.png){kind=logo}
The status and symbolism of pearls only gained strength during the Renaissance. As we mentioned in our last post, since the 14th century, pearl jewelry became a fashion item, as before it was only available to the ruling class, now anyone who had the means could afford it. In classical art, pearls became popular due to their symbolic meaning of purity in conjunction with other precious stones: diamonds (constancy and virtue) and rubies (passion, love and beauty), thus becoming a symbol of virtuous marriage and fidelity.
Pearls in the Renaissance
The best quality pearls still came from the Persian Gulf region, southern India and Ceylon, but the discovery of new sea routes to Asia by the Portuguese and to the New World by the Spanish also opened the way to new sources of pearls. In 1507, the Portuguese entered the Persian Gulf under the leadership of Alfonso Albuquerque and took control of the pearl trade to Europe and the Portuguese colony of Goa (today a union state of India located on the coast of the Arabian Sea). Goa was a major center for the pearl trade and the Portuguese managed to truly globalize the pearl trade despite competition from the Spanish with pearls from the Americas. Christopher Columbus discovered significant pearl resources off the coast of Venezuela on his third voyage to the Americas in 1498, and this discovery met the growing demand for pearls in Europe. Spanish conquistadors then discovered other deposits along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California (then named the Red Sea of Cortez after the bloodshed when Hernán Cortés and his men systematically destroyed the Aztec Empire and colonized the region). Around 1500, the Aztec temples and palaces were looted and the Spanish found an incredible amount of pearls. The Mayan and Aztec rulers were known for their exceptional love of pearls, especially black ones. When the Spanish captured Montezuma's palace, the walls were said to be covered with pearls and emeralds. During the 16th and first half of the 17th century, the pearl trade from the Americas became the main source of Spanish income. Rare, almost completely black, Gulf of California pearls became a sought-after rarity because the Gulf of California was their only source at this time.
Those who remained faithful to the Catholic faith after the Reformation continued to wear jewelry made of white pearls as symbols of Christ. Pearl crosses were very popular, especially in combination with rubies symbolizing the martyrdom of Christ. This was even more visible on pendants depicting a sacrificial lamb representing Christ. They were called Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) and often took the form of a lamb made of clusters of white pearls.
During the Renaissance, the designs of secular jewelry became increasingly complex in terms of craftsmanship and subject matter. Goldsmiths were fond of the themes of ancient myths, allegories and omens. The rediscovered interest in Antiquity began in Italy in the 15th century and spread to the rest of Europe in the 16th century. Humanist educators thus led society to be interested in the personality of the individual and his character. This is evidenced by the fashion for jewelry depicting people and miniatures, particularly popular among noble families and courtiers. The jewelry made to the smallest detail provides information about the wearer, who was allowed to wear pearls at the time, who could afford them and what fashion trends prevailed at the time and place of the creation of the jewelry. Like other jewelry, pearl jewelry was passed down from generation to generation and remodeled to suit fashion - pearl necklaces were shortened or lengthened, according to the fashion and size of the wearer. The fact that pearl necklaces were particularly popular is also proven by the number of depictions of them from the Renaissance period, although not many of them have survived to this day.
From the 16th century onward, not only images of pearl jewelry have been preserved, but also stories about pearls so exceptional that they got their own name, and about their owners. Today, however, it is no longer possible to identify individual pearls and thus verify these stories. The silk threads on which the pearls were strung at the time became worn by the weight of the pearls, the gold wires that held the pearls together wore out with wear, and the jewelry had to be redone. As mentioned above, pearl strings were often re-strung, their length was adjusted, new clasps were added to the necklaces. Today, it is therefore no longer possible to recognize specific jewelry according to the period descriptions.
Inventories with painted depictions of jewelry were relatively rare, but one such specimen has survived to this day, and that is the Kleinodienbuch by Hans Mielich dated between 1552-1555. This is an illustrated jewelry collection of Anne of Austria, wife of Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria. The book documents modern jewelry of the time and helps us identify similar pieces and trends that have survived for a longer period of time. One such piece of jewelery is the necklace now stored in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, which is said to have come from the Habsburg castle of Ambras near Innsbruck in Austria.
Another painted jewelry catalog is an album that apparently belonged to Arnold Lulls, an Antwerp goldsmith and jewelry merchant who also sold jewelry to the English royal court of James I and Anne of Denmark. In one of the images we can see a pearl necklace with a large pendant of gems, which may have been made around 1550, but was still considered fashionable 40 years later. However, it is not possible to determine whether the pearls were added to an existing pendant or whether the pendant was designed for an already finished pearl necklace.
The style of jewelry and clothing of the nobility was also adopted by other layers of Renaissance society and adapted to their possibilities - if pearls from the East or America were too expensive, freshwater pearls from European rivers or even artificial pearls were used, the production of which significantly increased in the 16th and 17th centuries increased.
The passion for luxury in the Renaissance is well demonstrated by the portrait of Barbara Pallavicino, a member of a noble family from the north of Italy, from 1510. In the painting, we can see her wearing a short necklace of large pearls with a large pearl pendant and similarly large pearls in her hair. At that time, pearl necklaces without gold spacers or components, as worn in ancient Rome, came back into fashion, and pearl drops were of incredible value. Contemporary Italian portraits, often taken for weddings, bear similar markings and we can find a similar style of jewelry on them, albeit of different value. Again, a combination of pearls, diamonds and rubies is common.
Jewelry full of symbols and various messages of love has become even more complicated. Such as a trailer that uses the unusual shape of a baroque pearl, which represents a gondola with mannequins made of gold covered with enamel. The lovers sit in the middle and Pantalone (a character from the commedia dell'arte plays) plays the lute. The whole scene is decorated with other pearls and rubies, and the love story is completed by forget-me-nots around the gondola symbolizing eternal passion. Ships in general had multiple meanings in jewelry: wealth, victory, allegories of love capable of weathering a storm.
Pearls became part of personal, political, royal intrigues, even those related to complex marriage alliances between the wealthiest families of Europe. Catherine de Medici, who came from Florence from a rich merchant family, married the future King of France, Henry II. Their son Francis II. married Queen Mary Stuart, who received 6 rows of exceptional pearls from her mother-in-law for the wedding. These pearls later became the subject of controversy when Queen Elizabeth I bought them at auction, where they were sold by Mary's opponents who were holding her captive in Scotland. The French ambassador informed Catherine de Medici, who was closely following the fate of these pearls, that the Queen of England had been very interested in them from the beginning. A portrait of Catherine de Medici taken on the occasion of her coronation as Queen of France in 1549 shows her great love for pearls. The amount of pearls she wears can only be interpreted as a symbol of wealth and social status. Her dress is covered in pearls, and around her neck is a pearl necklace with pearl pendants that can also be seen on her earrings and belt.
Similar is the concept of the portraits of Queen Elizabeth I of England, who used pearls and their symbolic meaning of purity and chastity in her portraits to underline her image as a "virgin queen" while emphasizing the wealth of her kingdom. In a portrait from 1588 celebrating the defeat of the Spanish armada, we can see the Spanish fleet threatened on one side by the English one and driven onto the cliffs by a storm on the other. Elizabeth herself stands next to a crown covered with pearls and jewels, her hand resting on a globe, symbolizing the world that Sir Francis Drake sailed around, specifically the territory of North America, where the first English colony had just been founded. Pearls are also depicted on Elizabeth's cloak, her dress, where it forms a kind of chastity belt, perfect pearl drops decorate her hair like a halo, the rows of pearls that fall to her waist are a sign of immeasurable wealth and power. Elizabeth's collection also included strings of pearls bequeathed to her by her childhood friend Robert Dudley, described in his last will as a string of 600 beautiful pearls. Dudley himself was fond of pearls and would often be portrayed wearing pearl jewellery.
Pearls have been directly associated with death since the Renaissance. The classical belief that pearls came from the tears of the gods associated them with sorrow and tears, an idea that Shakespeare also expressed in his play Richard III. : "the liquid drops of tears you shed will return, transformed into an oriental pearl". During the Renaissance and Baroque, it was customary in some countries for widows to wear black and only pearl jewelry was allowed, other jewelry was perceived as frivolous. The tradition of wearing pearls to funerals as a sign of respect for the deceased lasted until the 20th century.
Belief in the healing properties of pearls continued even during the Renaissance. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) took crushed pearls mixed in lemon juice as a life-prolonging elixir, while Philippina Welser (1527-1580), wife of the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand II, recommended crushed pearls mixed with other animal products as a cure for female ailments in to his book on remedies, the original of which is kept at Ambras Castle.
Pearls in the Baroque period
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the symbolism of pearls seems to have shifted from purity and virginity to fertility and motherhood. Wedding portraits are still in, but a new genre of portraits has emerged where women have their portraits taken while pregnant. An example is the portrait of an unknown lady attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. The woman is wearing a bright dress richly embroidered with symbols of fertility such as acorns, honeysuckle and peas. The outlines are embroidered with pearls. She has a multi-strand pearl necklace around her neck, pearl bracelets on her wrists, a pearl headband and other pearl ornaments in her hair.
Later in the 17th century, pearls appeared in a love or erotic context. Plunging necklines were adorned with pearl pendant necklaces. Jewelry in the form of bows came into fashion, which, in addition to their decorative purpose, also had a symbolic meaning as the so-called lovers' knot - a symbol of true love, the popularity of which lasted not only in jewelry until the 18th century.
It is obvious that pearls in the shape of drops were very popular. They were often worn by men as single earrings, as can be seen in countless portraits of King Charles I of England. These pearls were no doubt remade into women's pair earrings by subsequent generations. It is all the more interesting that the earring of Charles I, which he wore during his execution in 1649, has survived to the present day. Today it is part of a private collection, together with a document confirming its authenticity, signed by his granddaughter, Queen Mary II.
Pearls, although they were worn in huge quantities in the 17th century, have practically not survived to this day, only their depiction in portraits. The price of pearls nearly tripled at that time as the supply of pearls from American sources began to dry up. For this reason, it is assumed that a large part of the pearls depicted were imitations. In the 16th century, artificial pearls were made from fish scales, and Leonardo da Vinci describes how to dissolve pearls in lemon juice and mix them with egg whites to create a mass from which pearls of any size can be modeled. Illustrated recipes for the production of artificial pearls appear from the 17th to the 18th century. France became the center of their production - French imitation pearls were so perfect that it was often difficult to distinguish them from real pearls. Likewise, imitations of precious stones made of glass began to appear. Interestingly, artificial pearls and precious stones were often set into jewelry together with their originals.
Pearls in the Rococo period
In all the royal courts of Europe and in the upper circles, ladies vied to see who would have the more expensive jewelry, the style of which was guided by the fashions of Versailles and Paris. Rather than adornment, this jewelry was a statement of social and family status. The portrait of Maria Theresa of Habsburg, the wife of the French king Louis XIV, is supposed to function primarily as proof of her immeasurable wealth. Her dress is richly decorated with pearls, diamonds, rubies and sapphires.
Jewelers traveled all over the world to source the finest pearls and gems for their clients. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) made a total of 6 trips to India and the Mughal Empire and even as far as Lava to secure the finest jewels for the French royal court. He wrote a book about his expeditions , Journeys to India , which also contains depictions of six of the most famous and largest pearls of the time.
In the second half of the 17th century short pearl necklaces combined with colored silk and brocade, and large pearl drops combined with diamonds, a trend taken over from the French royal family, are coming into fashion. Large earrings, characteristic clusters of pearls or diamonds, and again with large pearls in the shape of pearls, maintained their popularity until the 18th century. In the 18th century, the fascination with pearls continued, but it was diamonds that came to the fore at this time. The huge demand for diamonds was met thanks to the new diamond mines in Brazil, which made possible the creation of an absolutely unimaginable amount of diamond jewelry in Europe, often in combination with pearls. Jewels are now mainly used to decorate the bodices of dresses, but short necklaces or satin ribbons decorated with gems and tied instead of a necklace remain fashionable.
In addition to perfect pearls, so-called mabe pearls growing on the walls of oysters are also beginning to appear in jewelry. Because there is a differentiation between formal and informal dress, which brings with it strings of pearls wrapped around the wrists, with cameo buckles, miniature portraits and strands of hair of loved ones. Fashion icons at this time are Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, her mother Marie Therese, Empress of Austria, Queen consort Charlotte of England and Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. They share a love for opulent jewelry. However, jewelry is not just reserved for women: King George III of England, husband of Queen Charlotte, wore a great deal of expensive jewelry, especially buttons, on special occasions.
In the second half of the 18th century the growing power of the middle class further increases the demand for pearls and diamonds, as its members also copy the jewelry worn by the nobility. Depending on the financial situation, the jewelry is set with real gems or imitations. The model is Paris, and it is therefore paradoxical that it is precisely in Paris that during the Great French Revolution in 1789 the old order will be overthrown and the city's status as a center of luxury trade is threatened. The same ideals that lead to the execution of Marie Antoinette also harm the jewelry industry, whose clientele was primarily the nobility and the rich. Between 1793-4 even wearing decorated shoe buckles led straight to the guillotine. The price of pearls, gems and jewelery in general plummeted as the market outside of France was flooded with the jewelery of those who had managed to escape before the Revolution.
By the end of the 18th century, pearls were still very popular and were increasingly used to make jewelry of sentimental value: jewelry celebrating love or worn to commemorate the deceased.
The period between the 16th and 18th centuries is characterized mainly by opulence and a sense of symmetry in terms of jewelry. You can also find real gems in our offer that you wouldn't be ashamed of even in the royal court:
For example, a pearl cross in the Renaissance style
or a shorter necklace of round pearls as in the portrait of Barbara Pallavicino
or did Charles I wear an earring like he wore?
Comments