Mastery of Design: The Castellani Diadem, 1860

Diadem
Castellani, c. 1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Italian jewelry firm of Castellani made this diadem around 1860 based on an Etruscan original which dated to about 300 B.C. The original is the Campana Collection in the Louvre.

This tiara was copied four more times with each of the copies remaining in private collections. This one was shown at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. There, the works of Castellani garnered much attention and acclaim. So many flocked to the Castellani exhibit, in fact, that a policeman was stationed outside of the display to control the crowds. Certainly, the diadem was the centerpiece of the group.

The piece is made of gold with open floral-work. It is set with pearls, and beads and features enameled, serrated leaves and beaded blue berries. 

The Home Beautiful: King William III's Rock Crystal Chandelier, c. 1690

Rock Crystal Chandelier
Hampton Court Palace
c. 1690
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
via The Royal Collection Trust
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Click on image for larger size.

King William III (most probably) acquired this chandelier during the renovation and redecoration of Hampton Court Palace in the 1690s.  The monumental fixture is built on a frame of silver which is entirely concealed by strings of rock crystal beads (affixed by lead), massive pendants and carved marigolds.  Pearls are interspersed amongst the crystals.  Surmounted by an enormous rock crystal crown, the twelve-candle chandelier is decidedly impressive.

Originally, it's thought, the chandelier was hung in the dining room of Hampton Court Palace.  According to the Royal Collection Trust, "It may possibly be that seen and recorded by Celia Fiennes on her visit to the palace in 1697, as a, 'Chrystal Branch for candles', hanging in the dining room."

Figure of the Day: A Fool's Head, the Jet Jester, 1550-1700

Spanish Jet Figure, 1550-1700
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Small figures of jet (a particularly dense type of coal which can be carved and polished) like the one pictured above, especially in Spain, were created to seems to signify that a pilgrim had completed his or her journey, and reached the shrine of St James (the patron Saint of Spain) at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. This was a trek which pilgrims made for well over the course of six hundred years, from the twelfth to the eighteenth century.


Many jet figures like this seem to have been drilled with holes to form beads for rosaries. From the earliest times, medicinal and magical qualities were assigned to jet which could be found in different parts of Europe (as well as North America).

This jet piece, which is larger than most, represents a fool's head and its precise function is uncertain. Perhaps it was the pommel of a jester's stick and may have been used during the “Feasts of Fools” when “the holiest offices and orders were made matters of the lightest jesting.”

The grinning portrait head has stylized tightly-curled hair, a large nose, wrinkled forehead and a ruff-like collar set on a bulbous base, on which are carved three shells. A smooth disc is carved on the back. It was made in Spain between 1550 and 1700.

Ephemeral Beauty: A Trade Card for Newman and Levinson

Click Image to Enlarge

Here’s an excellent example of a “stock” trade card which has been used by a business as an advertising tool. The card, likely selected from a catalog from a local printer, features a comic drawing and caption which, it seems appealed to the advertiser.

The drawing depicts “Simple Simon” who seems to either have a tooth-ache or is deceased, and, in the style of Jacob Marley, has his jaw bound. Simon wears his dressing gown and is fishing. The caption at the above right reads:

SIMPLE SIMON WENT A FISHING
      FOR TO CATCH A WHALE
ALL THE WATER HE HAD GOT
   WAS IN HIS MOTHER’S PAIL. 

This is the way the card looked when it was selected from the catalog. As you can see, there’s a white space to the left of the caption which was meant to contain the logo or motto of the business who selected this particular model. The advertiser opted not to have that space printed, instead focusing only on adding a custom-printed message to the reverse which would have been entirely blank. Two-sided printing would have been considerably more costly.

Let’s see what the reverse says, and, especially, who the advertiser is. Firstly, I notice that they spell “chenille” with three “l’s.” In fact, it's kind of a mess. I'll try to replicate it here as best I can with limited Internet fonts.

WM. J. NEWMAN                                                                                               JOHN LEVINSON 

NEWMAN & LEVINSON, 

(Successors to BUYER & REICH,) 

IMPORTERS OF AND DEALERS IN 

Berlin Zephyrs, German Yarns, 

CANVAS,            HOSIERY,          LACES     

                       CHENILLLE,     EMBROIDERY,      FANCY GOODS, 

                                          FLOSS BEADS,    WHITE GOODS,     TRIMMINGS, ETC. 

KID GLOVES. 

Gilt and Silver Trimmings for Theatrical and Society Purposes. 

Decorative Art Rooms Up Stairs 

No. 129 Kearny Street. 

Between Sutter and Post,                                             San Francisco 

I want some "fancy goods!" I’d guess this card dates to about 1880, by the way. The store certainly has an interesting assortment of goods. I wonder, however, why they are so shy about the “Decorative Art Rooms” which are seemingly hidden upstairs. 

Click Image to Enlarge

After a Fashion: A French Beadwork Purse, 1780-1800

Beadwork Purse
Unknown French Workshop, 1780-1800
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The European love of beadwork rose in the Seventeenth Century, and by the Eighteenth Century, this expensive technique became available to a wider audience as many workshops in England, Italy and France produced small items glistening with glass beads. In France, the medium was often found on delicate purses. French workshops produced some of the finest multi-colored beadwork in Europe during this period. These French craftsmen used beads in conjunction with other techniques, to highlight parts of an embroidered pattern. The most expensive examples were made with a single bead for every stitch, producing a dense beaded surface.

This purse is an excellent representation of the fine beadwork produced in France in the Eighteenth Century. It depicts a figure of a woman in a garden, leaning on a plinth with a rolled parasol in her right hand and a small dog at her feet. The purse was made in four sections, each bearing an allegorical figure, one representing Justice, with finish-work of pink silk cords and tassels. It was made between 1780 and 1800.

Unusual Artifacts: The Castellani Etruscan Scarab Necklace, 500 B.C. to 1925 A.D.

Necklace
Ancient Granulated Gold Beads and Etruscan
Carnelian Scarabs set in Gold.
Artifacts: 500 - 300 B.C.
Setting: 1920-1025
Castellani, Rome
This and all related images:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This beautiful necklace is the result of over two thousand years of artistry. In the Nineteenth Century, jewelers began to experiment with resurrecting ancient jewelry styles which they based on then-recent archeological finds. The trend reached new heights of popularity in the early Twentieth Century.

The Italian jewelry firm, Castellani, was among the leaders in this movement. This necklace is an adaptation of archeological-style jewelry which is rooted both in Nineteenth Century ideals and ancient styles as well as incorporates actual Etruscan artifacts into the piece.

The jeweler based the design on earlier Nineteenth Century prototypes, chiefly, the Campana Collection necklace which is housed in the Louvre. This design features authentic Etruscan carnelian scarabs strung with truly ancient, granulated gold beads. Using these ancient elements to produce a necklace in a new, popular style was both a novelty and a way of rescuing broken and discarded artifacts. 

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Martha Edlin Beaded Jewelry Case, 1673

Martha Edlin's Jewelry Case, 1673
The Victoria and Albert Museum

Decorated with beadwork--a fashionable embroidery technique in the Seventeenth Century--in which tiny glass beads were threaded and sewn into a pattern, this jewelry case features a padded central panel which lifts open to reveal a compartment for organizing jewels. It is lined with pink taffeta. On the lid, surrounded by an oval wreath formed by silk-wrapped leaves of parchment, is a cockatrice in a tree, with flowers around, worked in glass beads. Outside the wreath, flowers and a leopard are worked in silks in tent and rococo stitches. On the frame surrounding the lid are birds and flowering plants worked in beads. The corners of the frame rest on four round, hand-turned wooden feet. The underside is wholly lined with marbled paper and the edges and seams are covered with silver braid.

Such a fancy case, especially one with such high-quality glass beads and other materials, could only have been made for a very wealthy household. Furthermore, a cabinet-maker would have been employed to make the structure of the case itself if the estate did not already have a man who was proficient in woodworking.

This case once belonged to one Martha Edlin. Her name and the year (1673) have been embroidered on the case. Clearly, Miss Edlin worked the case herself. Given the value of the case itself, we can see that Martha and her successors handled it with extreme care. For this reason, it remains in near pristine condition over three hundred years later.

Martha Edlin (1660-1725) is a name which has become very familiar to me over the past two years as I’ve studied, in detail collection of the V&A. Several items from Martha’s home are now housed in the museum. Martha worked a series of embroideries during her childhood, including this jewelry case, which were cherished by her descendants and passed through the female line of her family for over three hundred years.

Beyond her obvious skill with embroidery, sadly, we know very little about her life, except for the fact that she was married to a man called Richard Richmond. After Richmond’s death, Martha appears to have been a prosperous widow with a handsome home in Pinner in Greater London. She left the bulk of her estate to her daughters and grandchildren.

Among the other treasures created by Martha Edlin, the V&A owns an embroidered sampler in colored silks which Martha created at the age of eight, and a more complicated piece in white-work and cutwork which she crafted at nine. We have looked at those previously. By 1671, Martha’s eleventh year, she had embroidered the panels of an elaborate casket, and two years later. At thirteen, this beadwork jewelry case.

Curiously, for many years, this case became separated from the other Martha Edlin embroideries (which stayed in her family's possession until their acquisition by the Museum). In the Nineteenth Century, the case was purchased at an auction by an unknown buyer. Then, in 1927, the case was again sent to auction where it was purchased by by Sir Frederick Richmond—an ancestor of Martha’s who donated it to the V&A so that it might, once again, join the other beautiful work created by Miss Edlin.