Jewelry History
Throughout the ages, we have sought to adorn ourselves in many ways and jewelry, composed of solid objects, is a tangible artifact that can help us learn about our past. Primitive adornment with shells and other found objects was a beginning, but the invention of tools led to improvements and innovations that quickly defined ancient and antique jewelry styles. The pleasure of studying ancient and antique jewelry is facilitated by archaeological discoveries, museums, and private collections. Select from the Historical Jewelry Eras below to read more.
Historic Overview
Up until 2015, the oldest known objects that were believed to have served a decorative purpose for the human body were approximately 110,000 years old. Drilled shell beads from this time (the...
Called the ‘cradle of civilisation’ by some, the ancient lands of Mesopotamia have certainly been the cradle of fine workmanship when it comes to jewelry. Southwest Asia and what is...
The Nile Valley has been home to humans for over 100,000 years and in those very early days stone, shell, bone, animal teeth, and ivory were used as personal decoration, similar to...
By Pavlos Flourentzos & Maria Luisa Vitobello Abstract: In 1998 a built tomb was excavated at the southern outskirts of Larnaka Town in the direction of the airport. The tomb...
When describing jewelry from Greece one should start with the Minoans. Around 3000 BC signs of a new civilisation on the island Crete started to emerge. The origin of this...
Although granulation, embossing, and filigree had been used in Mesopotamia and Egypt earlier, the Etruscans perfected the techniques to a very impressive level. The delicacy and technical precision were a complete novelty for...
The term ‘Celtic’ is used to describe the inhabitants of Europe during the Iron Age. It is a vast generalisation of tribes that display certain similarities in their language, culture,...
Archaeological finds of Roman jewelry are relatively rare considering the magnitude of the Roman civilisation, its duration and its vast Empire. It is hidden hoards of jewelry and individual finds...
The ‘Middle Ages’ is a term that has been used to classify the period of European history which starts after the crumbling of the (Western) Roman Empire and ends at...
During the Migration period (5th century AD) Germanic tribes settled throughout Europe. Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Franks, Lombards and many more tribes that had been living on the eastern...
Byzantine jewelry was a full continuation of the Roman traditions which were kept alive behind the high walls of the new capital, Constantinople. The Roman techniques and styles continued to form the...
The style which followed the influence of Byzantine architecture and arts on the rest of Europe is called the Romanesque style. It became widespread in Northern Europe when Charlemagne (Charles...
After Romanesque jewelry fell from fashion a new style emerged. Although parallels with the architectural style are minimal the style has been named Gothic. The architectural style already rose in the...
Halfway through the 15th century general art styles changed in Italy. Artists started to draw inspiration from the Ancient Greek and Roman world. Funded by the royal families from extremely...
With the start of the 17th century, Renaissance jewelry evolved gradually into a new style. From 1625 on, we see a clear reaction against the rigid and contorted dresses that had been...
The Georgian period, from 1714 to 1837, was named for, and defined by, the Hanoverian Monarchs of the United Kingdom. These included the four Georges; George I (r. 1714-1727) –...
As the long reign of the four Georges drew to an end, the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of York and Strathearn (son of George III) and Princess Victoria of...
The Victorian jewelry era is lengthy, covering the entire reign of its namesake Queen from 1837 to 1901. Advances in technology, the growing middle class, discovery of gold in California and...
Mid-Victorian women were competing with men for jobs as clerks, teachers, and factory inspectors and they were fighting to win the right to vote. Suddenly they had their own money,...
The Aesthetic Period of Victorian jewelry can be defined as one of reaction against previous jewelry periods. Victorians became disillusioned with fashions and furnishings and sought a way out of...
In a distinctive departure from the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the guild revival movement, known as Arts & Crafts, breathed new life into the business of designing and making jewelry....
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, there were many forces at work in the world of decorative arts that would propel artisans out of the humdrum and into...
The Edwardian era, like the Georgian and Victorian eras before it, derives its name from the reign of an English King, Edward VII (1901-1910). This is the final jewelry period appellation to be defined...
The era we now know as “Art Deco” received its moniker from the Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, held in Paris in 1925, which was largely dedicated...
Although the term “Retro” wasn’t coined until the 1970s, the jewelry of the late 1930s and 1940s was definitely different from its antecedents. The end of the Art Deco geometric aesthetic...
As the austere and world-weary 1940s morphed into the fabulous and affluent 1950s, gold jewelry retained its popularity but with a twist, a tassel or a texture. Ribbons and bows,...
Natives of North America, in the time before European exploration, adorned themselves with shells, bones, feathers, teeth and other found objects. Migration resulted in tribes exchanging materials not native to a...
Following the Revolutionary War, newly independent Americans began to look beyond Great Britain to the wider world for resources, goods, and products. Trade with other parts of Europe grew and...
In a nostalgic wave created by the celebration of the country’s 50th anniversary, Americans began to take pride in previous generations and a mid-eighteenth century revival was born. In this...
CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION!PHILADELPHIA, PA.THIS GREAT INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, DESIGNED TO COMMEMORATE THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE OPENED MAY 10th AND WILL CLOSE NOVEMBER 10th 1876. All the Nations of the...
Vignettes
In 1900, the world witnessed a grand display of Art Nouveau jewels, objects, and architecture at Paris’s Exposition Universelle. This article will attempt to create a snapshot of this special moment in...
On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered by James W. Marshall as a byproduct of construction on a mill for pioneer landowner John Sutter. California was still Mexican territory, but not...
An interesting subset of the Art Nouveau jewelry movement was the design and production of medal jewels. Scrambling to recoup the losses incurred when cameos and intaglios became passé, jewelers began to imitate ancient Greek and Roman...
Is the jewelry often labeled “Suffragist (Suffragette) Jewelry” simply indicative of the fashion of the period or was it symbolic of a cause women (and some men) fought for passionately?...
Throughout history, men used ornamental items to proclaim their status and display power and superiority. In many periods, men were generally much more bedazzled than their female counterparts. As the...
Cameos, valued since antiquity as engraved gems, were exceedingly popular during the Georgian and Victorian periods. Many different materials were used for carving cameos. For hardstone cameos, varieties of agate including onyx, sardonyx, and jasper were popular. These stones,...
Popular throughout the Victorian Era, the jewelry we think of as “Scottish” is just as likely to have been made in England as in Scotland. Also referred to as “pebble”...
Nineteenth-Century jewelry consisted predominantly of adaptations of earlier jewelry styles. It has been argued by some historians that a return to the past in jewelry design came from a singular...
During the late 19th century jewels and hair ornaments were set into “en en tremblant” motion with the use of a small concealed battery. These tiny automatons included skulls with rolling...
Egyptomania is an extreme obsession for all things Egyptian and, throughout history, a passion for Egypt has been a recurring theme. By the time Napoléon Bonaparte stormed Egypt at the...
Glyptography is the art of gemstone carving and the term applies to both intaglios and cameos. Begun in ancient times, circa 15,000 B.C., as one of the earliest forms of communication,...
Micromosaics are a type of mosaic created from tiny fragments of glass, called tesserae. The tesserae are mosaic pieces made from an opaque vitreous glass or enamel in a multitude of colors called smalto. The smalto is pulled into rods...
Eyes have long been thought of as the window of the soul alternately revealing and concealing one’s deepest thoughts and feelings. Symbolically, the eye has turned up as the all-seeing...
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité 1 Jewelry from the late 1700s and early 1800s can be characterized by typical shapes and ornamentation which are highly inspired by the classical themes of ancient Greece...
Human hair has been incorporated into jewelry since at least the seventeenth century. Around that time, the hair of the dear departed began to be incorporated into memento mori pieces, as...
The romantic movement which arose during the second half of the 18th century as an antidote to the Enlightenment came to full blossom during the first part of the nineteenth...
Cannetille is a close relative of filigree work. It typically features fine gold wires or thinly hammered sheets. Jewelry with cannetille was very popular in the 1820’s and 1830’s. Motifs included tendrils, scrolls,...
Cut-steel jewelry is jewelry “set” with tiny faceted and polished steel studs, fashioned to resemble gemstones and usually riveted in place. All manner of jewelry was produced from cut-steel: earrings, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, chatelaines, shoe buckles,...
Granulation (from Latin: granum = “grain”) is a goldsmith’s technique whereby the surface of a jewel is decorated with small spheres of precious metal, named granules, according to a design pattern. The...
The Bronze Age is a term first introduced around 1830 by a Danish archaeologist called Thomson. He classified the periods of prehistory according to the materials that were used to manufacture...
Modernism is an umbrella term used to encompass all the diverse artistic movements throughout Europe and America from circa 1880 to circa 1960 and beyond. Artisans of the late nineteenth...
Diamonds are the gemstone most commonly associated with engagement rings, but that has not always been the case. They first made their appearance in betrothal rings circa the fifteenth century but...
A signet ring features an intaglio gem, or decorative carving that is engraved with a monogram, coat of arms or, other heraldic or personal symbol. Throughout history, signets were used as...
This little perfect figure may seem to be a trifling matter on which to found an essay; and yet we shall find it connected with history and poetry. It is...
Earrings are much more than just decorative jewelry for the ear. Gods and goddesses, symbols, talismans and amulets have all been depicted in the designs fastened to or suspended from the ear...
Necklaces have existed ever since our ancestors began to walk upright. Our desire to adorn ourselves has been evident since ancient times with Paleolithic and Neolithic necklaces made from shells, bones,...
A necklace can be defined simply as an adornment designed to encircle the neck. Upon closer examination, they are actually so much more. Having existed ever since our ancestors began...
Terms & Definitions
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Aiguillettes (also spelled: aguillette, aiglet, or aglets) are needle-like dress ornaments intended to secure a cord or ribbon to a dress. During the first half of the 15th century, these...
Amatory jewels were a popular type of love jewelry c.late 1700s. These were navette-shaped pendants, or sometimes brooches, with pearl, gem-set or enamel surrounds. The center featured flowers, initials, or sentiments rendered in seed pearls atop a woven...
Archaeological revival refers to the neo-styles of the 18th and 19th centuries inspired by the excavations and discoveries of Roman, Egyptian, Hellenistic and Etruscan sites. The first revival came after...
Art Deco Diamond and Onyx Ring c.1930s. Art Deco Diamond Engagement Ring Art Deco Octagonal Diamond Dinner Ring c.1920. Art Deco Square Diamond Dinner Ring c.1920s-30s. Fine Milgraining and Piercing....
Art Nouveau European-cut Diamond Gypsy Style Ring c. 1900. Art Nouveau Three-Stone Diamond and 18k Yellow Gold Leaf Motif Engagement Ring. Art Nouveau Stylized Diamond and 18k Yellow Gold Serpent...
Arts & Crafts Amethyst Ring. Arts & Crafts Moonstone Ring, Allsopp Bros. Arts & Crafts Garnet Ring, Larter & Sons. Arts & Crafts Opal, Sapphire, and Pearl Dinner Ring. Arts...
The Arts & Crafts Movement rejected opulence and industrialism in favor of the simplicity of good craftsmanship and design. Handmade, high-quality, functional items were its hallmarks.
Balmoral Castle is located in Aberdeenshire Scotland and was the summer royal residence of Queen Victoria, and continued to be a favorite for members of the royal family. Queen Elizabeth...
