of flowers or feathers. Necklaces of late XVIIth century were worn high on the neck often with matching earrings and brooches. Diamond brooches were often large and were sometimes worn in a series of matching brooches, usually bow shaped descending in size towards the waist. Small flower brooches were used to pin up the overskirts of court dresses and also to decorate the sleeves. The most frequently worn style of earring remained the girandole.

Neo-Classical elements began to appear in late XVIIIth century still coexisting with popular naturalistic bouquets and ribbons of recent decades.
The most famous piece of jewelry was an extremely expensive diamonds festoon necklace, which became the focus of scandal surrounding Marie-Antoinette. The Queen decided to steal it because Louis XV died before it was completed and paid for.

In mid XVIIIth century men loved to adorn themselves with jewelry. Man usually wore jeweled shoe buckles and stock buckles, which in court circles might be set with diamonds. Non precious materials as cut steel or paste reached high levels of craftsmanship, and were sometimes worn at court. Many stones were imitated in glass, for a variety of colors different metal oxides were added. Semi precious stones were usually used for pieces worn during the day. The stones of choice were garnet, agate, malachite, moonstone and carbuncle. Shoe buckles were a popular element of day-time jewelry, worn both by women and men. Initially they were small and simply decorated, but soon they tended to be more sophisticated incorporating variety of materials and precious stones.

Cameos and intaglios were a major element of Neo-Classical style. Enamel and glass medallions became a cheaper version of classic cameos and intaglios wore by wealthy members of society. Rings remained the most popular type of jewelry and were wore and given for different occasions. Wedding rings usually included diamond hoops, half hoops and clusters of stones arranged as two crowned hearts.