“You can have all the cash you want for the house and all you want for your fal-lals. And if you like jewelry, you can have it but I'm going to pick it out. You have such execrable taste, my pet.”
--Gone with the Wind, Chapter XLVIII
On the heels of what certainly was our most somber post to date, we decided that we needed a much more lighthearted topic today to balance things out. (And, yes, never let it be said that we don't know how to kick off the weekend in style here at How We Do Run On, posting an entry on prison camps on a Friday evening.)
So on a much less grim note, today we bring you a discussion about the jewelry that could have found its way into Scarlett's jewelry box following her marriage to Rhett (provided, of course, that Mr. Butler didn't deem it execrable). As a handy visual aid to guide our discussion, I put together a collage that shows a possible glimpse into Scarlett's jewelry box, complete with all circa 1870 jewelry. You can scroll over any item to click on it and get more information, while below I've outlined some of the main trends in 1860-1870s era jewelry (which, of course, are all visible in the collage). A complete list of all jewelry pieces with links is also available after the jump at the end.
With the rise of the voluminous hoop skirt in the early 1860s, jewelry started to become larger and heavier in order to stay in proportion with the broad silhouettes of the time. And as the 1860s turned into the 1870s, ladies’ dress of course only got more elaborate with bustles and fringe and flounces and pleats galore--meaning big jewelry continued to rule supreme. And big often went hand in hand with dramatic details, like clustered gems, intricately engraved metals and tassel and fringe accents (examples of all of which you can find in the collage above).
Overall, the general motto of the time pretty much was "bigger is better." Massive jewelry was seen as not only conveying high-quality, but durability. So Scarlett’s love of gaudy jewelry, while perhaps on the outer boundaries of what we’d call tasteful today, was well aligned with her era’s standards. Just forget that part where MM said that "It was an era that suited her, crude, garish, showy, full of over-dressed women, over-furnished houses, too many jewels..." Oh well.
Color, Color and More Color.
Not only was jewelry of the period generally oversized, it was also awash in colors--so many colors of gems, in fact, that I will gladly let Harold Clifford Smith, author of Jewellry (1908), take over and provide you with a full account:
“The general tendency lay in the direction of the coloured stones popular in ancient times — the topaz, peridot, aquamarine, and amethyst; together with precious stones, such as emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, and with pearls. The latter were generally reserved only for the most sumptuous ornaments, but were occasionally used in conjunction with jewels of less value. The stones most commonly used were carnelians, moss-agates, turquoises, garnets, pink and yellow topazes, as well as coral, mingled together.”
--excerpted from Jewellery (1908)
In the collage, you'll find the following rainbow of gemstones on display: garnets, amethysts, peridots, pearls, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, citrines, and turquoise.
The quote excerpted above actually offers us another clue about period jewelry, with its mention of "stones popular in ancient times." For the Victorians were just wild about ancient cultures, especially those falling within in the Greco-Roman tradition and, more broadly, all things Italian (as we'll see with the Etruscan Revival). Out of this fascination came the revival of the cameo style. Cameos first returned to jewelry boxes in the late 18th century, thanks in part to Napoleon's interest in the Roman world, but would only become widespread starting in the mid-Victorian era. Cameos were made out of a variety of materials--shell, lava, coral, ivory, jet, onyx, and even gemstones--and, beginning in the 1860s, they became larger and more ornate (shocker). So in homage to this trendy style, we have a fancy pair of cameo earrings on display for you in the collage.
Trust in the Etruscan Revival.
I wasn't lying when I said the Victorians were wild about ancient cultures. In fact, jewelry of the 1860-1870s featured too many 'revivals' of ancient and medieval jewelry styles to count. But one of the most popular was what was called the Etruscan or Archaeological Revival. As its name suggested, it got its inspiration from the archaeological digs in Italy which unearthed gold treasures from the ancient Etruscan civilization. The Etruscan style featured an intricate form of metal decoration called "granulation." A nice period description of the technique can be found in a 1877 account from Harper's New Monthly Magazine:
"[I]t is found that the effect is produced by minute globes of gold, each one perfectly round and smooth, soldered on the surface in exact lines, each globe touching the next... How were they made, and how were they soldered on in such absolutely true lines? The ablest gold-workers in America (and that is to say the ablest in the world) tell us they cannot explain it."
Although gold-workers might not be able to explain how their ancient predecessors created the technique, they were certainly able to reproduce it themselves--and reproduce it they did in droves. You can find several examples of the Etruscan Revival in our collage (the Etruscan pendant necklace, the love-knot brooch-pin, the fringed earrings, and Archaeological Revival bracelet). Additionally, close-up looks at the granulation technique can be seen here and here.
Diamonds Become a Girl’s Best Friend.
Prior to 1871, only alluvian diamonds (diamonds discovered via the natural erosion of earth) were available. So it's no surprise that diamonds were extremely rare and expensive in the early Victorian era. But the discovery of diamonds in South Africa in 1866, followed by the opening of the Kimberley mine in 1871, started to change that, kicking off a 'diamond rush' of fresh supplies of the highly coveted stone and making diamond jewelry the height of style. While still the purview of the wealthy, diamonds increased availability meant more diamonds in more jewelry, allowing it to become the new best friend of a whole era of well-to-do Victorian women, perhaps our dear Scarlett included.
So that in a nutshell (or a jewelry box) concludes our look into Scarlett's jewelry. Wouldn't it be nice to borrow a piece or two from her collection?
