and of Margarita, wife of Philip III. The original documents are in the Austrian archives.
A
golden cup which came from England. Around the foot was a wreath of
fifteen fleurons, each containing pearls, and also four St. Andrew's
crosses comprising eighteen pearls each. The interior of the cup showed
scenes from the life of St. George and was studded with pearls, while
thirty-one pearl pendants hung from the edge. 11,897 reals (about
$1700).1
Some curious jewels, belonging to Queen Margarita, wife of Philip III of Spain, were entered in an inventory made in 1611.
An imperial eagle, full of diamonds, that came from England, with two pendants
of two pearls, which could be unhooked from the said eagle and were
worn by her Majesty at two masks as earrings. Valued at 77,000 reals (about $11,000).
Gold
earrings, enameled in various colors, with seven diamonds in each one
and three pendant pearls, two small ones of equal size and the other
shaped like a pear. Valued at 1320 reals ($188).2
In
the older Spanish jewelry pearls were frequently entirely pierced
through, as if they had been worn in necklaces ; and if hung as drops
of one to three or more, they were strung on a wire, the upper end
usually forming an ornament, and they were kept from falling off below
by flattening the lower end of the wire, this flattening acting as a
stop. These styles have a marked resemblance to the oriental methods
elsewhere described, and suggest the derivation of the early Spanish
pearl mounting from the Moorish occupation of the country. If they were
set singly on any part of the jewel, they were put on a wire peg
fastened to it, and then the end of the wire which projected was
hammered flat to keep the pearl in place. Excellent examples of these
styles are the Spanish earrings in the collection of the
Hispano-American Museum of New York. The same method was used in
Transylvania in the seventeenth century with remarkably artistic
effect.
The
pearls of the Virgin of the Rosary in the church of St. Domingo, Lima,
were famous. It is believed that they were sold in the war of
independence. Those of the monstrance in the sanctuary of the cathedral
of Lima were sold during the last war with Chile. The monstrance of the
cathedral of Cuzco still shows pearls and emeralds, but they are of
small size.
A lady who left a great fortune in pearls to the church of Nazareno
1
"Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Samm- Vienna, 1895, Vol. XIV, Pt. II,
p. 52. "In-lungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses," ventories of Philip
II" (1598-1607).
'Ibid., Vol. XIX, Pt. II, p. 170.
