RENAISSANCE GIRDLES AND GIRDLE PENDANTS
(MIRRORS, BOOKS, WATCHES, SCENT-CASES, AND POMANDERS)
The girdle is an important ornament in the dress of the Renaissance.
From the beginning of the sixteenth century it differs considerably from
the mediæval pattern already discussed. In place of the stiff hoop about
the hips, it was worn loosely across the body from above the right hip
down towards the left thigh, where the upper garment was passed over it
in a light fold. At this point was the clasp, from which hung numerous
small articles necessary to the active housewife. Another style of
wearing it, which appears to have been adopted for more sumptuous dress,
was one where it more firmly encircled the body, and from a clasp in
front, hung down in a long end, terminating in a special ornamental
appendage--a scent-case or pomander.
The common material was leather or stuff, such as was employed for men's
girdles. The long and narrow thong of leather, termed _courroye_, was
worn by all classes. Rows of such girdles are figured in the background
of Jost Amman's well-known woodcut of the _ceinturier_ in his workshop,
of the year 1594.
The majority of Renaissance girdles, confined solely to female attire,
were made entirely of silver or silver-gilt, and even of silvered or
gilded bronze. They took the form of flat chains composed of links,
generally with solid pieces in the shape of oblong plaques, of cast or
chased work, introduced at regular intervals. The solid parts,
particularly those that formed the clasps, were occasionally enriched
with enamels, precious stones, or engraved gems. The majority of
collections contain specimens of such girdles; but simpler kinds,
composed entirely of ring-shaped links, which, judging from numerous
Flemish, Dutch, and German portraits, must have been in very general use
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are much less frequently met
with. A good example of such, a chain in silver-gilt, of German work of
the second half of the sixteenth century, is preserved in the Musée du
Cinquantenaire at Brussels. It is formed of rounded grooved links. At
one end is a rosette-shaped girdle plate set with a white crystal, and
having a hook behind to catch into any link of the chain. The other end
terminates in a pear-shaped pomander 3½ inches long, and divided for
the reception of different cosmetics into two parts, united by a screw
from below.
A considerable number of girdles of leather or strips of material are
found mounted after the mediæval style with buttons or studs, and
instead of clasps, have buckles at one end, and at the other the
pendants or chapes common in earlier times.
It is not unusual to meet with girdles of Flemish or German work which,
though dating from the latter part of the seventeenth century, are
ornamented with Gothic patterns. The buckle and pendant (_mordant_),
deeply pierced with open-work tracery of flamboyant design, are
generally united by only a short thong, and are so overcharged with
ornament that it is doubtful if they could have been of any practical
use. Such objects appear in reality to be but specimens of their work
submitted by girdlers who were desirous of obtaining admission to the
Girdlers' Company. They serve to show how long-lived were Gothic
traditions among the guilds. Examples in silver or bronze gilt are to be
found in the Germanic Museum, Nuremberg, the Victoria and Albert Museum
(No. 2304-'55), the Waddesdon Bequest (No. 226), dated 1680, the Wallace
Collection (No. 783), dated 1709, and in many other public collections
(Pl. XXXVIII, 3).
A number of articles, both useful and ornamental, were suspended from
the girdle. For practical purposes the housewife carried at her side,
besides a knife, such objects as small scissors in a case, a purse, and
also her keys. Cases or étuis for knives were attached either by silken
cords or by chains. When cords were employed the cover of the étui was
furnished with loops on each side through which the cords slid. Open
quiver-like sheaths for knives hung by chains were often worn, in order
to display the rich decoration of the knife-heads.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXXVIII_ RENAISSANCE GIRDLES]
The Italianate costume, such as is found in the type of "Vanity" in
emblem books of the age, and which made its way everywhere, favoured the
addition of many other accessories to the girdles, such as fans, gloves,
looking-glasses, books, watches, scent-cases, and pomanders. Mirrors,
besides being worn from the neck, formed, as did miniature-cases, a
frequent pendant from the girdle. These were either in a frame of ivory
or goldsmith's work, or inserted in the fan. Stubbes, the censor of the
follies of his day, speaks of the looking-glasses which ladies carried
with them "wheresoever they go." Etienne (Stephanus) Delaune has left
eight engraved designs for hand mirrors of great beauty. Their handles
terminate with small rings for attachment by a chain to the girdle. In
the Louvre is an interesting pendent mirror-case, or rather back of a
mirror, formed of an oval plaque of glass encrusted with designs in
enamel on gold (_émail en résille sur verre_),[169] bearing the
inscription "Grace dedans, le lis-ha."
[169] Compare pp. 293 and 297. See Darcel (A.), _Notice sur émaux et
de l'orfévrerie_ (Louvre), p. 81. See also Labarte (J.), _Les arts
industriels_ (2nd ed., II, p. 136, 1873), "_L'émaillerie cloisonnée
sur cristal_."
Small books, mainly devotional, were also worn at the girdle. It appears
to have been a common practice for ladies to carry such books, and in
Lyly's _Euphues_ mention is made of "the English damoselles who have
theyr bookes tyed to their gyrdles." Queen Elizabeth had several.
Amongst the "juelles given to her Majestie at Newyere's-tyde," 1582, was
"a litle boke of golde enamuled, garnished and furnished with smale
diamondes and rubyes, with claspes, and all hanging at a chayne of
golde." The inventory of the jewels of the Duchess of Somerset, widow of
the Protector, in 1587, likewise contains "a booke of golde inamyled
blacke." Two drawings for small pendent books intended to be executed in
niello or black enamel appear amongst Holbein's designs for jewellery in
the British Museum; and the Earl of Romney possesses a small manuscript
Prayer Book in binding of enamelled gold of the same style.
The most magnificent book-cover in existence, provided with loops for
hanging by a chain to the girdle, is one preserved in the Victoria and
Albert Museum. It is of enamelled, repoussé gold, and has been ascribed
to Cellini. Of less beauty, though of great interest as an example of
English work, is the gold binding of a pendent Prayer Book in the
British Museum. The subjects on the sides, raised and enamelled, are the
Brazen Serpent, and the Judgment of Solomon, with English inscriptions
around. It is said to be the work of George Heriot of Edinburgh;[170]
and there is a tradition that it was worn by Queen Elizabeth. Whatever
associations this object may have had with Elizabeth, there is better
authority for such with regard to the small book of prayers, the
property of Lord Fitzhardinge, and one of the Hunsdon heirlooms. This
very interesting English jewel, measuring 2¼ by 2 inches, is of gold,
inlaid with black enamel, with a rosette of white enamel at each corner.
The centre of one cover is decorated with translucent red and green
enamel, that of the other with a shell cameo. It contains the last
prayer of King Edward VI in MS. written on vellum. The title runs: "The
Prayer of Kynge Edward the VI which he made the vj of Julij, 1553, and
the vij yere of his raigne, iij howres before his dethe, to him selfe,
his eyes being closed, and thinkinge none had herd him, the xvj yere of
his age." The book was worn by Queen Elizabeth at her girdle, and came
into the Berkeley family through her cousin, Lord Hunsdon (Pl. XXXV, 7).
[170] See p. 301.
The Earl of Leicester, it is recorded, presented Queen Elizabeth on New
Year's Day, 1581, with a long gold chain set with diamonds and "hanging
thereat a rounde clocke fullie garnished with dyamonodes, and an
appendante of diamondes hanging thearat." Though occasionally worn thus
suspended from the neck-chain, watches appear to have been more
frequently carried at the girdle--a position somewhat similar to that
which they subsequently occupied upon the chatelaine.
The honour of the invention of portable timepieces is probably due to
Peter Henlein, of Nuremberg, in the last quarter of the fifteenth
century, but it was not till a century later that they came into
anything like general use. The cases, which received the same beautiful
enrichment in the way of enamel-work and precious stones as was bestowed
on other personal ornaments of the time, were made _à jour_ to emit the
sound of the ticking and striking, and the lid was pierced with an
aperture over each hour, through which the position of the hand might be
seen.
The makers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries endeavoured to
vary as much as possible both the figure of the machine and the material
in which it was placed. Not only square, oval, octagonal, and cruciform
watches occur, but some in such fanciful shapes as death's-heads, books,
shells, acorns, tulips, pears, etc; while rock crystal (to render the
works visible) and other stones were often converted into cases. Oval
watches, known as "Nuremberg eggs", are usually reckoned among the
earliest, but this title was not given to watches till some time
after their invention, and as a matter of fact, according to Dr. Rée
(_Nürnberg_, p. 172), all egg-watches that have been preserved belong to
the seventeenth century. In Hollar's set of plates of the Four Seasons,
dated 1641, the lady representing Summer has on her left side depending
from her girdle an object of this shape, apparently a watch.
The most important pendent ornament to the girdle, from the present
point of view, is the pomander, the early history of which has already
been alluded to. Throughout the sixteenth, and until about the middle of
the century following, the pomander formed an almost invariable adjunct
to the girdle, and was occasionally, in the case of men, hung to the
long and heavy chains worn at that period round the neck.[171]
[171] I will have my pomander of most sweet smell,
Also my chains of gold to hang about my necke.
_Book of Robin Conscience_ (_circa_ 1600).
Most of the pendants still termed pomanders were, as has been already
noted, in reality cases for scents or different cosmetics; but from
their fruit-like shape, though often innocent of the original pomander
ball, they have retained the title, but solely, it would seem, in our
own language[172] (Pl. XXXI, 7).
[172] The only modern French word for the pomander is _cassolette_.
In German and Italian there is a tendency to revive the old titles
_Bisamapfel_ and _Oldano_.
LATER AND MODERN JEWELLERY