From Gemstones to Jewellery 59clothing not because it is absolutely precious but because it plays a
crucial role in making clothing mean something. It is the meaning in
a style which now becomes precious and this meaning depends, not
on each element, but on the link between them and in this link it is the
detached term (a pocket, a flower, a scarf, a piece of jewellery) that
holds the ultimate power of signification. This is a truth that is not only
analytical but also poetic: this great journey across centuries and across
societies, from the gemstone to jewellery, is the very same itinerary
that has transformed the cold and luxurious stones in the Baudelairian
universe into those trinkets, pieces of jewellery and next-to-nothings in
which mallarmé could then enclose a whole metaphysics of the new
power of man to make the tiniest of things have meaning.
Note
1 Published in Jardin des Arts, 77 (april), 1961; Oeuvres complètes vol. 1,
911–14.