technically perfect jewels

[Camellia]

This brooch is circa 1915.

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Camilia,

You have taken the prize so far, especially as thses pieces are so old. I especially love the last two pictures.

Astounding stuff.

 

[valeria101]

How much color is enough ? I am not sure if these are the most difficult things to make, or the 'perfect' example of any of the skills that went into them, but the whole story should make the point. There is some amount written about these jewelry makers, this is one thing Google turned up:

Carlo & Arthur Giuliano, cca. 1900


Could this be a modern interpretation?

Ezequiel Safdie, AGTA Spectrum Awards 2001

There should have been more here, namely some bead-set jewelry called 'tutti-frutti' but 'got to go. Here's one. The famous jewels that coined the name are probably familiar enough. It is not sommon to see any trace of them on sale. This just happened and it is unusual (as far as I can tell). It remainds me more of the Art Deco jewelry combining calibre cut colored gems, enamel onix and small diamonds, than the early royal Cartier 'fruits'. Given that the mastery overwhelms the (precious) materials in such deco pices, they make a great case for technical perfection. But... some modern examples of micro pave leave them behind, I think - simply because of the better technology added to comparable inspiration.


Agreed, there is allot more to enamel.

Fairytale? Pin by Julien Duval, about 4cm

 

[widget]

I''ll always follow a link to a tutti-frutti piece!

Here''s a pic of the incredible brooch Valeria found:

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

If you put jewellery and art in the same sentence you are probably thinking of pendants. Because of practical aspects rings are more limited.

The pictures are amazing! I''m speechless

 

[glitterata]

That baby riding on the insect--unbelievable!

 

[Art Nouveau]

I love the plique-a-jour enamel in the vintage Art Nouveau pieces, but the prices are out of sight. Now there are jewelers in Istanbul and Spain recreating the old pieces. Many of these reproductions are mediocre, but few years ago, I did come across some really nice pins made by a young jeweler from Istanbul. I snapped some quick shots from the counter at an antique show, so please excuse the poor quality of the pictures. I loved all three pins but I can only afford to buy one. I bought the butterfly. Do th experts here consider these good workmanship. Recently I actually met this jeweler at the Las Vegas Antique Show. He is now working for a big east coast dealer.

 

[Art Nouveau]

A dragonfly pin

 

[Art Nouveau]

Another dragonfly

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

well we have art, that is for sure. In a way, a jeweller with excellent skills and artististic asperations can really go wild in the more free form styles shown here. Lots of techniques to admire, I really love the gracefull detail in the Instanbul guys pieces - nice buy.

Does anybody know of a guild house with people like him? Has their ever been? - something like the heidelberg school. I cringe at the term jewellery artist though. Jewellery that is not skill lead is never technically perfect. I won''t go on...

I personally can''t comment on the techniques and the quality because I haven''t the experience to add any know how, but I do like what I see. I find the lace work quite easy to do, but I like working that way. Every step of the manufacture is quite exciting. That is, time is not an issue when you are having fun.

In Europe, I really like the gothic churches etc with different but similar designs on every window etc. As a kid I had a curtain my bedroom with a repeating pattern and I really hated it and I would even say I found it grotesque. I understand the need for symetry, but I don''t see why people who go to great lengths with their art mirror a design one side to the other. I hope this makes sense. To add a bit to my point, The Mona Lisa doesn''t have the same tree on either side of the portrait. She actually has an unfeesable foreground and that is a large part of the art of Divinci.

Loving tuti-fruti, but I expect my impressions to soon be stained. It frightens me to see art reproduced en'' mass. It might be too easy here. I for one wouldn''t really know!

Lots of technically inplausable examples here and I am way out of my depth. Keep em coming.

Are there some modern examples

Phillip

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/8/2005 5:40:51 AM
Author: Platinumsmith

... I find the lace work quite easy to do, but I like working that way.

[...]

Are there some modern examples ?

If this is the easy lace work you mention, tell me more! Many think it is not easy and this makes it famous as much as its makers. ''Michele Ong'' came by reflex:

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Wow. Thanks Ana,

Is there mother of pearl inside that lattice work? There seems to be a thin layer of something. I fancy mother of pearl because that means it must be cut one by one.

I should explain myself better. If there is any function in jewellery making that I am naturally inclined to, it is the bit sbout switching my brain off and being the jewellery. Bad things can happen when you do that. Lattice work is the best excuse to really let yourself go. Copying something or working toward exact dimensions is often harder. This is more a disciplined task. Letting your self go and allowing a piece to create itself is easy when you have something inside you that wants to get out. It has been 10 years since I played with laticce work and it is not work that you can make a living off, because it is work where shortcuts are easy (a piece that takes 300 hours to make can be made in 3), but something you do for your wife, or your daughter on her wedding day etc, so that in the years to come a great gandchild who might decide to be a jeweller will work hard at his skills and enterprise and pass down a piece of his own.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/9/2005 8:37:22 PM
Author: Platinumsmith

Is there mother of pearl inside that lattice work? There seems to be a thin layer of something.

No, they are empty - aside the navette and round diamonds. The pictures are not great, and there is better work by this designer that I have no pictures of to show.

Do you have any images of the lattice jewelry you made? (hoping this question fits the policy of the forum).

 

[widget]

I think those plique a jour pieces that Art Nouveau posted are absolutely, utterly, BREATHTAKING!!!!!!!

widget

 

[Art Nouveau]

The young jeweler who made the plique a jour brooches that I posted, learned the craft the old fashioned way. He apprenticed with an Istanbul master jeweler who is pretty old, but is still making beautiful plique jewelry. I saw a big beautiful floral 3-dimentional flower spray brooch with moving parts made by the old master, but the price is out of my budget.

Art Nouveau

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/10/2005 12:16:21 AM
Author: Art Nouveau
The young jeweler who made the plique a jour brooches that I posted, learned the craft the old fashioned way. He apprenticed with an Istanbul master jeweler ...

Would you consider sharing their names or where their work can be found?

For some reason, your pictures reminded me of :

 

[valeria101]

... perfectly suited to pleed a wife's simpathy for that annoying fishing hobby

 

[widget]

Good Lord.....those pieces are gorgeous...there are no words...

One thing that makes me sort of sad is that this thread is leading me to believe that the most exciting jewelry more often comes in the form of brooches or pendants...so much more room to be creative...

Unfortunately, in real life, I never wear either!

AN: What size is your butterfly...do you wear it often? How?

Ana: Where did you find those incredible pieces?

widget

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/10/2005 9:52:45 AM
Author: widget


Unfortunately, in real life, I never wear either (brooches or pendants)

Same here - although I wouldn't mind keeping one of those dragonflies on display... A few times a year it could get out of the cage too.

The pictures come from an NY shop called Authentic Jewelry with no website but some listings on Ebay (HERE).

 

[Art Nouveau]

Ana,

After I submitted my post last night, I randomly searched for "Art Nouveau" and I founded on eBay exactly those pieces you posted. I didn''t lknow Authentic Jewelry sells on eBay. The big floral pin is exactly the one I saw in the Las Vegas Antique show. It is about 6 inches long. The small butterfly and the flower in the middle have moving parts. The owner of the store told me that piece was made by the "Old Master". He might have told me his name, but I don''t remember. Authentic Jewelry has been on 47th street for a long time. It is my sister''s favorite store. I bought anothe Art Nouveau pin from them years ago before there are so many reproductions available. The young guy''s name is Ani. He is now working for a big New Jersey estate jewelry company called GMC. Another company making Art Nouveau jewelry is Masriera in Spain. I was told they are using the same technique the company used in the 1900s. Their original vintage pieces are very collectible. S & B Charms in Istanbul makes a whole line of plique a jour pieces, but their workmanship is not comparable to the "old master" and Ani.

Widget: My butterfly is about 2.25 inches by 1.5 inches. I usually wear it on my jackets and blazers. Actually, I wear it quite often. I love pins and I have collected quite a few over the years. I have some smaller vintage Art Nouveau pieces but can''t afford the bigger vintage plique a jour pins. Many years ago, I saw a Lalique Art Nouveau jewelry exhibition in San Francisco and I was hooked. I used to droll after the ones in the Sotheby and Christie auction catalogs.

Art Nouveau

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/10/2005 12:45:07 PM
Author: Art Nouveau

The big floral pin is exactly the one I saw in the Las Vegas Antique show.

Yay! Isn''t it a small world.... How rare are these jewels ? It does sound amazing that both of us found the same maker to be the best example of modern enamel jewelry.

 

[valeria101]

There's allot of talk about pave...

For some reason, counting the little diamonds on a ring seems to make a popular measure of 'quality' - perhaps a rather random one, but simple enough to be appealing. Thinking twice about it, why not!

It took a while to remember the name Philippe Vryens - his online show is quite a sight though: take a look

Why would anyone set 325 tiny diamonds on a ring ? Even if the result looks like this:

Center 2.5 cts, set with 325 diamonds (2ctw) pave set.

On the website mentioned above there is... worse.

 

[valeria101]

Hm... picture refused to cooperatefor the previous post; here it is:
The diamonds set pave are half a point of so!...

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

I''d be proud of fitting 325 diamonds Ana. It suggests quality but it isn''t a measure of it.

I''d love to know how they set the underside of the shoulders like that. It might be a little over the top, but this is definately the best example of technical perfection that I have seen.

Only a few jewellery houses world-wide can offer this sort of thing. Perhaps it is not everybodies taste, but it shows a level of excellence that suggests they can do just about anything and do it very well.

On the other side, there is a lot of good jewellery around that is not too hard to replicate but which is extremely nice. The jeweller may have spend spent days deliberating on the design to reach the exact and uncompromised design affect.

These small nuiances are important too.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 9/14/2005 7:41:14 PM
Author: Platinumsmith

I'd be proud of fitting 325 diamonds Ana. It suggests quality but it isn't a measure of it.

... Perhaps it is not everybodies taste, but it shows a level of excellence that suggests they can do just about anything and do it very well.

Yeah, this is it.

I do agree that these things are not exactly what the initial question of this thread pointed at: this is not just technical 'perfection' but also intricate, meant to be difficult to replicate, etc. Show off of technical expertise must have come first and 'nicel looks' way behind

And no... I do not subscribe to the implicit statement that craftmanship only goes along with over the top design. I'd wish there wasn't such bias at all, but there seems to be.

The shoddy rings set with large diamonds you mentioned earlier are just the other extreme.

The things inbetween (simple but beautifully executed 'every day', classic designs) are allot harder to pin down in writing though

I'll give it a try these days, as promissed.

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Last post for the morning...

Ana I think that you are entering the grey area where really nice castings look comparable (photography skills inc'') to well made hand wrought jewellery. This is where the similarity ends as the manufacturing process is completely different.

It would be interesting to see what people would show as good honest jewellery.

If anyone wants to help us please do, but I for one might find myself censuring my own oppinions rather then offend, as I have no love for typical mass produced jewellery and undoubtedly some average examples will pop up.

 

[widget]

Well...I don''t know if this piece is well made or hand wrought, but I thought it was quite remarkable in its detail.

In person it was stunning...and I don''t usually care for bangle bracelets, and I never cared for snakes!

All the diamonds are rose cuts.

(This is not my bracelet, by the way, so my feelings won''t be hurt if someone thinks it''s awful...)

widget

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

OK,

I like it.

It is cast and mass-produced and the setting work is fast and furious.

I'd love to see that design (very nice form to my taste) made with individual blocks of metal, set with care and finished well.

Is there a market for that?

I’d day that there is, but not in the way you might expect. Somebody had to make the master pattern and that was made by hand and there are people known as model makers who do that for a living.

It was probably made (I suspect this model is quite old, NB: rose cuts) in metal starting with the bangle, then creating the head either by hand or in wax (or using another head from another design). The scales could have been made in a set of say 5, and cast in a batch of 50. The scales were added to the raw bangle and the head soldered on at this stage. The whole piece was then drilled for the pave’ and partially set (partially meaning the beads were raised for look). Then the piece was moulded for casting. The cast pieces could have been pre-set in the wax mould, but I doubt it. It looks like the settings are made to look like settings fussed over by hand. I think that is the intention. I think the setting was done quickly by raising a grain in a hidden sort of way (though some may be flush set). If I explain more it just gets more confusing. The look was achieved, and apparently it is a winner. I think it is good for what it is.

I am guessing it was made in Asia. I know a few semi-precious dealers who sell silver jewellery that in fact was made by hand, probably in Indonesia where they do that so well. Nothing special, but it is beaded - as in, having tiny beads soldered into place, one by one and has extremely fine twist wire work all soldered in place with an uncanny skill. The accuracy is rough to say the least, but it is sold per gram for next to nix and the skills needed are relatively rare.

I think that if these people were paid higher wages, they would have to lift their quality control as the bits and pieces would cost a bomb.

Glad you don't own this piece for the obvious reason. I am a bit worried still, because of what I have written knowing you love it in person. Not sure if this thread should become; post a pic and have it picked on by Phill.

Cheers

 

[widget]

Author: Platinumsmith
I am a bit worried still, because of what I have written knowing you love it in person. Not sure if this thread should become; post a pic and have it picked on by Phill.

Not to worry!

I don''t love it THAT much! Keep those critiques coming! I want to learn.

It is interesting, though. The woman who wanted to sell it told me it was a modern piece, hand made (whatever that means, these days), that each scale was made separately..yada yada...

Now that I think about it, the price she quoted makes me think your assessment is the correct one. It wasn''t expensive enough to be hand made.

The thing is...as a layperson I still can''t tell the difference between hand wrought and cast most of the time....and I look at a LOT of jewelry!

Which leads me to ask: is "hand wrought, etc" worth the extra cost when looking for simple, classic solitaires, three stone rings, etc??


widget

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Widget,

It so obviously can be. That is why I started this thread.

Tell by the quality. Hand made can be the best, but isn''t always. Hand made is a pliable term, so is machine made, on that point (+ or - regardless of the facts - what is in focus & it doesn''t matter where you are in the world), try ‘hand wrought’ because that one depicts the manufacturing method. Watch out for ''custom made'' because it means almost anything (meaning it was changeable), though in the US it seems that it is also used by the best craftsmen.

''One off'' is an accurate term too.

Anyway - hand made (proper):
-At some point it is about having something different because common castings are free for all to use.
-It definitely is a quality issue, because cast metal is pretty bad.
-It is about customisation
-It is about finish because castings are rough and those hard to get at places, stay that way with castings but hand made pieces can be polished bit by bit as you go.
-It is about platinum which takes on an improved shine with the heat needed to solder/fuse but other metals oxidise with heat.
-It is about having a piece with a story.

It is also about the fact that master patterns meant for castings might take an age to produce, but hand made pieces may be rushed a bit because the extra time is not deemed as viable.

Jewellery shops tell lies, jewellers should not. I feel a compulsion to tell lies to my customers knowing that I sound incredulous by telling the truth. Shops sell their stock and want to sell the bits with the best mark-up.

As far as cast v hand made judge it by what you visibly see. I need to see some sign of wrought workmanship based on experience. It really shouldn''t matter if you can''t tell. I know that goes against what I am saying, but casting heavy things like weighty shanks is OK. I''d cast nothing but I would go broke and depending on what is cast nobody would have a better piece for it.

We can start a thread on that!

Cheers,


Phillip