Re-Enactment of Renaissance Jewelry, continued

Concentrating on 1450-1500s Florence, by Vangelista di Antonio Dellaluna

If you haven't seen the history of jewelry essay, you might find it useful to visit there.

And... what not to wear.

Examples

Various 15th-century rings. Albert & Victoria Museum.
These are listed by Jacqueline Herald as, variously, "two rings of silver with niello" and "a thumb ring, gilt metal, set with a crystal", both from the fifteenth century. Niello referred to a darkening agent that was rubbed into silver to darken its recessed designs. The thumb ring looks like gold, with designs and words carved into its sides. You don't have to have a ring that has a gem in it to look period.

Master of the Baroncelli portraits, A Female Saint with a Donor and Two Women, ca. 1490. Courtauld Gallery, London. Detail.

A fascinating look at a style of jewelry one doesn't see often in this period. The young, very fashionable lady wears two necklaces. The first is simply a rope of pearls, possibly 8mm or 10m, doubled around her throat. It isn't common to see the pearls slung so low, but in a way it suggests the careless fashion that teenagers always seem to like showing off. The second necklace is a three-strand necklace made of dark beads, possibly the rocaille-sized ones just starting to be made in Italy. The choker features a striking central piece, possibly a clasp.

If you can see it, her gown, incidentally, laces up the front over a close-fitting underdress. The lacing rings are sewn to the outside of the gown, very close together. The young lady also wears a brooch on her sleeve, set with a man's head and three very large round pearls, and a swan-shaped brooch right on top of her head.

I'd just love to show you a better picture of this portrait, but I haven't found it yet. Any webcrawlers out there feel like finding me a copy online?

Pisanello, Portrait of Leonello d'Este, 1441. Detail.

Although somewhat earlier than our period, this shows one possible idea for decorations of a giornea, or tabard. Bright buttons are sewn along its edges, over an elaborately woven braided trim. While this figure wears no jewelry, his clothes are sumptuous -- a common way for men of the Renaissance to adorn themselves.

Tuscan School, drawing of a woman wearing a balzo, 1430. Detail.

Possibly one of the strangest adornments to come out of the Renaissance, the balzo, is shown here. Herald describes it as a frame of bent willow with a covering of something sumptuous, like velvet. Needless to say, it is purely ornamental.

Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Woman (believed to be Simonetta Vespucci, 1485. Florentine school.

This lovely young woman is believed to have been a lover of Giuliano Medici. She wears a necklace of many strands of thin metal, from which is hung a cameo pendant. This cameo is made of carnelian (a dark reddish-orange semiprecious stone) and was in the Medici family for quite some time.

Some actual jewelry of the period, including a cameo

This page last updated: July 10, 2009

All text copyright Vangelista di Antonio Dellaluna, except where otherwise noted. All portraits are understood to be copyright- free and are presented as research aids only.