Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist – September 2019

Judith Kaufman both produce fi nely
fi nished gold pieces inspired by Re-
vival jewels of the late 19th century.
Younger artists have begun to
reinterpret former design styles in
their own ways. Loren Nicole cre-
ates high-karat gold revival jewelry
that “embodies the spirit of antiq-
uity,” using tools and techniques
goldsmiths invented centuries ago.
Doryn Wallach looks to the stylized
motifs and geometric patterns of Art
Deco jewelry and architecture.
To some degree, jewelry is always
circling back, echoing the past. The
trend we now call stacking was
standard practice (and far more ex-
treme) for indigenous people around
the world. In the 1840s, bracelets
were the primary — often the only —
item of jewelry worn, nearly always
in stacks. Victorians were prodigious
stackers of everything.
But the key to the success of most
revival jewelry is that it’s not a direct
copy of what came before but a
reinterpretation. Nineteenth century
Revival jewels are rarely mistaken

for the ancient originals on which

they were inspired. They are prod-

ucts of their time, fi nished with the

tools and symmetry of the Gilded

Age and designed to be worn with

Victorian fashions.

Likewise, contemporary revival

jewelry may echo the glory of An-

cient Rome or Egypt or Elizabethan

England, but it’s usually cleaner and

more streamlined, molded subtly

into forms that fi t jewelry as we

know and wear it today. We may

love to admire the intricate layers

of granulation, embellishment, and

beadwork found in ancient tombs,

but we’re not going to wear it to

a party. The trick of the successful

revivalist jeweler is embodied in the

word “revival,” which is, in one sense,

an improvement on something that

came before, a regeneration of

something outmoded into some-

thing fresh and desirable.

Layers of Meaning

Certain motifs have been surfac-

ing in jewelry since the beginning

of civilization, adapted on each

occasion for their own time. Most

19th-century cameos made some

reference to Classical myth. The dif-

ference between revivalist jewelers

and everyone else is that revivalists

tend to look to the ancient jeweler’s

renderings of those motifs — in

other words, the ancient jewelry

itself — rather than starting from

nature (or scratch).

“I like the layered meanings of

revival jewelry and the way they can

act as vehicles of storytelling,” says

Emily Stoehrer, jewelry curator at the

Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

As Game of Thrones reminded us,

animal motifs in ancient jewelry were

not just considered attractive, they

carried spiritual power — and the

power is strongest when the wearer

identifi es with the spirit animal. “Ani-

mals served an amuletic function as

symbols of protection,” says Stoeh-

rer. “Wearing these amulets was a

way to transfer the power of those

animals to the wearer.”

Beetles are a good example. The

large dung beetle of ancient Egypt

was a symbol of immortality and

resurrection, so not surprisingly

became a central motif found in

Egyptian tombs. Loren Nicole intro-

duced a new take on the scarab in

her most recent Egyptian-inspired

line that debuted at the Couture

show in June: sleek hammered

beetle earrings with diamonds set in

granulated gold heads.

Probably the most enduring ani-

mal in jewelry history is the snake,

design

Doryn Wallach

Gladiator Ring

1.05tcw blue sapphires, 18K satin yellow gold

PHOTO: COURTESY DORYN WALLACH

“Snakes have been

a motif in jewelry

throughout

history and

right up to

contemporary

times, with

great examples

by Bulgari and

Elsa Peretti. It’s

a theme that’s

intrigued artists

for thousands of

years for varying

reasons.”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 45