DATING JEWELLERY

Macklowe’s collection begins in the early Victorian Era, named, of course, for Queen Victoria, who reigned over England from 1837 to 1900. It is important to note that Queen Victoria was crowned in the same year the daguerreotype was invented, meaning her reign was the first to be widely photographed. She was among the very first royals to have images capturing her style, and naturally, her jewellery, widely disseminated to the international public. Although she was crowned in 1837, her style was most celebrated on the occasion of her wedding to her first cousin, the German Prince Albert, in 1840. The great love affair that blossomed between the young Queen and her Prince Consort inspired a sentimentality in jewellery previously unseen.

Lockets, pendants, bracelets, and rings meant to contain locks of a beloved’s hair became widely popular. The same can be said of acrostic jewellery—pieces in which the first letter of each centre stone spells out a love message. Although acrostic jewellery was originally made fashionable by Marie Antoinette and the French firm Mellerio, Prince Albert revived the practice by commissioning acrostic jewels for Queen Victoria and their daughters. Early Victorian jewellery is charged with symbolism. Entwined snakes, symbols of eternal devotion, became popular on arm bands and wedding rings. Pieces in blue enamel and turquoise were prized for their association with the colour of the forget-me-not, which, in the Victorian language of flowers, was the ultimate symbol of enduring romantic love.

The “Mid” or “High” Victorian Era, which began in 1860, maintained the hallmarks of the Victorian style with two very notable changes. The first resulted from the discovery of diamonds in South Africa during the 1860s. Large-scale, highly exploitative diamond mining operations were established there, and the resulting abundance of gemstones made large, predominantly diamond jewellery not only feasible but fashionable in England.

The second major change was the death of Prince Consort Albert in 1861. After losing her great love, Queen Victoria had the British royal court present themselves exclusively in what was considered “mourning jewellery” for nearly a decade, creating a huge market and generating massive interest in pieces in sombre colours featuring garnets, topaz, jet, gutta-percha, and incorporating hair of the departed or miniature portraits intended to encourage remembrance. Concurrently, this period of empire and burgeoning international trade witnessed the excavation of Pompeii, the opening of European trade with Japan, and the construction of the Suez Canal by the British. The jewellery of the moment reflected these events, with Etruscan Revival being championed by the house of Castellani, alongside Japanese- and Egyptian-inspired pieces being produced across Western Europe.

The Victorian Era also saw the introduction of technical innovations at a rate that had eluded previous generations. This rapid emergence of mass-manufactured goods sparked an interest, among figures such as William Morris and Arthur Liberty, in returning to decorative arts that were made according to meaningful designs and produced by trained artisans. This interest ultimately gave rise to the Arts & Crafts movement.

Following closely on the heels of the English Arts & Crafts movement was an international style that also celebrated highly detailed, hand-crafted decorative arts, sought to integrate and elevate the decorative arts in everyday life, and was deeply influenced by Japanese art forms: Art Nouveau. Known as Jugendstil in German, Stile Liberty in Italian, and Modernisme in Catalan, Art Nouveau was a short-lived movement that lasted from the mid-1890s to around 1910. The movement sought to imitate the beautiful imperfections of nature on a poetic scale and found champions and female muses in famous dancers and performers such as Sarah Bernhardt and Loïe Fuller. Art Nouveau jewellery favoured laborious hand-executed techniques, such as enamelling, and often featured complete compositions, frequently including the feminine form. It served as both a rejection of and an aesthetic counterpoint to the mere arrangement of gems or bands of metal seen in Victorian jewellery.

In 1901, England crowned a new monarch, King Edward VII, who ushered in a distinct style of jewelled ornament that would long outlive him. After the intensely sombre aesthetic of the late Victorian Era, Western Europeans were captivated by the style of the new, lavish and carefree King, giving rise to the “Belle Époque.” Many were quick to compare Edward’s court to the opulence and decorative joy of the courts of Versailles, and jewellery wearers of the day eagerly embraced the return of lightness, elegance, lavishness, and the joyful spirit of the old French style.

One key technical innovation, accomplished in 1900, made this delicate yet extravagant style possible: the invention of the oxyacetylene torch, which enabled the commercial use of platinum for the first time since the metal’s discovery. Platinum—lighter and stronger than gold and, unlike silver, resistant to tarnish—became the premier choice for the elaborate, lace-like, diamond- and pearl-studded jewellery fashioned in delicate bows, garlands, and ribbon-like forms that adorned the lightly hued, highly embroidered velvet and satin womenswear of the day.

Art Deco’s stark yet gemmy extravagance survived the stock market crash of 1929 and grew even more opulent through the early 1930s. By the 1937 International Exposition of Arts and Technology in Modern Life in Paris, a new style had emerged, marking a dramatic shift from the white-metal, white-diamond, strictly geometric designs of Deco. The jewellery exhibited was largely in polished gold, mirrored natural forms in dramatic scrolls, volutes, and floral shapes, and incorporated coloured gemstones. Some forty years later, this style would be dubbed “Retro.” Retro remained an ultra-luxurious, over-the-top trend until the beginning of World War II.

After the outbreak of World War II, gold became scarce, and alternative alloys, including rose gold and lower-karat gold, became more popular. The “tank” bracelet, echoing the appearance of tank tracks, became hugely popular, as did hollow tubogas and snake chains, which also reflected wartime industrial forms. Highly textured metal and pavé-set small stones compensated for the scarcity of large gemstones, while semi-precious stones such as amethyst, topaz, and aquamarine rose to prominence. Patriotic jewellery, including Van Cleef & Arpels’ Hawaii collection and Mauboussin’s Jeep brooch, also became popular and remains highly collectable to this day.

Women of the 1950s, who once again had access to gold, platinum, and major gemstones, enjoyed the prosperity that followed the hardships of war. Ladies’ fashion returned to hyper-feminine forms, inspiring flamboyance in jewellery design. The Retro look largely persisted, but movements such as Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism challenged jewellers to incorporate more texture and dynamism into their designs. Intricate textures, asymmetry, and delicate colour palettes became the norm, reflecting the artistic trends of the day, while a sense of whimsy—particularly seen in the animal pins created by many American and French firms—demonstrated the joy felt in parts of the world no longer ravaged by war.

Jewellery’s innovations and trends are dictated, more than in any other medium, by the materials and technical advances available in each era. At Macklowe Gallery, we believe that to understand and love jewellery is to understand and love history, and that to collect jewellery is to invite beauty of historical significance into your life. Invite some beauty into your own life:

DATE JEWELLERY