RENAISSANCE NECKLACES, NECK-CHAINS, AND COLLARS
Necklaces or neck-chains worn by both sexes are a prominent feature in
Renaissance jewellery. Just as in primitive times the neck was encircled
by a torque, so at this later period it was the custom to carry heavy
chains of pure gold, which were worn in different ways, either round
the throat, or else upon the shoulders and low down over the breast.
Sometimes one long chain was wound several times round the neck so that
the uppermost row closely encircled the throat. Not satisfied with one,
women in particular occasionally wore as many as half a dozen chains of
different design covering the body from neck to waist.
From the fifteenth until the middle of the seventeenth century
neck-chains were a frequent adjunct to male costume, and allusion is
made to them in Barclay's _Ship of Fools_ (printed by Pynson in 1508):--
Some theyr neckes charged with colers, and chaynes
As golden withtthes: theyr fyngers ful of rynges:
Theyr neckes naked: almoste vnto the raynes;
Theyr sleues blasinge lyke to a Cranys wynges.
Men's necklaces, apart from the chains and collars of distinction
belonging to particular orders or guilds, seem to have been mostly of
pure gold, and in the reign of Henry VIII the fashion of wearing them
was carried to a most unreasonable excess. Hall speaks of the "nombre of
chaynes of golde and bauderickes both massy and grate" worn at the Field
of the Cloth of Gold, and of the "marveilous treasor of golde" thus
displayed. References to the extraordinary dimensions of these chains
show that they must have been extremely inconvenient to wear. Henry
VIII's Book of Payments records the payment in 1511 of £199 to the
goldsmith Roy for a chain of gold weighing no less than 98 ounces. This
is actually surpassed in Elizabeth's time, when Her Majesty received as
a New Year's gift in 1588 "one cheine of golde, weing one hundred
threescore and one ounce." Queen Mary had a heavy chain of gold made by
her jeweller, Robert Raynes, out of the angels received as New Year's
gifts;[155] and the curious custom of converting bullion into chains is
further exemplified in the case of Sir Thomas Gresham, the bulk of whose
wealth on his death in 1579 was found to consist of gold chains.
[155] Nichols (J.), _Illustrations of the manners and expenses
of ancient times in England_, Pt. III, p. 26.
Pictures without number exhibit these ponderous neck-ornaments, while
contemporary wills teem with references to them. That they were very
much worn in Shakespeare's time would be apparent had we no other
authority than his frequent allusion to them, as for instance in the
_Comedy of Errors_, where there is a great ado about a chain. Indeed, no
gentleman was considered properly equipped unless he had his chain of
gold upon his shoulders.
With regard to their form, it seems that chains which appear as though
made of plaited wire, and were known in mediæval times, remained still
in use. But the majority of chains are composed of rounded links of
various designs. They are usually of great length, so as to encircle the
neck and shoulders several times.
Extraordinarily common though such chains must have been, but few
examples have survived, and the reason for this must be that, composed
of pure metal, they went direct to the melting-pot as soon as they
became unfashionable. Yet owing to peculiar circumstances some still
exist. In the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg are preserved several
examples dating from the first quarter of the seventeenth century. These
formerly belonged to the Holtzendorff family, and were buried during the
Thirty Years' War, at Pinnow in North Germany, where they were unearthed
a few years ago.[156] Two gold chains dating from about the middle of
the same century are preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. They were
presented to Elias Ashmole: the one 29 inches long, formed of thirty-two
open-work quatrefoil links, by Christian V, King of Denmark, and the
other, of circular links, by the Elector of Brandenburg in 1680, on the
publication of the _History of the Order of the Garter_. The custom of
presenting chains of gold was as common then, it is to be observed, as
in the most ancient times. John Williams, jeweller of James I, was paid
sums amounting to upwards of £13,000 for chains of gold given by the
King to divers ambassadors.
[156] Nuremberg: Germanisches Museum. _Mitteilungen_, 1894, p. 73.
These heavy linked or twisted chains were worn principally by men, but
not exclusively, as is clear from numerous early portraits--those, for
instance, by the German painters Bernard Strigel and Lucas Cranach,
whose ladies (as in the portrait by Cranach in the National Gallery)
almost invariably have massive gold chains. Though generally composed of
metal rings, men's chains, especially those worn by men of high rank,
were occasionally composed of cylinders or plaques linked together and
enriched with enamel and precious stones. Such jewelled collars were,
however, chiefly reserved for women. Henry VIII's numerous portraits
generally show him adorned with magnificent collars set with pearls
and precious stones; and it is recorded that on the occasion of his
attending St. Paul's at the proclamation of peace in 1515 he wore a
collar thickly studded with the finest carbuncles, as large as walnuts.
Amongst the numerous collars mentioned in his inventory of 1526 is a
"carkayne of hearts, with a hand at each end, holding a device of a
goodly balasse garnished with five pearls and three diamonds, and a
hanging pearl."[157]
[157] _Letters and Papers_, IV, No. 1907.
The jewelled neck-chain worn by women, and composed of strings of
precious stones, "ropes of pearls", or of jewelled and enamelled
sections, is often represented in pictures as being gathered in a
festoon at the breast and hanging in loops at each side as low as the
waist. A chain of gold of this character--one amongst many similar
presented by the Earl of Leicester to Queen Elizabeth--was "made like a
pair of beads, containing eight long pieces, garnished with small
diamonds, and four score and one smaller pieces, fully garnished with
like diamonds."
Besides the chains or collars worn round the neck and upon the
shoulders, there were the actual necklets worn round the throat, and
often only distinguishable from the collar proper by their length (Pl.
XXXI, 1). These necklaces, or carcanets, which almost invariably had as
a central ornament an elaborate pendent jewel, are figured in such
profusion in sixteenth-century portraits, particularly by the painters
of the German school, that it is needless to mention particular
examples. In Henry VIII's time they were worn in great abundance. The
King loaded his wives with sumptuous jewels, and encircled their
throats--on which the axe was eventually to fall--with jewelled and
enamelled necklaces. The "carkyonetts" of Queen Elizabeth, of which she
received an immense number, were equally magnificent. A New Year's gift
in 1587 was a "carkyonett of golde, like halfe moones, garnished with
sparcks of rubyes and diamonds pendant, and one rowe of seede
perles."[158]
[158] Nichols, _Progresses of Queen Elizabeth_, II, p. 498.
The forms of the necklaces and jewelled neck-chains differ so much that
the reader must be referred to the various collections of this country
and the Continent. Occasionally necklaces of chain formation or of
plaited wire are set with stones, but of more frequent occurrence are
those where every single link shows a special development of a bijou
kind. In the Renaissance necklace every link is for the most part
treated as a symmetrical composition, either cartouche-shaped or of
pendent form. Hence it happens that in collections, as Herr Luthmer
suggests,[159] single links of this kind may occasionally be found
incorrectly classified under the title of "pendants." Those in existence
display a variety of very remarkable formations, for seldom are the
links exactly alike: generally a large and a small motive are arranged
alternately--a larger and more richly decorated central link being
inserted into the middle of the chain for the purpose of supporting or
introducing the rich pendent jewel. To this type belongs one of the most
noteworthy necklaces in existence, which now forms part of the Adolphe
Rothschild Bequest in the Louvre. It is of gold set with pearls and
precious stones, and is composed of twenty-two open-work links and a
pendant, all enamelled in relief, the eleven larger links and the
pendant containing each in separate compositions a story from the
history of the Passion. The groups of figures are of wonderful
execution, and in spite of their minute proportions are singularly
expressive, being worked in a delicate and at the same time most
resolute manner. When exhibited by the Countess of Mount Charles at the
Jewellery Exhibition at South Kensington in 1872, the jewel was thus
referred to: "This superb specimen of Italian Cinquecento work has been
attributed to Benvenuto Cellini, and is at least as good as anything
extant known to be by his hand." This cautious observation need not
disconcert one; for the jewel is too closely allied in style and
workmanship to the jewellery of South Germany of the second half of the
sixteenth century to permit of such attribution. Nevertheless it must
certainly be reckoned among the most elaborate examples of Cinquecento
jewellery that have come down to us.
[159] Luthmer, _Gold und Silber_, p. 100.
The great display of necklaces and long neck-chains ceased about the
middle of the seventeenth century. In common with other similar objects
they entirely disappeared in England during the Protectorate; nor were
they ever worn again in any greater profusion than they are at the
present day.
[Illustration: Design for a pendant by Jacques Androuet Ducerceau.]