Part 2

Such, briefly, is the modern art-jewellery movement in France. Its intensity, as one sees, is so great as to be almost alarming. Whither is it tending? Some of its excesses are dangerous; what will be the result? M. Emile Molinier, in a recent article on "Objects of Art in the Salons of 1901," expresses certain fears which I share. He dreads a reaction due to the eccentricities of certain artists, to their love of the outrageous and the _bizarre_, to their lack of proportion, both in form and in choice of material.

"It would really be a pity," he says, "if so promising a revival of the true artistic jewellery should come to a bad end. Happily we have not reached that point yet, but it is a result which may soon be reached if artists continue to foist these weird things on the public. A fashion in jewellery should last longer than a fashion in dresses or in hats; but it should not be forgotten that it must rely in the long run on its appropriateness and adaptability." My sincere hope is that these fears may prove to be groundless.

GABRIEL MOUREY.

(_French_)

DESIGN FOR A FAN

BY

GEORGES DE FEURE.

PENDANT AND NECKLET

BY

E. GRASSET.

(=French=)

_Design for a Comb in Enamel Shell, and incrusted Gold_

From an original drawing by HENRI VEVER

_Comb in Enamel, Shell, and Precious Stones_

Designed by PAUL FOLLOT Executed by LA MAISON MODERNE

_Comb in Enamel, Gold, Shell, and Precious Stones_

Designed by PAUL FOLLOT Executed by LA MAISON MODERNE

(_British_)

DESIGN FOR A STENCILLED FAN

BY

REGINALD T. DICK.

MODERN BRITISH JEWELLERY & FANS. BY AYMER VALLANCE.

None but the most superficial observers can have failed to note the immense advance that has been attained in British jewellery; though how or at what precise point of time the improvement originated may not be determined with too rash precision. It began not more than fifteen or twenty, nor perhaps later than ten years ago. Somewhere between these two limits is about the approximate date. At any rate, it is certain that, thirty years since, it was quite impossible to procure jewellery in the design and composition of which there entered any artistic taste whatever. Such simply did not exist. Whereas now there is a widespread, though unhappily not a universal, movement amongst us for the design and production of jewellery on true æsthetic principles. The movement may even be described as in a measure concerted, that is, in so far as it presents certain main characteristics common to the work of the various individual artists or schools of artists who are concerned with this branch of decoration.

And, firstly, must be noted the development of the goldsmith's and silversmith's craft as an important artistic factor entirely distinct and apart from the subsidiary task of stone-setting. The recognition of the art of the metal-worker, as worthy and capable in itself of providing beautiful ornaments, without their serving any such ulterior purpose as sporting trophies or eccentric badges of buffoonery; and also without the adventitious attraction of costly gems, is a decided point gained.

And, secondly, where stones do happen to be employed, there is an increasing practice of introducing them for the sake of their decorative properties, not, as formerly, for the commercial value they represent in pounds sterling. Mere glitter and the vulgar display of affluence are gradually yielding before the higher considerations of beauty of form and colour. Nor is it any longer deemed improper, should the æsthetic effect of the juxtaposition demand, to set diamonds or other valuable gems side by side with common and inexpensive stones. In these colour combinations, since flash and transparence are become of minor esteem, jewels, instead of being cut in facets, are not infrequently polished in their natural shape, _en cabochon_, or "tallow-cut," as it is called, their irregularities of formation imparting not a little to the barbaric richness of the ornaments in which they occur.

Moreover, out of the taste for colour effects in jewellery has arisen an enthusiastic study of the special peculiarities of many gems not hitherto much sought after; a study resulting in the adoption of certain gems not very precious, yet sufficiently rare, and such that, like Mexican or fire opals, for example, possess peculiar qualities of chameleon-like iridescence or depth or lustre that render them admirably appropriate for quaint and picturesque settings. Among other stones thus employed may be mentioned lapis lazuli; malachite and its corresponding blue mineral, azurite; Connemara marble, or serpentine; amazonite, a light green spar; chrysoprase; and lumachella, Hungarian both in name and origin. The last named consists of fossilised shells imbedded in a black matrix, the shells of wonderful iridescence, or flecked with streaks of vivid colour, and possessing, in short, such ornamental qualities as amply compensate the difficulty of obtaining it and of working when obtained. Another material included in the same category is river pearl, or mother-of-pearl, in the form technically known as pearl "blisters," that is, pearls undeveloped in the shell and misshapen, which nevertheless are peculiarly useful for decorative jewellery. One advantage of these substances is that, on account of their comparative cheapness, one does not scruple to diminish and divide and fashion them as may best serve the purpose in hand; whereas in the case of the more precious stones, like diamonds, whose cost, _ceteris paribus_, increases proportionately with their size and weight, one shrinks from impairing their commercial value, and consequently is apt to preserve them whole, very often at the sacrifice of decorative effect. The craftsman is unhampered in the use of those jewels only which he knows he is at liberty to treat as adjuncts subordinated to his art.

There has, moreover, taken place an extended revival of enamelling, an art which offers abundant opportunities for the exercise of the decorator's skill and fancy. It is worthy of remark that our artists' imagination in jewellery seldom degenerates into any great extravagance. For the most part the designs, even among beginners and students in art schools, a number of whom have taken up this branch of ornament, are strictly restrained within bounds, in accord, may be, with our national character of reserve. Few drawings comparatively have been executed, but there is no reason why a large proportion should not be translated from paper into actual existence; for they are in general fairly simple, straightforward, and practicable, or such that, with but slight modifications, could be rendered quite practicable for working purposes.

It is often stated that art can only flourish through the patronage of the wealthy, to whose comfort and luxury it ministers. If this be true at all, then surely of all things in the world the jeweller's craft should be a case in point, whereas it is conspicuously the reverse. The artistic jewellery produced in this country has not, from its very nature, appealed chiefly to the richest classes of the community, but rather to those of quite moderate means. And while, on the one hand, it is encouraging to observe how much of good work has been and is being done towards raising the standard of jewellery design amongst us, it is nevertheless disappointing to have to record how little support it has found in influential and official quarters. One notable exception is the commission Mr. Alfred Gilbert received to design a mayoral collar, chain and badge for the Corporation of Preston. The sketch model for the same was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888, and, for bold originality of outline, as well as for the crisp curling treatment of the parts executed in sheet metal, must have been, as was remarked at the time, a revelation to the ordinary trade jeweller.

Among pioneers of the artistic jewellery movement, Mr. C. R. Ashbee holds an honourable place. He stood almost alone at the beginning, when he first made known the jewellery designed by him, and produced under his personal direction by the Guild and School of Handicraft in the East End. It was immediately apparent that here was no tentative nor half-hearted caprice, but that a genuine and earnest phase of an ancient craft had been re-established. Every design was carefully thought out, and the work executed with not less careful and consistent technique. In fact, its high merits were far in advance of anything else in contemporary jewellery or goldsmith's work. The patterns were based on conventionalised forms of nature, favourite among them being the carnation, the rose, and the heartsease, or on abstract forms invited by the requirements and conditions of the material--the ductility and lustre of the metal itself. Most of the ornaments were of silver, the surface of which was not worked up to a brilliantly shining burnish, in the prevalent fashion of the day, but dull polished in such wise as to give the charming richness and tone of old silverwork. Mr. Ashbee also adopted the use of jewels, not lavishly nor ostentatiously, but just wherever a note of colour would convey the most telling effect, the stones in themselves, _e.g._ amethysts, amber, and rough pearl, being of no particular value, save purely from the point of view of decoration. Novel and revolutionary as were, at its first appearance, the principles underlying Mr. Ashbee's jewellery work--viz. that the value of a personal ornament consists not in the commercial cost of the materials so much as in the artistic quality of its design and treatment--they became the standard which no artist thenceforward could wisely afford to ignore, and such furthermore that have even in certain quarters become appropriated by the trade in recent times. Mr. Ashbee himself is an enthusiastic student of Benvenuto Cellini, whose treatises he translated, edited, and printed in 1898. But fortunately the influence of Italian style is by no means paramount in Mr. Ashbee's own designs for jewellery, unless indeed the fine and dainty grace which particularly characterises some of his later work is to be attributed to this source. One or two of the necklaces here reproduced are examples of this lighter manner of Mr. Ashbee's, as the two handsome peacock pattern brooches are of his more solid and substantial jewellery; while, again, the necklace of green malachite, turquoise, and silver, with pendants of grape bunches alternating with vine-leaf and tendril ornaments, occupies an intermediate position midway between the two former classes of his work.

One is always glad to welcome an artist who is courageous and firm enough to grapple with the practical difficulties that surround him, and who sets about to reform, where need requires, the native industry of his own neighbourhood. Such is the aim of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gaskin. Their home is in a locality where a large amount of very deplorable jewellery is produced; so deplorable that they determined, if possible, to provide an antidote to the prevailing degradation. And the reason why the vast mass of the trade jewellery manufactured in Birmingham is bad is that in style and outline it is utterly devoid of artistic inspiration, while at the same time it is perfect as concerns mere technique. The pity of it is that such excellent workmanship should be wasted on such contemptible design. Mr. Gaskin, therefore, saw no alternative but to start afresh, reversing the accepted order of things. His plan is to give the foremost care to the design, and only secondly to regard technique; and so, by keeping design well in advance, executive skill following after, to raise the former to its proper level. Absence of mathematical uniformity is no doubt held to be a blemish in the opinion of the tradesman, but it gives a living and human interest to the work, and a decorative quality which machine-made articles cannot claim to possess. Mr. Gaskin came to the conclusion that it was of little benefit for a draughtsman to make drawings on paper to be carried out by someone else; studio and workshop must be one, designer identical with craftsman. It is not very many years since Mr. Gaskin, ably seconded by his wife, started with humble, nay, almost rudimentary apparatus, to make jewellery with his own hands; but the result has proved how much taste and steadfast endurance can accomplish. Their designs are so numerous and so varied--rarely is any single one repeated, except to order--that it is hardly possible to find any description to apply to all. But it may be noted that, whereas a large number have been characterised by a light and graceful treatment of twisted wire, almost like filigree, the two pendants here illustrated seem to indicate rather a new departure on the part of Mr. Gaskin, with their plates of chased metal, and pendants attached by rings, a method not in any sense copied from, yet in some sort recalling the beautiful fashion with which connoisseurs are familiar in Norwegian and Swedish peasant jewellery.

Next in order may be mentioned Mr. Fred Robinson. This artist is actuated by similar ideals as Mr. and Mrs. Gaskin, as is evidenced more especially by his necklace with bent wire pendants of open-work arabesque.

Another artist of distinction is Miss Annie McLeish, of Liverpool, whose jewellery design, particularly in the way in which the several parts are connected together--an ornamental feature being made out of the structural requirement of strengthening and tying together the portions pierced _à jour_--is curiously suggestive of the perforated iron guards of Japanese sword-handles. At the same time, it is not to be implied that Miss McLeish is at all an imitator of Japanese work. Another point to be noticed is her decorative use of the human figure, in which regard two more lady designers, Miss Larcombe and Miss Winifred Hodgkinson, also excel. The latter, to whose work black-and-white reproduction scarcely does adequate justice, is stronger in her figure work than in that which comes easiest to most people--to wit, the treatment of floral forms that constitute the subordinate portions of the design.

The number of ladies who have achieved success in jewellery design proves this, indeed, to be a craft to which a woman's light and dainty manipulation is peculiarly adapted. Besides those already mentioned one has only to instance Miss Ethel Hodgkinson and Miss Swindell, who both contribute graceful designs for hat-pins and other small articles; Miss Dorothy Hart, whose charming _pentacol_ is executed by herself; Miss Kate Fisher and Miss McBean, in whose designs for clasps, etc., enamel is a prominent item; Miss Alabaster, whose beautiful gold brooch, adorned with blue and green enamel, is based on a _motif_ of trees with intertwining stems and roots; and Miss Rankin, whose four silver hat-pins of handsome design, representing a peacock, thistles, and Celtic beasts respectively, are executed by Mr. Talbot, of Edinburgh, himself a designer as well as artificer. Miss Edith Pickert, in her designs for various articles of jewellery, usually employs a fairly thick outline of metal to enclose a coloured enamel surface. How diversely one and the same _motif_ may be rendered in different hands is illustrated by a comparison of Miss Pickert's belt design and Mr. Nelson Dawson's belt-clasps, both in enamel and both founded on the flower "love in a mist."

Mr. Nelson Dawson, well known as an eminent metal-worker and active member of the Society of Arts and Crafts, is also Director of the Artificers' Guild. Another belt-clasp from his design represents the delicate form of the harebell plant.

Mr. Edgar Simpson, of Nottingham, is an artist of great gifts, as his drawings and, still more, the specimens of his actual handiwork here illustrated fully testify. Many excellent designs lose vigour and character in the process of execution from the original sketch; but Mr. Simpson, on the contrary, manages to give his designs additional charm by the exquisite finish with which he works them out in metal. Particularly happy is this artist's rendering of dolphins and other marine creatures; as in the circular pendant where the swirling motion of water is conveyed by elegant curving lines of silver, with a pearl, to represent an air-bubble, issuing from the fish's mouth.

Mr. David Veazey's work, including, among other things, a hair comb decorated with enamel, has a variegated opal-tinted quality of colour; while Miss Barrie obtains admirable effects in translucent enamel without backing, after the Russian method. Her design for a belt-clasp with interlaced ornament and stones is excellent. Other belt-clasps and buckles are from designs by Mr. Oliver Baker. Some of this strap-work ornament looks as though it might have been produced by casting from a model; but, as a matter of fact, it is entirely wrought and folded by hand.

Mr. and Mrs. McNair's jewellery, as well as that of Mr. and Mrs. Mackintosh, has that quaint mannerism which one instinctively associates with the Glasgow school of decorators, as also, in a still more marked degree, that of Mr. Talwyn Morris, whose characteristic book-covers are well known. For jewellery, he frequently elects to work in aluminium. His design is strikingly original in effect, though on analysis it is found to consist of very simple units, such as various-sized rectangles overlaid, their boundary lines interpenetrating; with the occasional apparition of a peacock's eye-feather or the bird's neck and head in the midst. In these cases a completer sense of organic unity might be obtained if, instead of a detached limb, the whole bird were represented, or some other logical coherence established between the incidents of the composition.

Mr. Thomas Cook, of West Ham, inserts small slabs of mosaic, after the Italian mode, only he frankly adopts a purely conventional treatment, wisely refraining from any approach to pictorial realism.