The Greek jewelry of the best period is of extraordinary delicacy and
beauty. Fine examples are shown in the British Museum from Melos and
elsewhere. Undoubtedly, however, the most brilliant collection of such
ornaments is that of the Hermitage, which was derived from the tombs of
Kerch and the Crimea. It contains examples of the purest Greek work,
together with objects which must have been of local origin, as is shown
by the themes which the artist has chosen for his reliefs. Fig. 18
illustrates the jewelry of the Hermitage (see also Ear-Ring).
[Illustration: FIG. 19.]
[Illustration: FIG. 20.]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.]
As further examples of Greek jewelry see the pendant oblong ornament for
containing a scroll (fig. 19).
The ear-rings (figs. 20, 21) are also characteristic.
Figs. 59-70 (Plate II.) Examples of fine Greek jewelry, in the
British Museum.
" 59-60 " Pair of ear-rings, from a grave at Cyme in
Aeolis, with filigree work and pendant
Erotes.
" 61 " Small bracelet.
" 62-63 " Small gold reel with repoussé figures of Nereid
with helmet of Achilles, and Eros. From
Cameiros (Rhodes).
" 64 " Filigree ornament (ear-ring?) with Eros in
centre. From Syria.
" 65 " Medallion ornament with repoussé head of
Dionysos and filigree work. (Blacas coll.)
" 66 " Stud, with filigree work.
" 67-68 " Pair of ear-rings, of gold, with filigree and
enamel, from Eretria.
" 69 " Diadem, with filigree, and enamel scales, from
Tarquinii.
" 70 " Necklace pendants.
Etruscan jewelry at its best is not easily distinguished from the Greek,
but it tends in its later forms to become florid and diffuse, without
precision of design. The granulation of surfaces practised with the
highest degree of refinement by the Etruscans was long a puzzle and a
problem to the modern jeweller, until Castellani of Rome discovered
gold-workers in the Abruzzi to whom the method had descended through
many generations. He induced some of these men to go to Naples, and so
revived the art, of which he contributed examples to the London
Exhibition of 1872 (see FILIGREE).
Figs. 71-77 (Plate II.) are well-marked examples of Etruscan work, in
the British Museum.
" 71 " Pair of sirens, repoussé, forming a hook and
eye fastening. From Chiusi (?).
" 72 " Early fibula. Horse and chimaera. (Blacas
coll.)
" 74 " Medallion-shaped fibula, of fine granulated
work, with figures of sirens in relief, and
set with dark blue pastes. (Bale coll.)
" 73, 75 " Pair of late Etruscan ear-rings.
" 76, 77 " Pair of late Etruscan ear-rings, in the florid
style.
The jewels of the Roman empire are marked by a greater use of large cut
stones in combination with the gold, and by larger surfaces of plain and
undecorated metal. The adaptation of imperial gold coins to the purposes
of the jeweller is also not uncommon.
Figs. 78-82 (Plate II.) Late Roman imperial jewelry, in the British
Museum.
" 78 " Large pendant ear-ring, set with stones and
pearls. From Tunis, 4th century.
" 79 " Pierced-work pendant, set with a coin of the
emperor Philip.
" 80 " Ear-ring, roughly set with garnets.
" 81 " Bracelet, with a winged cornucopia as central
ornament, set with plasmas, and with
filigree and leaf work.
" 82 " Bracelet, roughly set with pearls and stones.
From Tunis, 4th century.
With the decay of the Roman empire, and the approach of the barbarian
tribes, a new Teutonic style was developed. An important example of this
style is the remarkable gold treasure, discovered at Pétrossa in
Transylvanian Alps in 1837, and now preserved, as far as it survives, in
the museum of Bucharest. A runic inscription shows that it belonged to
the Goths. Its style is in part the classical tradition, debased and
modified; in part it is a singularly rude and vigorous form of barbaric
art. Its chief characteristics are a free use of strongly
conventionalized animal forms, such as great bird-shaped fibulae, and an
ornamentation consisting of pierced gold work, combined with a free use
of stones cut to special shapes, and inlaid either cloisonné-fashion or
in a perforated gold plate. This part of the hoard has its affinities in
objects found over a wide field from Siberia to Spain. Its rudest and
most naturalistic forms occur in the East in uncouth objects from
Siberian tombs, whose lineage however has been traced to Persepolis,
Assyria and Egypt. In its later and more refined forms the style is
known by the name, now somewhat out of favour (except as applied to a
limited number of finds), of Merovingian.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.]
[Illustration: FIG. 23.]
[Illustration: FIG. 24.]
[Illustration: FIG. 25.]
[Illustration: FIG. 26.]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.]
[Illustration: FIG. 28.]
The so-called Merovingian jewelry of the 5th century, and the
Anglo-Saxon of a later date, have as their distinctive feature thin
plates of gold, decorated with thin slabs of garnet, set in walls of
gold soldered vertically like the lines of cloisonné enamel, with the
addition of very decorative details of filigree work, beading and
twisted gold. The typical group are the contents of the tomb of King
Childeric (A.D. 481) now in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. In
Figs. 22 and 23 we have examples of Anglo-Saxon fibulae, the first being
decorated with a species of cloisonné, in which garnets are inserted,
while the other is in hammered work in relief. A pendant (fig. 24) is
also set with garnets. The buckles (figs. 25, 26, 27) are remarkably
characteristic examples, and very elegant in design. A girdle ornament
in gold, set with garnets (fig. 28), is an example of Carolingian design
of a high class. Another remarkable group of barbaric jewelry, dated by
coins as of the beginning of the 7th century, was excavated at Castel
Trosino near the Picenian Ascoli, and is attributed to the Lombards. See
_Monumenti antichi_ (_Accademia dei Lincei_), xii. 145.
We turn now to the Celtic group of jewelled ornaments, which has an
equally long and independent line of descent. The characteristic Celtic
ornaments are of hammered work with details in repoussé, having
fillings-in of vitreous paste, coloured enamels, amber, and in the later
examples rock crystal with a smooth rounded surface cut _en cabochon_.
The whole group is a special development within the British Isles of
the art of the mid-European Early Iron age, which in its turn had been
considerably influenced by early Mediterranean culture. In its early
stages its special marks are combinations of curves, with peculiar
central thickenings which give a quasi-naturalistic effect; a skilful
use of inlaid enamels, and the chased line. After the introduction of
Christianity, a continuous tradition combined the old system with the
interlaced winding scrolls and other new forms of decoration, and so led
up to the extreme complexity of early Irish illumination and metal work.
A remarkable group of gold ornaments of the pre-Christian time (probably
of the 1st century) was discovered about 1896, in the north-west of
Ireland, and acquired by the British Museum. It was subsequently claimed
by the Crown as treasure trove, and after litigation was transferred to
Dublin (see _Archaeologia_, lv., pl. 22).
[Illustration: FIG. 29.]
Figs. 29 and 30 are illustrations of two brooches of the latest period
in this class of work. The first is 13th century; the latter is probably
12th century, and is set with paste, amber and blue.
Rings are the chief specimens now seen of medieval jewelry from the 10th
to the 13th century. They are generally massive and simple. Through the
16th century a variety of changes arose; in the traditions and designs
of the _cinquecento_ we have plenty of evidence that the workmen used
their own designs, and the results culminated in the triumphs of Albert
Dürer, Benvenuto Cellini and Hans Holbein. The goldsmiths of the Italian
republics must have produced works of surpassing excellence in
workmanship, and reaching the highest point in design as applied to
handicrafts of any kind. The use of enamels, precious stones, niello
work and engraving, in combination with skilful execution of the human
figure and animal life, produced effects which modern art in this
direction is not likely to approach, still less to rival.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.]
In fig. 31 illustrations are given of various characteristic specimens
of the Renaissance and later forms of jewelry. A crystal cross set in
enamelled gold (a) is German work of the 16th century. The pendant
reliquary (b), enamelled and jewelled, is of 16th century Italian
work, and so probably is the jewel (c) of gold set with diamonds and
rubies. The Darnley or Lennox jewel (d), now in the possession of the
king, was made about 1576-1577 for Lady Margaret Douglas, countess of
Lennox, the mother of Henry Darnley. It is a pendant golden heart set
with a heart-shaped sapphire, richly jewelled and enamelled with
emblematic figures and devices. It also has Scottish mottoes around
and within it. The ear-ring (e) of gold, enamelled, hung with small
pearls, is an example of 17th century Russian work, and another (f) is
Italian of the same period, being of gold and filigree with enamel,
also with pendant pearls. A Spanish ear-ring, of 18th century work
(g), is a combination of ribbon, cord and filigree in gold; and
another (h) is Flemish, of probably the same period; it is of gold
open work set with diamonds in projecting collets. The old
French-Normandy pendant cross and locket (l) presents a characteristic
example of peasant jewelry; it is of branched open work set with
bosses and ridged ornaments of crystal. The ear-ring (j) is French of
17th century, also of gold open work set with crystals. A small
pendant locket (k) is of rock crystal, with the cross of Santiago in
gold and translucent crimson enamel; it is 16th or 17th century
Spanish work. A pretty ear-ring of gold open scroll work (m), set with
minute diamonds and three pendant pearls, is Portuguese of 17th
century, and another ear-ring (n) of gold circular open work, set also
with minute diamonds, is Portuguese work of 18th century. These
examples fairly illustrate the general features of the most
characteristic jewelry of the dates quoted.
During the 17th and 18th centuries we see only a mechanical kind of
excellence, the results of the mere tradition of the workshop--the
lingering of the power which when wisely directed had done so much and
so well, but now simply living on traditional forms, often combined in a
most incongruous fashion. Gorgeous effects were aimed at by massing the
gold, and introducing stones elaborately cut in themselves or clustered
in groups. Thus diamonds were clustered in rosettes and bouquets;
rubies, pearls, emeralds and other coloured special stones were brought
together for little other purpose than to get them into a given space in
conjunction with a certain quantity of gold. The question was not of
design in its relation to use as personal decoration, but of the value
which could be got into a given space to produce the most striking
effect.
The traditions of Oriental design as they had come down through the
various periods quoted, were comparatively lost in the wretched results
of the _rococo_ of Louis XIV. and the inanities of what modern
revivalists of the Anglo-Dutch call "Queen Anne." In the London
exhibition of 1851, the extravagances of modern jewelry had to stand
comparison with the Oriental examples contributed from India. Since then
we have learnt more about these works, and have been compelled to
acknowledge, in spite of what is sometimes called inferiority of
workmanship, how completely the Oriental jeweller understood his work,
and with what singular simplicity of method he carried it out. The
combinations are always harmonious, the result aimed at is always
achieved; and if in attempting to work to European ideas the jeweller
failed, this was rather the fault of the forms he had to follow, than
due to any want of skill in making the most of a subject in which half
the thought and the intended use were foreign to his experience.
A collection of peasant jewelry got together by Castellani for the Paris
exhibition of 1867, and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
illustrates in an admirable manner the traditional jewelry and personal
ornaments of a wide range of peoples in Europe. This collection, and the
additions made to it since its acquisition by the nation, show the forms
in which these objects existed over several generations among the
peasantry of France (chiefly Normandy), Spain, Portugal, Holland,
Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, and also show how the forms popular in
one country are followed and adopted in another, almost invariably
because of their perfect adaptation to the purpose for which they were
designed.
Apart from these humbler branches of the subject, in the middle of the
19th century the production of jewelry, regarded as a personal art, and
not as a commercial and anonymous industry, was almost extinct. Its
revival must be associated with the artistic movement which marked the
close of that century, and which found emphatic expression in the Paris
international exhibition of 1900. For many years before 1895 this
industry, though prosperous from the commercial point of view, and
always remarkable from that of technical finish, remained stationary as
an art. French jewelry rested on its reputation. The traditions were
maintained of either the 17th and 18th centuries or the style affected
at the close of the second empire--light pierced work and design
borrowed from natural flowers. The last type, introduced by Massin, had
exercised, indeed, a revolutionary influence on the treatment of
jewelry. This clever artist, not less skilful as a craftsman, produced a
new _genre_ by copying the grace and lightness of living blossoms, thus
introducing a perfectly fresh element into the limited variety of
traditional style, and by the use of filigree gold work altering its
character and giving it greater elegance. Massin still held the first
rank in the exhibition of 1878; he had a marked influence on his
contemporaries, and his name will be remembered in the history of the
goldsmith's art to designate a style and a period. Throughout these
years the craft was exclusively devoted to perfection of workmanship.
The utmost finish was aimed at in the mounting and setting of gems;
jewelry was, in fact, not so much an art as a high-class industry;
individual effort and purpose were absent.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.]
Up to that time precious stones had been of such intrinsic value that
the jeweller's chief skill lay in displaying these costly stones to the
best advantage; the mounting was a secondary consideration. The settings
were seldom long preserved in their original condition, but in the case
of family jewels were renewed with each generation and each change of
fashion, a state of things which could not be favourable to any truly
artistic development of taste, since the work was doomed, sooner or
later, to destruction. However, the evil led to its own remedy. As soon
as diamonds fell in value they lost at the same time their overwhelming
prestige, and refined taste could give a preference to trinkets which
derived their value and character from artistic design. This
revolutionized the jeweller's craft, and revived the simple ornament of
gold or silver, which came forward but timidly at first, till, in the
Salon of 1895, it burst upon the world in the exhibits of René Lalique,
an artist who was further confirmed in his remarkable position by the
exhibition of 1900. What specially stamps the works of Lalique is their
striking originality. His work may be considered from the point of view
of design and from that of execution. As an artist he has completely
reconstructed from the foundation the scheme of design which had fed the
poverty-stricken imagination of the last generation of goldsmiths. He
had recourse to the art of the past, but to the spirit rather than the
letter, and to nature for many new elements of design--free double
curves, suave or soft; opalescent harmonies of colouring; reminiscences,
with quite a new feeling, of Egypt, Chaldea, Greece and the East, or of
the art of the Renaissance; and infinite variety of floral forms even of
the humblest. He introduces also the female nude in the form of sirens
and sphinxes. As a craftsman he has effected a radical change, breaking
through old routine, combining all the processes of the goldsmith, the
chaser, the enameller and the gem-setter, and freeing himself from the
narrow lines in which the art had been confined. He ignores the
hierarchy of gems, caring no more on occasion for a diamond than for a
flint, since, in his view, no stone, whatever its original estimation,
has any value beyond the characteristic expression he lends it as a
means to his end. Thus, while he sometimes uses diamonds, rubies,
sapphires or emeralds as a background, he will, on the other hand, give
a conspicuous position to common stones--carnelian, agate, malachite,
jasper, coral, and even materials of no intrinsic value, such as horn.
One of his favourite stones is the opal, which lends itself to his
arrangements of colour, and which has in consequence become a
fashionable stone in French jewelry.
In criticism of the art of Lalique and his school it should be observed
that the works of the school are apt to be unsuited to the wear and tear
of actual use, and inconveniently eccentric in their details. Moreover,
the preciousness of the material is an almost inevitable consideration
in the jeweller's craft, and cannot be set at naught by the artist
without violating the canons of his art.
The movement which took its rise in France spread in due course to other
countries. In England the movement conveniently described as the "arts
and crafts movement" affected the design of jewelry. A group of
designers has aimed at purging the jeweller's craft of its character of
mere gem-mounting in conventional forms (of which the more
unimaginative, representing stars, bows, flowers and the like, are
varied by such absurdities as insects, birds, animals, figures of men
and objects made up simply of stones clustered together). Their work is
often excellently and fancifully designed, but it lacks that exquisite
perfection of execution achieved by the incomparable craftsmen of
France. At the same time English sculptor-decorators--such as Alfred
Gilbert, R.A., and George J. Frampton, A.R.A.--have produced objects of
a still higher class, but it is usually the work of the goldsmith rather
than of the jeweller. Examples may be seen in the badge executed by
Gilbert for the president of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours
and in the mayoral chain for Preston. Symbolism here enters into the
design, which has not only an ornamental but a didactic purpose.
The movement was represented in other countries also. In the United
States it was led by L. C. Tiffany, in Belgium by Philippe Wolfers, who
occupies in Belgium the position which in France is held by René
Lalique. If his design is a little heavier, it is not less beautiful in
imagination or less masterly in execution. Graceful, ingenious,
fanciful, elegant, fantastic by turns, his objects of jewelry and
goldsmithery have a solid claim to be considered _créations d'art_. It
has also been felt in Germany, Austria, Russia and Switzerland. It must
be admitted that many of the best artists who have devoted themselves to
jewelry have been more successful in design than in securing the
lightness and strength which are required by the wearer, and which were
a characteristic in the works of the Italian craftsmen of the
Renaissance. For this reason many of their masterpieces are more
beautiful in the case than upon the person.
_Modern Jewelry._--So far we have gone over the progress and results of
the jeweller's art. We have now to speak of the production of jewelry as
a modern art industry, in which large numbers of men and women are
employed in the larger cities of Europe. Paris, Vienna, London and
Birmingham are the most important centres. An illustration of the
manufacture as carried on in London and Birmingham will be sufficient to
give an insight into the technique and artistic manipulation of this
branch of art industry; but, by way of contrast, it may be interesting
to give in the first place a description of the native working jeweller
of Hindustan.
He travels very much after the fashion of a tinker in England; his
budget contains tools, materials, fire pots, and all the requisites of
his handicraft. The gold to be used is generally supplied by the
patron or employer, and is frequently in gold coin, which the
travelling jeweller undertakes to convert into the ornaments required.
He squats down in the corner of a courtyard, or under cover of a
veranda, lights his fire, cuts up the gold pieces entrusted to him,
hammers, cuts, shapes, drills, solders with the blow-pipe, files,
scrapes and burnishes until he has produced the desired effect. If he
has stones to set or coloured enamels to introduce, he never seems to
make a mistake; his instinct for harmony of colour, like that of his
brother craftsman the weaver, is as unerring as that of the bird in
the construction of its nest. Whether the materials are common or rich
and rare, he invariably does the very best possible with them,
according to native ideas of beauty in design and combination. It is
only when he is interfered with by European dictation that he ever
vulgarizes his art or makes a mistake. The result may appear rude in
its finish, but the design and the thought are invariably right. We
thus see how a trade in the working of which the "plant" is so simple
and wants are so readily met could spread itself, as in years past it
did at Clerkenwell and at Birmingham before gigantic factories were
invented for producing everything under the sun.
It is impossible to find any date at which the systematic production of
jewelry was introduced into England. Probably the Clerkenwell trade
dates its origin from the revocation of the edict of Nantes, as the
skilled artisans in the jewelry, clock and watch, and trinket trades
appear to have been descendants of the emigrant Huguenots. The
Birmingham trade would appear to have had its origin in the skill to
which the workers in fine steel had attained towards the middle and end
of the 18th century, a branch of industry which collapsed after the
French Revolution.
Modern jewelry may be classified under three heads: (1) objects in
which gems and stones form the principal portions, and in which the
work in silver, platinum or gold is really only a means for carrying
out the design by fixing the gems or stones in the position arranged
by the designer, the metal employed being visible only as a setting;
(2) when gold work plays an important part in the development of the
design, being itself ornamented by engraving (now rarely used) or
enamelling or both, the stones and gems being arranged in
subordination to the gold work in such positions as to give a
decorative effect to the whole; (3) when gold or other metal is alone
used, the design being wrought out by hammering in repoussé, casting,
engraving, chasing or by the addition of filigree work (see FILIGREE),
or when the surfaces are left absolutely plain but polished and highly
finished.
Of course the most ancient and primitive methods are those wholly
dependent upon the craft of the workman; but gradually various
ingenious processes were invented, by which greater accuracy in the
portions to be repeated in a design could be produced with certainty
and economy: hence the various methods of stamping used in the
production of hand-made jewelry, which are in themselves as much
mechanical in relation to the end in view as if the whole object were
stamped out at a blow, twisted into its proper position as regards the
detail, or the various stamped portions fitted into each other for the
mechanical completion of the work. It is therefore rather difficult to
draw an absolute line between hand-made and machine-made jewelry,
except in extreme cases of hand-made, when everything is worked, so to
speak, from the solid, or of machine-made, when the hand has only to
give the ornament a few touches of a tool, or fit the parts together
if of more than one piece.
The best and most costly hand-made jewelry produced in England,
whether as regards gold work, gems, enamelling or engraving, is made
in London, and chiefly at Clerkenwell. A design is first made with
pencil, sepia or water colour, and when needful with separate
enlargement of details, everything in short to make the drawing
thoroughly intelligible to the working jeweller. According to the
nature and purpose of the design, he cuts out, hammers, files and
brings into shape the constructive portions of the work as a basis.
Upon this, as each detail is wrought out, he solders, or (more rarely)
fixes by rivets, &c., the ornamentation necessary to the effect. The
human figure, representations of animal life, leaves, fruit, &c., are
modelled in wax, moulded and cast in gold, to be chased up and
finished. As the hammering goes on the metal becomes brittle and hard,
and then it is passed though the fire to anneal or soften it. In the
case of elaborate examples of repoussé, after the general forms are
beaten up, the interior is filled with a resinous compound, pitch
mixed with fire-brick dust; and this, forming a solid but pliable body
underneath the metal, allows of the finished details being wrought out
on the front of the design, and being finally completed by chasing.
When stones are to be set, or when they form the principal portions of
the design, the gold or other metal has to be wrought by hand so as to
receive them in little cup-like orifices, these walls of gold
enclosing the stone and allowing the edges to be bent over to secure
it. Setting is never effected by cement in well-made jewelry.
Machine-made settings have in recent years been made, but these are
simply cheap imitations of the true hand-made setting. Even strips of
gold have been used, serrated at the edges to allow of being easily
bent over, for the retention of the stones, true or false.
Great skill and experience are necessary in the proper setting of
stones and gems of high value, in order to bring out the greatest
amount of brilliancy and colour, and the angle at which a diamond
(say) shall be set, in order that the light shall penetrate at the
proper point to bring out the "spark" or "flash," is a subject of
grave consideration to the setter. Stones set in a haphazard, slovenly
manner, however brilliant in themselves, will look commonplace by the
side of skilfully set gems of much less fine quality and water.
Enamelling (see ENAMEL) has of late years largely taken the place of
"paste" or false stones.
Engraving is a simple process in itself, and diversity of effect can
be produced by skilful manipulation. An interesting variety in the
effect of a single ornament may be produced by the combination of
coloured gold of various tints. This colouring is a process requiring
skill and experience in the manipulation of the materials according to
the quality of the gold and the amount of silver alloy in it. The
objects to be coloured are dipped in a boiling mixture of salt, alum
and saltpetre. Of general colouring it may be said that the object
aimed at is to enhance the appearance of the gold by removing the
particles of alloy on the surface, and thus allowing the pure gold
only to remain visible to the eye. The process has, however, gone much
out of fashion. It is apt to rot the solder, and repairs to gold work
can be better finished by electro-gilding.
The application of machinery to the economical production of certain
classes of jewelry, not necessarily imitations, but as much "real
gold" work, to use a trade phrase, as the best hand-made, has been on
the increase for many years. Nearly every kind of gold chain now made
is manufactured by machinery, and nothing like the beauty of design
or perfection of workmanship could be obtained by hand at, probably,
any cost. The question therefore in relation to chains is not the mode
of manufacture, but the quality of the metal. Eighteen carat gold is
of course preferred by those who wear chains, but this is only gold in
the proportion of 18 to 24, pure gold being represented by 24. The
gold coin of the realm is 22 carat; that is, it contains one-twelfth
of alloy to harden it to stand wear and tear. Thus 18 carat gold has
one-fourth of alloy, and so on with lower qualities down to 12, which
is in reality only gold by courtesy. It must be remembered that the
alloys are made by weight, and as gold is nearly twice as heavy as the
metal it is mixed with, it only forms a third of the bulk of a 12
carat mixture.
The application of machinery to the production of personal ornaments
in gold and silver can only be economically and successfully carried
on when there is a large demand for similar objects, that is to say,
objects of precisely the same design and decoration throughout. In
machine-made jewelry everything is stereotyped, so to speak, and the
only work required for the hand is to fit the parts together--in some
instances scarcely that. A design is made, and from it steel dies are
sunk for stamping out as rapidly as possible from a plate of rolled
metal the portion represented by each die. It is in these steel dies
that the skill of the artist die-sinker is manifested. Brooches,
ear-rings, pinheads, bracelets, lockets, pendants, &c., are struck out
by the gross. This is more especially the case in silver and in plated
work--that is, imitation jewelry--the base of which is an alloy,
afterwards gilt by electro-plating. With these ornaments imitation
stones in paste and glass, pearls, &c., are used, and it is remarkable
that of late years some of the best designs, the most simple,
appropriate and artistic, have appeared in imitation jewelry. It is
only just to those engaged in this manufacture to state distinctly
that their work is never sold wholesale for anything else than what it
is. The worker in gold only makes gold or real jewelry, and he only
makes of a quality well known to his customers. The producer of silver
work only manufactures silver ornaments, and so on throughout the
whole class of plated goods.
It is the retailer who, if he is unprincipled, takes advantage of the
ignorance of the buyer and sells for gold that which is in reality an
imitation, and which he bought as such. The imitations of old styles
of jewelry which are largely sold in curiosity shops at foreign places
of fashionable resort are said to be made in Germany, especially at
Munich.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For the Dahshur jewels, see J. de Morgan and others;
_Fouilles à Dahchour, Mars-Juin 1894_ (Vienna, 1895) and _Fouilles à
Dahchour en 1894-1895_ (Vienna, 1903). For the Aah-hotep jewels, see
Mariette, _Album de Musée de Boulaq_, pls. 29-31; Birch, _Facsimiles
of the Egyptian Relics discovered in the Tomb of Queen Aah-hotep_
(1863). For Cretan excavations, see A. J. Evans, in _Annual of the
British School at Athens_, Nos. 7 to 11; _Archaeologia_, vol. lix. For
excavations at Enkomi, see _Excavations in Cyprus_, by A. S. Murray
and others (1900). For _Schliemann's excavations_, see Schliemann's
works; also Schuchhardt, Schliemann's Excavations; Perrot & Chipiez,
_Histoire de l'Art_, vi. For the Greek Island treasure, see A. J.
Evans, _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, xiii. For Ephesus gold treasure,
see D. G. Hogarth, _British Museum Excavations at Ephesus_; _The
Archaic Artemisia_. For the Hermitage Collection from South Russia,
see Gillé, _Antiquités du Bosphore Cimmérien_ (reissued by S.
Reinach), and the _Comptes rendus_ of the Russian Archaeological
Commission (St Petersburg). For later jewelry, Pollak,
_Goldschmiedearbeit_. For Treasure of Pétrossa, A. Odobesco, _Le
Trésor de Pétrossa_. For the European and west Asiatic barbaric
jewelry, see O. M. Dalton, in _Archaeologia_, lviii. 237, and the
_Treasure of the Oxus_ (British Museum, 1905). For the whole history,
G. Fontenay, _Les Bijoux anciens et modernes_ (Paris [Quantin], 1887).
For the recent movement, Léonce Bénédite, "La Bijouterie et la
joaillerie, à l'exposition universelle; René Lalique," in the _Revue
des arts décoratifs_, 1900 (July, August). (A. H. Sm.)
JEWETT, SARAH ORNE (1840-1909), American novelist, was born in South
Berwick, Maine, on the 3rd of September 1849. She was a daughter of the
physician Theodore H. Jewett (1815-1878), by whom she was greatly
influenced, and whom she has drawn in _A Country Doctor_ (1884). She
studied at the Berwick Academy, and began her literary career in 1869,
when she contributed her first story to the _Atlantic Monthly_. Her best
work consists of short stories and sketches, such as those in _The
Country of the Pointed Firs_ (1896). The People of Maine, with their
characteristic speech, manners and traditions, she describes with
peculiar charm and realism, often recalling the work of Hawthorne. She
died at South Berwick, Maine, on the 24th of June 1909.
Among her publications are: _Deephaven_ (1877), a series of sketches;
_Old Friends and New_ (1879); _Country By-ways_ (1881); _A Country
Doctor_ (1884), a novel; _A Marsh Island_ (1885), a novel; _A White
Heron and other Stories_ (1886); _The King of Folly Island and other
People_ (1888); _Strangers and Wayfarers_ (1890); _A Native of Winby
and other Tales_ (1893); _The Queen's Twin and other Stories_ (1899),
and _The Tory Lover_ (1901), an historical novel.
JEWS (Heb. _Yehudi_, man of Judah; Gr. [Greek: Ioudaioi]; Lat.
_Judaei_), the general name for the Semitic people which inhabited
Palestine from early times, and is known in various connexions as "the
Hebrews," "the Jews," and "Israel" (see § 5 below). Their history may be
divided into three great periods: (1) That covered by the Old Testament
to the foundation of Judaism in the Persian age, (2) that of the Greek
and Roman domination to the destruction of Jerusalem, and (3) that of
the Diaspora or Dispersion to the present day.