Jewelry History in 18th Century – Late Baroque & Rococo

“Late Baroque” and “Rococo” can refer to the mode of art and architecture prevailed in the 18^th century. It is characterized with strong usage of creamy, pastel-like colors, asymmetrical designs, curves and gold. Unlike the more politically focused Baroque, the Rococo had more playful and often witty artistic themes. Wearing jewelry was still a representation of identity for the middle-class and rich people. Men and women at courts wearing sparkling gemstones set in gold, as well as buttons, buckles, brooches, hair ornaments, sword hilts, watches, corsages, earrings and necklaces, was a prototype of “court fashion” for the expanding middle classes to follow slavishly to display their status and wealth. 

Women's favor to large set of jewels in France had been inherited from the previous century. The trend of wearing the deep “décolleté” (low-cut or strapless garment), making necklace become the important ornament of adornment. Diamonds was prized for boosting sense of beauty and elegancy, as well as for drawing attention to handsome busts and neck, were usually faceted to enhance the effect of reflection from candlelight in grand formal occasions. In addition, necklaces often embellished with multiple central festoons and enriched by a central pendant in the shape of ribbon bow, cross or pearl-shaped drop. Dangling earrings in “pendelogue and girandole designs” (chandelier-like designs with pear shaped diamond) were also the hot matching items at that time.

In France, women's accessories industry became prosperous and jewelry-goods were more widely publicized. The traditional jewelry of pearls was augmented by sets of precious stones. Colored precious stones like emeralds, sapphires and rubies were used more frequently in jewelry. Lemon-yellow chrysoberyls and orange-pink topazes from Brazil also became fashionable in necklaces worn in the evening. Jewels as this kind were often worn with extravagant rows of stomacher clasps in formal occasions. 

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Good-quality colorless glass pastes, white topaz and rock crystal were extensively used as diamond simulants. They were finely produced in the extent that they could fool people who assumed what they saw were family heirlooms. Beautifully and skillfully crafted jewelry set in silver with foiled colored glass pastes became socially acceptable even among the aristocracy. Corresponding to the use of paste, the trend for wearing imitation jewelry began. Colored gems set in gold were often “foiled” behind to enhance the depth of color. Industrial Revolution brought the manufacturing forth to produce a great number of inexpensive jewel designers in the market, which was a milestone of the acceleration of true costume jewelry in the mid-19^th and then the 20^th century. 

A quite interesting presentation of ornament by the court fashion in France is that, feathers, flowers and jewels of all kinds were pinned on towered real and false hair which could be nearly a meter in height. Many women had to travel with their head outside the carriage, as their hairpieces were too tall to fit inside. To balance the hairstyles, most earrings were 2 inches (5 cm) long enough to reach almost to shoulders with simple and single-drop designs, or sophisticated chandelier shape with a large central stone surrounded by smaller ones. In the late 18^th century France, queen Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI's wife, was an aspirer of jewelry; she helped popularize large hair ornament of velvet, feathers, ribbons and imitation gems for pompon. Women's foreheads were decorated with forehead ornament, which was often being a gold pendant set with gemstones, which were often worn by women of tribes in Uzbekistan and Pre-Columbian Indians in America and India. 

Bow was a very popular motif. Bows were designed with drops in earrings and with miniatures in lockets which were worn around neck to draw people's attention to the bosom. Double bows in hair ornaments with trembling feathers and flowers were also favoured. From the late 18^th century through most of the 19^th, the Age of Romanticism brought people into nature. Bees, bugs of all kinds, frogs, turtles and even caterpillars were highly used motifs in jewelry.

Paste buckles were applied to shoes too. People like dressing themselves sparkled from head to toe, men's social standing could be told by the elegance and extravagance of his buckles, which were often festooned with jewels for decoration. Chatelaines and stomachers also became popular. Chatelaine, a metal jeweled ornament with hook-like clasp and chain for suspending keys, trinkets, scissors and small personal possessions, worn at the waist by women, started to be worn for the sake of beauty rather than practicality.  It was a fashion accessory that was often given as a wedding present from a husband to his bride. Chatelaines could be made of silver, brass, steel, leather, or fabric, depending on the financial status of the household. Men also wore chatelaines with their watches for decorative purpose.
 
While current of Rococo prevailed in France, the urban living English showed the desire for the much simpler pleasures of country living. The essence of classicism was brought to England by the educated men and women who studied in Germany and Italy. Jewelry expressing sentimental values and virtues were encouraged as an antidote to the excessive fashionable life. Long brooches, bracelets, rings, clasps and pendants with locks of hair, or inscribed with loving messages were worn everywhere. Simpler and more naturalistic floral designs were often found in accessories set with stones in excellent quality. Riviere was often considered among the most prestigious jewels women possessed, which was often characterized with stone-set pendent in cruciform shape or pear-shaped drop.

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