Bachrach,
etc., etc. Indeed, almost every wealthy family of the better class owns
a necklace worth up to 100,000 francs and over.
The
portraits of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries afford
us many interesting evidences regarding the various forms of jewelry in
which pearls were used. Indeed, had we no other records, these pictures
alone would prove the great popularity of the gem as an ornament.
In
the finely executed portrait of the Duchess Anne de France, she wears a
coronet with three pearls at each point. It seems to be made up of
three large pearls, set on a row of pearls circling the entire top of
her head, beneath which is a row of great emeralds, and then another
row of pearls. Flaring downward and entirely covering the side of her
head near the ear, are two rows of pearls with a row of fine emeralds
between them, the rows of pearls deflecting slightly downward until
the chin line is reached, and then turning back and slightly upward,
meeting at the back. As in the crown cap, the same severe decoration in
pearls is the main feature, and is repeated on each side of the robe,
the front of which is of ermine. Beginning on a line with the shoulder
is a broad band of pearls and emeralds set in gold which extends below
her waist. At the top of this are six pearls set in a straight line.
Then from the end of this line, dropping straight down, is a row on
each side. Between the two rows is a gem, then two great pearls and
another gem, then two more pearls, this being repeated to below the
waist. The ermine is held at her waist by a trefoil reversed ; that is,
two pearls above and one below a great gem, and then a trefoil
reversed below this. This portrait is dated 1498 and is on a triptych
in the cathedral of Moulins.
Quite
unique is the pearl decoration in a picture of St. Barbara, painted by
an artist of the French school, and dated 1520, which is in the
National Museum of Budapest. This artist uses pearls with the utmost
severity of taste and richness. Beginning a trifle above the center of
her forehead is an emerald ornament, and on each side-there extend to
the back of her head three rows of pearls, not placed exactly one row
above the other, but the rows intertwined with each other. The whole is
enriched by a great string of pearls about her neck. The effect
produced is extremely artistic and beautiful.
Catharine
de' Medici wore two rows of pearls on her bonnet, and a quaint necklace
in sections of two rows of four pearls, with a large pearl between ; a
pear-shaped pendant on a Renaissance jewel ; a row of pearls around her
low-cut bodice, and a girdle of jewels alternating with pearls, which
extended to the lower end of her gown. In addition to all this, she
wore a bracelet of jewels with a pearl set between each
