Fashion And Jewelry 431
social classes, but also to the fact that precious objects were rarely buried with
the dead, but instead were bestowed upon heirs. In addition to being a way of
exhibiting wealth and social standing, jewelry, furs, and costly garments were,
in fact, true and proper capital. It was precisely against such ostentation of
excessive luxury, especially with the onset of the fourteenth century, that rigid
sumptuary laws began emerging in Italy and Europe to limit the amount of
gold, pearls, and precious stones that could be worn and to prohibit the burial
of the dead with such jewelry.36 In Sardinia, too, similar laws were passed in
Domusnova, Villamassargia, Gonnesa, and Villa di Chiesa on 5 February 1346.37
Perhaps in order to get around these regulations or to avoid wasting a consider-
able estate, jewelry made of less valuable material, which imitated more pre-
cious metals or stones and often of fine execution, was buried with the dead.
Translated by Irina Oryshkevich
36 Maria Grazia Muzzarelli, Guardaroba medievale. Vesti e società dal XIII al XVI secolo
(Bologna, 1999), pp. 238–246.
37 Galoppini, Ricchezza e potere nella Sassari aragonese, p. 92.
Figure 16.12 Silver and gilt silver rings with flat setting and Agnus Dei incision, possibly
local production (14th–15th c.).