jewellery essay

Essays on Jewellery

A history of jewellery

Ancient world jewellery

Jewellery is a universal form of adornment. Jewellery made from shells, stone and bones survives from prehistoric times. It is likely that from an early date it was worn as a protection from the dangers of life or as a mark of status or rank.

In the ancient world the discovery of how to work metals was an important stage in the development of the art of jewellery. Over time, metalworking techniques became more sophisticated and decoration more intricate.

Gold, a rare and highly valued material, was buried with the dead so as to accompany its owner into the afterlife. Much archaeological jewellery comes from tombs and hoards. Sometimes, as with the gold collars from Celtic Ireland which have been found folded in half, it appears people may have followed a ritual for the disposal of jewellery.

This collar was found in a bog in Shannongrove, Co. Limerick, Ireland, sometime before 1783. We do not know what it was used for, but it was probably a ceremonial collar. On the inner side of the collar, under each of the circular terminals, is a hole. The collar probably rested on the chest and was held in place by a chain running between the two holes and passing round the back of the neck.

Medieval jewellery 1200–1500

The jewellery worn in medieval Europe reflected an intensely hierarchical and status-conscious society. Royalty and the nobility wore gold, silver and precious gems. Lower ranks of society wore base metals, such as copper or pewter. Colour (provided by precious gems and enamel) and protective power were highly valued. Some jewels have cryptic or magical inscriptions, believed to protect the wearer.

Until the late 14th century, gems were usually polished rather than cut. Size and lustrous colour determined their value. Enamels - ground glasses fired at high temperature onto a metal surface - allowed goldsmiths to colour their designs on jewellery. They used a range of techniques to create effects that are still widely used today.

The images decorating the back of this cross were often used as a focus for meditation in the late medieval period. The scenes on the lid show the Instruments of the Passion - scourge, whip, lance, sponge and nails - which were used during the Crucifixion. A tiny fragment of one of them may have formed a relic, stored within the cross’s now empty interior. Pearls symbolised purity, and the red gems may have symbolised sacrificial blood shed by Christ.

Renaissance jewellery

Renaissance jewels shared the age's passion for splendour. Enamels, often covering both sides of the jewel, became more elaborate and colourful and advances in cutting techniques increased the glitter of stones.

The enormous importance of religion in everyday life could be seen in jewellery, as could earthly power - many spectacular pieces were worn as a display of political strength. The designs reflect the new-found interest in the classical world, with mythological figures and scenes becoming popular. The ancient art of gem engraving was revived and the use of portraits reflected another cultural trend - an increased artistic awareness of the individual.

Particular types of stone were thought to protect against specific ailments or threats, ranging from toothache to the evil eye. They could also encourage or banish such characteristics as bravery or melancholy. This scorpion etching dates from the 2nd or 1st century BC but has been reused in a medieval ring. Carved Greek or Roman stones were highly valued in the middle ages. They were found in excavations or in surviving earlier pieces of jewellery and traded across Europe. The scorpion had an enduring reputation as a protective amulet. It was believed to heal patients from poisoning and also, as symbol of the Zodiac sign Scorpio, it was associated with water and therefore believed to have a cooling effect on fever. Remedies against poisoning were also made by infusing scorpions in oil and herbs. The Medici Grand Duke Francesco I (d. 1587) published a recipe for an anti-poison oil effective against 'all sorts of poisons ingested by mouth, stings and bites'.

17th-century jewellery

By the mid-17th century, changes in fashion had introduced new styles of jewellery. While dark fabrics required elaborate gold jewellery, the new softer pastel shades became graceful backdrops for gemstones and pearls. Expanding global trade made gemstones ever more available. Advances in cutting techniques increased the sparkle of gemstones in candlelight.

The most impressive jewels were often large bodice or breast ornaments, which had to be pinned or stitched to stiff dress fabrics. The swirling foliate decoration of the jewels shows new enthusiasm for bow motifs and botanical ornaments. The central bow in this necklace is a magnificent example of a mid-17th century jewel. The painted opaque enamel was a recent innovation, said to have been developed by a Frenchman, Jean Toutin of Châteaudun. This striking colour combination was frequently used in enamels around this date.

18th-century jewellery

The end of the previous century had seen the development of the brilliant-cut with its multiple facets. Diamonds sparkled as never before and came to dominate jewellery design. Frequently mounted in silver to enhance the stone's white colour, magnificent sets of diamond jewels were essential for court life. The largest were worn on the bodice, while smaller ornaments could be scattered over an outfit.

Owing to its high intrinsic value, little diamond jewellery from this period survives. Owners often sold it or re-set the gems into more fashionable designs.

From around 1640, light swords with short, flexible, pointed blades appeared in response to new fencing techniques that emphasised thrusting at speed. They were worn increasingly with civilian clothes as ‘small swords’, offering a means of self-defence but largely denoting status for the well-dressed gentleman.

Small swords were items of male jewellery. By the 1750s, their elaborate gold and silver hilts, mounted with precious stones and fine enamelling, were the products of the goldsmith and jeweller rather than the swordsmith. They were often given as rewards for distinguished military and naval service.

This sword is inscribed: ‘PRESENTED by the Committee of Merchants &c OF LONDON to LIEUT.T FRANCIS DOUGLAS for his Spirited and active conduct on board His Majesty’s Ship the REPULSE. Ja.s Alms Esq.r Commander during the MUTINY at the NORE in 1797. Marine Society Office, May 1o 1798 } Hugh Inglis Esq.r Chairman’.

Francis Douglas was rewarded for his role in suppressing a violent mutiny among sailors at the Nore, a Royal Navy anchorage in the Thames Estuary in 1797. According to an account by an eyewitness, published in The Sheerness Guardian 70 years later, the ship, Repulse, made a 'miraculous' escape from the mutineers reaching shore despite receiving 'as was calculated two hundred shot'.

James Morisset, one of London’s most celebrated makers of enamelled gold dress-swords and boxes, was commissioned to produce this sword.

19th-century jewellery

The 19th century was a period of huge industrial and social change, but in jewellery design the focus was often on the past. In the first decades classical styles were popular, evoking the glories of ancient Greece and Rome. This interest in antiquities was stimulated by fresh archaeological discoveries. Goldsmiths attempted to revive ancient techniques and made jewellery that imitated, or was in the style of, archaeological jewellery.

There was also an interest in jewels inspired by the Medieval and Renaissance periods. It is a testament to the period's eclectic nature that jewellers such as the Castellani and Giuliano worked in archaeological and historical styles at the same time.

Naturalistic jewellery, decorated with clearly recognisable flowers and fruit, was also popular for much of this period. These motifs first became fashionable in the early years of the century, with the widespread interest in botany and the influence of Romantic poets such as Wordsworth. This large spray of assorted flowers has a pin fastening at the back and would have been worn as a bodice ornament. Some of the diamond flowers are set on springs, which would increase their sparkle considerably as the wearer moved. Individual flower sprays could be removed and used as hair ornaments.

By the 1850s the delicate early designs had given way to more extravagant and complex compositions of flowers and foliage. At the same time, flowers were used to express love and friendship. The colours in nature were matched by coloured gemstones, and a 'language of flowers' spelt out special messages. In contrast with earlier periods, the more elaborate jewellery was worn almost exclusively by women.

Arts & crafts jewellery

Developing in the last years of the 19th century, the Arts and Crafts movement was based on a profound unease with the industrialised world. Its jewellers rejected the machine-led factory system - by now the source of most affordable pieces - and instead focused on hand-crafting individual jewels. This process, they believed, would improve the soul of the workman as well as the end design.

Arts and Crafts jewellers avoided large, faceted stones, relying instead on the natural beauty of cabochon (shaped and polished) gems. They replaced the repetition and regularity of mainstream settings with curving or figurative designs, often with a symbolic meaning.

The designer of this brooch, C. R. Ashbee, was a man of immense talents and energy and a defining figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement. In 1888 he founded the Guild of Handicraft in the East End of London with the intention of reviving traditional craft skills and providing satisfying employment in a deprived area of the city. Trained originally as an architect, he is known also for his highly innovative furniture, metalwork, silver and jewellery designs.

The peacock was one of Ashbee's favourite and most distinctive motifs and he is known to have designed about a dozen peacock jewels in the years around 1900. Family tradition is that this brooch was designed for his wife, Janet. It was made by Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft Ltd. at Essex House on the Mile End Road, London.

Art Nouveau jewellery and the Garland style 1895–1910

The Art Nouveau style caused a dramatic shift in jewellery design, reaching a peak around 1900 when it triumphed at the Paris International Exhibition.

Its followers created sinuous, organic pieces whose undercurrents of eroticism and death were a world away from the floral motifs of earlier generations. Art Nouveau jewellers like René Lalique also distanced themselves from conventional precious stones and put greater emphasis on the subtle effects of materials such as glass, horn and enamel.

However, the style's radical look was not for everyone or for every occasion. Superb diamond jewellery was made in the 'garland style', a highly creative re-interpretation of 18th- and early 19th-century designs.

The maker of this orchid hair ornament, Philippe Wolfers, was the most prestigious of the Art Nouveau jewellers working in Brussels. Like his Parisian contemporary René Lalique, he was greatly influenced by the natural world. These exotic orchids feature in the work of both. The technical achievement of enamelling in plique-a-jour (backless) enamel on these undulating surfaces is extraordinary.

Art Deco jewellery to the 1950s

Although buffeted by cycles of boom, depression and war, jewellery design between the 1920s and 1950s continued to be both innovative and glamorous. Sharp, geometric patterns celebrated the machine age, while exotic creations inspired by the Near and Far East hinted that jewellery fashions were truly international. New York now rivalled Paris as a centre for fashion, and European jewellery houses could expect to sell to, as well as buy from, the Indian subcontinent.

Dense concentrations of gemstones are characteristic of Art Deco jewellery. From about 1933 gold returned to fashion, partly because it was cheaper than platinum.

Artists and designers from other fields also became involved in jewellery design. Their work foreshadows the new directions jewellery would take.

This brooch commemorates the breaking of the World Land Speed Record by Captain George Eyston in 1937. The car depicted is Thunderbolt, which Captain Eyston designed, built and drove. It was powered by two aero engines made by the firm of Rolls-Royce, which presented the brooch to Captain Eyston’s wife.

Contemporary jewellery

Since the 1960s the boundaries of jewellery have been continually redefined. Conventions have been challenged by successive generations of independent jewellers, often educated at art college and immersed in radical ideas.

New technologies and non-precious materials, including plastics, paper and textiles, have overturned the notions of status traditionally implicit in jewellery.

Avant-garde artist-jewellers have explored the interaction of jewellery with the body, pushing the boundaries of scale and wearability to the limits. Jewellery has developed into wearable art. The debate on its relationship to Fine Art continues.

Find out more in our book, Jewels & Jewellery .

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Nineteenth-century american jewelry.

Pair of Earrings with Snap-on Covers

Tiffany & Co.

Marcus and Co.

• Jaques & Marcus

Masonic Medal

Possibly engraved by C. Foote

Cameo by George W. Jamison

Manufactured by India Rubber Comb Company

Florence Koehler

Edward Burr

Belt Buckle

Manufactured by California Jewelry Co.

Corsage Piece

Louis C. Tiffany

• Riker Brothers

• Unger Brothers

Beth Carver Wees The American Wing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2004

The significance of jewelry made and owned in America extends beyond the realm of personal adornment to encompass social customs and craft practices as well as stylistic and technical developments. Like domestic silver , jewelry is both utilitarian and a distinct marker of social status. Also like silver, jewelry is often personalized with engraved inscriptions or monograms that help to tell its story ( 2000.532 ). The history of jewelry in America illuminates international trade practices, for although many objects were made in this country, others were imported from abroad. Exotic materials in particular, such as coral ( 2000.564.1 ), helmet conch shell ( 2000.562 ), and diamonds ( 41.84.20a-e ), could often be acquired only from afar.

The American jewelry industry gradually grew from small workshops to large factories and from handcraftsmanship to increasingly mechanized production. By the mid-nineteenth century, American jewelers were able to supply their patrons with a wide range of objects, including gold and silver jewelry and medals ( 2000.544 ); hair jewelry to memorialize or honor a loved one ( 2000.557 ; 2000.556 ); and brooch-and-earring sets inspired by French or English models ( 2000.549.1 ). Cameos , whether carved here or imported from Italy, were especially prized. Rarely, as in the case of a cameo depicting Andrew Jackson ( 2000.562 ), the cameo cutter signed his work for posterity. Seed pearl jewelry ( 2003.350.2 ) became fashionable during the Federal period , particularly as gifts to a bride. This jewelry, made from hundreds of tiny pearls imported from China or India, remained popular into the early twentieth century.

The collection of American jewelry at the Metropolitan Museum enables us to study a variety of materials and techniques, such as different types of enameling, a process that involves heating vitreous enamels to bond them to a metal surface. In champlevé enameling ( 2000.571 ), for instance, a design is cut into the metal surface and the enamel fused into the hollow reserves, while in plique-à-jour ( 2001.331 ), transparent enamels are set within a pierced metal framework similar to stained glass . At times the jewelry industry has benefited from scientific developments, such as Charles Goodyear’s invention of Vulcanite in 1836. Made from India rubber treated with sulfur, Vulcanite provided a durable and practical substitute for imported tortoiseshell ( 2000.561 ). The California Gold Rush of 1849 was one of the most important events in the history of American jewelry. Although gold had been mined in Georgia and North Carolina since the 1820s, its discovery in the West coincided with the ceding of California, Texas, and the American Southwest to the United States.

Diamond jewelry became very popular during the nineteenth century, spurred by growing prosperity and increased supplies worldwide ( 41.84.20a-e ; 2001.234a-d ). Colored gemstones were also highly prized. Late-century jewelry designs, including Egyptian and Renaissance ( 2001.238 ) revivals , reflect contemporary interest in historical styles. During the 1880s, a fashion arose for jewelry made from ancient coins or for die-stamped silver disks imitating coins. The centuries-old process of die-stamping was both efficient and affordable ( 2001.335 ), and silver became more readily available to Americans following the discovery in 1859 of the Comstock Lode in Nevada.

At the end of the nineteenth century, jewelry designers were embracing the Art Nouveau style with its interest in natural and asymmetrical forms ( 2001.330 ). More humble materials, such as enamels, opals, moonstones, and baroque pearls, replaced diamonds and precious stones ( 2001.246 ; 2001.239 ). One of the most talented and experimental artists of the period, Louis Comfort Tiffany , turned his attention to jewelry design around 1904, producing exquisite creations inspired by nature ( 46.168.1 ). Developing alongside Art Nouveau was the English-born Arts and Crafts movement , which strove to revive handcraftsmanship in an era of increased machine production. Somewhat less free-spirited than Art Nouveau designers, proponents of the Arts and Crafts aesthetic shared their passion for nature, modest materials, and artistic freedom ( 52.43.1 ; 52.43.2 ; 52.43.3 ). Although these design movements waned after World War I, Americans’ enthusiasm for handcrafted jewelry continues to this day.

Wees, Beth Carver. “Nineteenth-Century American Jewelry.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ajew/hd_ajew.htm (October 2004)

Further Reading

Fales, Martha Gandy. Jewelry in America, 1600–1900 . Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K.: Antique Collectors' Club, 1995.

Additional Essays by Beth Carver Wees

• Wees, Beth Carver. “ Architecture, Furniture, and Silver from Colonial Dutch America .” (October 2003)
• Wees, Beth Carver. “ Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate in Early Colonial America .” (October 2003)
• Wees, Beth Carver. “ Paul Revere, Jr. (1734–1818) .” (October 2003)
• Wees, Beth Carver. “ Nineteenth-Century American Silver .” (October 2004)
• Wees, Beth Carver. “ American Silver Vessels for Wine, Beer, and Punch .” (August 2010)

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Artist or Maker

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The contemporary jewelry perspective. Meanings and evolutions of a necessary practice.

2021, Journal of Jewellery Research – Volume 04

The essay affirms the legitimacy of contemporary jewelry practice as a meaningful form of cultural production that cuts across the fields of design, art, and industrial production. The analysis is double and concerns the meaning of the ornament, and its projection to future scenarios defined by renovated instances and digital technologies. Concerning the ornamentation's debate, it has been at the center of the entire 20th century, from Loos to Morris, Bloch to Maldonado right up to the present day. The question has mainly focused on the usefulness of decoration, the aesthetics and its value. Following the instances of contemporaneity, the objects move now in a multi-faceted direction, aimed at asking questions and expressing concepts, and becoming, in this sense, narrative and relational "subjects". In the jewel object, where uselessness constitutes its immense wealth and uniqueness, the issue becomes complex since its existence is related mainly to a series of functions that are not practical but communicative, and identifiable as intimately useful. Far from a short-term inspiration, the contemporary jewelry designer has necessarily fed on a cultured design study, expressing the vision of the world he wants to communicate. It is not just a matter of embellishing people through an ornament, but of incorporating immaterial values, creating an object- thought capable of stimulating the mind and producing knowledge. Thinking about the future scenario of this design approach, the international debate on jewelry requires new perspectives, focused on deepening the discipline towards the main issues of the current era. In the face of changes such as Industry 4.0 and widespread digitalization, it is no surprise that contemporary jewelry starts to need exploring a broader spectrum of topics, including sustainability, technologies, politics and social issues that most influence today's society.

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Contemporary Jewelry is at a turning point. It is no longer possible to think of jewelry exclusively as a luxury item, linked only to the preciousness of the materials and techniques. In an era where every product has already been consumed, produced and distributed globally, jewelry design discipline is faced with a more difficult and complex challenge. That concerns the possibility to be able to think again itself from a conceptual and communicative point of view, so as to be an invitation to a thought that stimulates action and debate, even on questions of an ethical, social and political nature, apparently far from this specific design field. (...) About the Anthropocene topic, one of the most interesting aspects of this operation lies in placing it as a catalyst concept of design practice, which unfolds both in an intellectual and material way, in order to actively involve society in this developing phenomenon. No longer, therefore, only jewelry projects aimed at obtaining an optimistic vision of the real, but design pieces that seeks to give rise to a debate, asking questions without necessarily having to provide immediate and comfortable answers.

Global Fashion Conference

Thayane Tavares

The purpose of this research is to understand how the traditional values of self-adornment through jewelry interact with these new technology-driven cultures. With this research we sought to discuss how the adoption of new technologies has an impact on jewelry design, producing new technology-driven design and new jewelry habitat cultures. Methodology: To answer this, a bibliographic review was carried out providing a theoretical foundation to address the topic. This review was based on two axes: jewelry design and new technologies for the field. First, we discuss the material and immaterial characteristics of jewelry. With this, we sought to understand how jewelry is a medium that combines meaning and material for the expression and communication of individuals and social groups. Afterward relevant new technologies for jewelry design and innovative cases of use were selected through documentary research based on the innovation of meaning (Verganti, 2016) approach. The objective of this documentary research was to understand how these designers and companies explore the expressive potential of new technologies in jewelry design. Findings: Evidence found through such research methodologies provides valuable insight into discussions about the future of jewelry design. The cases selected reveal that it is possible to generate products with innovative meanings when displacing technologies of their traditional and expected roles.

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Course Description: This course looks at jewelry throughout history and from around the world. We will explore aesthetics, design, materials, and production techniques across cultures. We will investigate the role of adornment in conveying gender and identity, and also consider cultural perspectives of jewelry as sacred and magical. Prerequisite(s): N/A Co-requisite(s): N/A Learning Goals: Students who successfully complete this course will develop the visual skills and critical vocabulary for identifying, describing, and contextualizing works of jewelry representative of diverse world cultures. Students will develop a critical, interdisciplinary approach to jewelry, incorporating art historical, anthropological, fashion, and identity theory. We will study jewelry, itself, as a primary resource, considering individual elements of jewelry and their incorporation into dress ensembles. In addition, we will consider the representation of jewelry elements and ensembles in art, literature, and contemporary media to better understand its roles in various culture.

Gemme e Gioielli: Storia e Design.

Through a series of photographs in which self-produced jewelry is mixed with mood boards and self-portraits, the contribution tries to highlight the practice- based reflexive approach experimented in the Fashion Laboratory 2 of the Three- year BA Fashion Design course. Here, the ornaments constructed - and exhibited at the end of the course - are superimposed on the images that generated and guided them, according to a renewed relationship between thought, visual culture, and matter. In this perspective, the object is seen as a micro- space for the physical and sensorial exploration of a new manual skill, expressed both through the adoption of traditional processes and the use of innovative techniques and computerized tools. The result that emerges is a corpus of 60 pieces of jewelry, made using a critical making methodology that opens up the goldsmith’s project to new aesthetics and meanings, in favor of a contemporary jewel seen as a statement.

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This lecture considers the impact on the art jewellery field of new creative works emerging from the East and South. As a way of framing this difference, it offers the alternative model of Renaissance to the hitherto dominant modernism. This was originally presented at Florence Jewellery Week, organised by Le Arti Orafe on 26 May 2017 in conjunction with an exhibition of Iranian contemporary jewellery, Jwahr: New Iranian and Persian Jewellery. An abridged version of this has been published in Art Jewelry Forum.

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This book offers an essential reference for anyone interested in contemporary European jewellery design. Through guided conversations with the major designers of today, Roberta Bernabei reveals the creative, conceptual and technical working practices that underpin the aesthetic of each practitioner's work. In addition, the dialogues shed new light on these jewellers' inspiration and their ideas about functionality and the human body. In the book, each interview is supported by photographs, a detailed bibliography and an appendix that locates the jewellers' work in galleries, museums as well as online. Major jewellery artists present include: Giampaolo Babetto, Gijs Bakker, Otto Künzli, Ruudt Peters, Mario Pinton and Tone Vigeland, alongside members of the emergent generation: Ted Noten, Annamaria Zanella and Christoph Zellweger. Book published by Bloomsbury (ex Berg) in 2011.

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This exegesis outlines research undertaken in the studio in tandem with the study of theoretical texts along with analysis of work by contemporary artists and metalsmiths. My studio approach is framed within ethical approaches to use of material and sustainable practices in production. The use of non-precious materials in contemporary jewellery is well established as a method to critique preciousness and question value, as is the reuse and repair of component parts of existing jewellery part of a global recycle movement across many disciplines. The work created in this project aims to investigate a wider use of humble materials and broken or discarded consumer objects by investigating the potential for exploiting their symbolic power and functional possibilities through reimagining as well as repurposing as jewellery. In demonstrating that jewellery can offer a critical reflection on contemporary society this project aims to also reinvigorate the important role jewellery has played ...

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Guy de Maupassant’s “The Jewelry”: Summary, Literary Elements, and Character Analysis Essay

“the jewelry” by guy de maupassant summary, “the jewelry” by guy de maupassant literary elements and character analysis, comparisons between “the jewelry” and “the necklace”, works cited.

In “The Jewelry”, Guy de Maupassant attempts to develop irony using the lives of urban people, especially due to the decline of morals in the society (Bloom 22). Set in Paris, Maupassant’s story revolves around the life of Mr. Latin, a chief clerk at the French Ministry of Interior and his wife, a Mrs. Latin.

However, the actual name of the wife remains unknown to the reader throughout the story. At the beginning, the reader is introduced to the first meeting between Mr. Latin and his wife, which took place at the house of a superintendent. Latin immediately falls in love with the young and innocent women. This short story focuses more on Character and irony than it does to other literary techniques.

The quote: According to Maupassant, the girl first appears “…very ideal of a pure and good woman to whom every young man can entrust” (Maupassant The Jewelry 634). This quote is one of the most important indications of the wife’s character, and is actually an irony because the woman was not pure but a prostitute in disguise.

After the marriage, the couple’s first six years are full of happiness and mutual understanding. However, the wife has a passion for “fake” jewelry and “fake” theatres. Despite this, the wife is a good housekeeper, neat and decent. These characteristics provide Mr. Latin with a luxurious life.

In their sixth year of marriage, the wife went out to the opera one cold night, but later came “back home freezing” (Maupassant The Jewelry 635). She got a bad cough and within one week, she died from pneumonia. Mr. Latin’s was unable to touch or change anything owned by his late wife because they reminded him of her and her love for him.

Due to inability to meet the domestic, Mr. Latin decides to sell his wife’s jewels, but he is surprised to realize that they were genuine and worth thousands of Francs. The reader concludes that she must have been an immoral woman who was ready to betray his husband to get a decent lifestyle. Mr. Latin decides to sell every jewel owned by the late wife, quits his job and uses the money to fund his life.

From this story, it is clear that Maupassant focuses on character and irony. First, the character of Mrs. Latin is questionable. While she presents as a decent and loving wife, the author provides the reader with a clue that she must have been cheating on the husband. She is possessed with the love for jewelry, decent lifestyle and entertainment.

After her death, the husband realizes that his little salary could not support such a life, which prompts him to sell the jewelries. In the jeweler’s store, Mr. Latin realizes that the wife must have had another source of income, yet she was not open to him. He realizes that she must have been practicing prostitution, something that could have made her love going out at night.

The character of Mr. Latin is also questionable. For instance, despite spending six years with his wife, he had completely failed to realize or even suspect the other side of his wife. He had not even thought how much the wife was spending to keep the house and purchase her jewelries. In fact, he is presented as a very insensitive but humble person. It would be unrealistic of him to put much trust on his wife.

Apart from character, the story emphasizes more on irony. It is ironic that the wife is first presented as a decent and innocent young woman, whose looks would attract any young man. This is ironic because Maupassant later exposes the other side of her life, which makes the reader suspect that she must have been a prostitute.

Secondly, it is ironic that she lives with a low-income earner, yet she has a high income she keeps as a secret. It is also ironic for the young woman to have massive sources of income, yet she looks simple and innocent, and even uses the benefits of her immorality to please his husband. Finally, it is ironic for Mr. Latin to live with her for six years and fail to note her other side of life.

Although these two stories are quite different, they are both revolving around the lives of women who are possessed with the love for material things and specifically jewels.

The theme of possession of characters, especially women, is quite similar. The two stories further provide an insight into the ability of women to influence their husbands in an urban setting (Jackson 61). While Mrs. Latin is able to cheat on her husband for more than six years just to obtain jewels and live a decent life, Madame Loisel influences her husband to spend almost every cent on her makeup (Roberts 53).

Finally, the two stories revolve around how women in an urban setting take any risk to find happiness in their lives. Madame Loisel goes out borrowing large sums of money to spend on her necklace and makeup (Maupassant The Necklace 47). In her part, Mrs. Latin takes the risk of cheating on his husband to obtain a decent life and jewels.

Bloom, Harold. Guy De Maupassant. New York, NY: Infobase publishing, 2001. Print.

Jackson, Stanley. Guy De Maupassant . London: Duckworth publishers, 1998. Print.

Maupassant, Guy De. The Necklace. Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing, 2005. Print.

—. The Jewelry. Edinburg, UK: Edinburg University Press, 2007. Print.

Roberts, Edgar. Writing Themes About Literature . Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2023, October 29). Guy de Maupassant's "The Jewelry": Summary, Literary Elements, and Character Analysis Essay. https://ivypanda.com/essays/guy-de-maupassants-the-jewelry/

"Guy de Maupassant's "The Jewelry": Summary, Literary Elements, and Character Analysis Essay." IvyPanda , 29 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/guy-de-maupassants-the-jewelry/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Guy de Maupassant's "The Jewelry": Summary, Literary Elements, and Character Analysis Essay'. 29 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Guy de Maupassant's "The Jewelry": Summary, Literary Elements, and Character Analysis Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/guy-de-maupassants-the-jewelry/.

1. IvyPanda . "Guy de Maupassant's "The Jewelry": Summary, Literary Elements, and Character Analysis Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/guy-de-maupassants-the-jewelry/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Guy de Maupassant's "The Jewelry": Summary, Literary Elements, and Character Analysis Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/guy-de-maupassants-the-jewelry/.

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Let’s Keep This Vintage Fashion Boutique Just Between Us

A laid-back shop in Los Angeles is a semi-secret spot for celebrities and costume designers.

By Alexandra Jacobs

Vintage-clothing aficionados are either pawing through piles of polyester looking for that one treasure, arms itching and aching … or paying an obscene amount for something that the passage of time has made fragile, even if it doesn’t have sweat stains (and it might!).

Robyn Goldberg, the owner of the Kit Vintage , shows a glamorous middle way. At her store on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, there are just a few racks, but what’s there, to quote Spencer Tracy in “ Pat and Mike ,” is cherce.

With the help of Ms. Goldberg, a special-occasions specialist who also does a brisk bridal business, you will discover the work of unjustly forgotten designers like Mary Ann Restivo , Bill Tice and Luis Estévez among the Vuitton and Versace. “Accessible vintage luxury,” is the goal, she said. “I want someone to be able to come in and take it home and not just wish for it.”

Among her devoted regulars is Lou Eyrich, the costume designer who supplied the much admired outfits for the FX series “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.” These included an ice-blue Swedish couture ball gown for Demi Moore as Ann Woodward and a silk lounge set for Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, both from the Kit Vintage.

“I call her frantic: ‘This is what I need!’ And she sends the perfect Upper East Side elegant dress, perfect satin shine, perfect train,” Ms. Eyrich said on the phone between fittings for another production. “Thank you, Robyn!”

Ms. Goldberg and her husband, Larry Plotitsa (“that sweet, sweet husband,” Ms. Eyrich called him), proprietor with his sister, Natasha Tsimmerman of Platt Boutique Jewelry, have shared approximately 2,000 square feet of retail space for seven years: a mom-and-pop-and-aunt shop that could be the set of its own dramedy.

The businesses are separate but have been complementary ever since one fiancée, who’d come to Mr. Plotitsa for a ring, noticed one of Ms. Goldberg’s finds, a 1970s Saks Fifth Avenue number hand-painted with lions and tigers, and bought it for her engagement party.

“They loved big cats,” Ms. Goldberg said. There are worse quirks.

The couple was sitting on the Platt side of the store on a recent sunny afternoon as their daughter, Edie, 7, played dress-up with a pair of mismatched marabou boudoir mules. (They also have a son, Shaya, 12, and two Boston terriers, Gizmo and Buda.) A liquor cart twinkled dangerously in the corner.

They grew up in Chicago and met in high school but didn’t date till after graduation, when Mr. Plotitsa was toiling for his father in that city’s diamond district, thinking he’d become a bar or club owner.

“Because he was, like, a raver,” Ms. Goldberg said.

“I was in the scene in the ’90s!” Mr. Plotitsa said.

After Ms. Goldberg moved to New York to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, planning to become a buyer, he visited for a while but then broke up with her on voice mail and ignored her messages.

“What’s it called now? Ghosting.” Ms. Goldberg said.

“I was 19!” Mr. Plotitsa said. “I was like: ‘She’s living there, I’m living here, I’m 19 !’”

Three years later they got back together and have been partners in work and life ever since: finishing each other’s sentences, sharing each other’s customers and encouraging each other’s splurges. “He’s the only person, to this day, that I want to shop with,” Ms. Goldberg said.

She worked for the designer Anna Sui and the laddie magazine Maxim before becoming the fashion editor at Teen People. Mr. Plotitsa contributed a custom-made gold necklace for Nelly, the rapper, to one of her layouts.

“Cut to, the politics of the editorial world starts getting gross,” she said, referring to the publisher’s habit of telling the staff what to shoot. She quit and became a freelance stylist in Los Angeles, with mixed results: “I’m shopping and shopping, and schlepping and schlepping.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Plotitsa got his gemology degree, turned down a job in the estate department of a big department store and, with Ms. Tsimmerman, opened a tiny booth next to a vending machine at the Antiquarius Center, a fancy antiques emporium that has since burned down, before expanding to a bungalow on Robertson Boulevard.

Celebrities began coming in to get bling for their wingdings and have never stopped. Brendan Fraser had on an Art Deco platinum, sapphire and diamond brooch from Platt when he won an Oscar for “Whale” in 2023, and Monica Lewinsky wore earrings and a necklace from the store to this year’s Vanity Fair party .

“People gate-keep us,” Mr. Plotitsa said. “It’s their little secret. We’re priced fair, and they don’t want to share that. We’re not a Maxfield,” the haughty boutique on Melrose Avenue.

The internet’s fame sleuths, however, are not easily deterred. When Angelina Jolie’s daughter, Zahara, wore a gold-trimmed white Grecian gown from the Kit Vintage to the premiere of “Eternals” at the Rome Film Festival in 2021, hashtags bloomed like cherry blossoms in April.

Ms. Goldberg said she appreciates that the Jolies come in to browse themselves. She wrinkles her nose a little at working with celebrity stylists, who often want items for free and can be stingy with sourcing credit. Many red-carpet regulars, anyway, are beholden to their lucrative deals with fashion houses.

And yet modern designers regularly examine the couple’s offerings for inspiration, including John Galliano, whose brand the couple says is one of the most requested these days, over a decade since he was fired from Dior after an antisemitic rant in Paris.

“He’s actually really very nice,” Mr. Plotitsa said. “And we’re Jews.”

With sites like Depop and Etsy, a younger generation has cottoned to the idea that previously worn clothes are not icky or kooky, but ecologically responsible. Many are rolling their eyes at the insane markups of traditional wedding vendors.

One bride-to-be recently spent $600 on a simple silk dress from the Kit that her artist friends could build a theme around at Burning Man; another, saying “I just want drama,” splurged on an open-backed iridescent “taffeta monstrosity” from Donna Karan’s 2005 fall runway for her rehearsal dinner for $2,500.

To properly showcase such treasures, Ms. Goldberg said she “manifested” occupancy of the current store, in a historical landmark building, after seeing a For Lease sign in the window.

“They were signing a cyber cafe,” she said. “I was like, ‘Well, that’s the wrong business for you.’”

Alexandra Jacobs is a Times book critic and occasional features writer. She joined The Times in 2010. More about Alexandra Jacobs

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