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CHAPTER XXXII
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JEWELRY IN THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT
T
HE sequence to the
cutting of a gem is generally mounting and setting it, unless it is
merely perforated and strung as a bead or hung as a pendant. Mounting
and setting is the trade of the goldsmith or jeweller, and whether his
goods are artistic or inartistic depends to a great degree upon the
discrimination of buyers. There is almost as much variation in the
metallic environment of gems as there is in architecture, and the
designing and execution of the jeweller range from meritorious to
atrocious. To a great extent the metal mountings for gems are stamped
out in dies or are otherwise machine-made, but no matter how deserving
of praise the original design, the finished article, to the eye
artistic, is " commercial." Within a few recent years the struggle to
elevate art, in other directions than in the field of things
considered as exclusively its province, has invaded the domain of
jewelry, and some patient work-
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