Portrait jewels: opulence and intimacy from the Medici to the Romanovs

Abstract

While cameo and intaglio portraits, other forms of deluxe jewelry, medals, and miniatures featuring famous personalities have been surveyed, a historian and curator of jewelry and engraved gems, notes that their settings have surprisingly not attracted as much attention. Covering periods from 16th to early 17th centuries Renaissance Europe to the Napoleonic to World War I eras, the author describes the pieces and names their designers in historical and personal contexts. A chapter is devoted to the portrait diamond from the Medici dynasty to the fall of the Romanovs.

Contents

Renaissance Europe, 1500-1625 -- The Baroque interpretation, 1625-1715 -- Eighteenth-century absolutism, elegance and sentiment, 1715-1800 -- Dynastic pride and private affection from Napoleon to World War I, 1800-1916 -- The portrait diamond, 1613-1906 -- The engraved diamond portrait.