In the face of palatial, luxurious and splendid court-style jewelry, I believe that no one will be unmoved.
BVLGARI Launches New Season of Fine Jewelry Collection "Barocko"
In Europe in the 16th and 18th centuries, there was such an artistic style that lasted for hundreds of years, which abandoned the serious, restrained and stable classical style, and interpreted the gorgeous dazzling and enthusiastic to the extreme.
Giampiero Bodino Baroque tourmaline necklace
It covers architecture, clothing, painting, jewelry and other major art fields, and its aesthetic style is unique, not only prevalent in Europe, but also as far as Latin American and Asian countries, and still has a far-reaching influence.
Even those who have not worked in art should have heard its name, the Baroque.
Giampiero Bodino cross necklace
What is baroque
Before we talk about baroque, let's first talk about the word baroque.
The word Baroque originated in Portuguese (BARROCO) and refers to pearls that are deformed or imperfect.
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Hope Pearls
Later, the word derived from various European language families with meanings such as "strange, eccentric, deformed, messy".
Before the mid-19th century, in art history and artistic style, the term "baroque" was often used as a pejorative term, referring to practices that violated the laws of nature and classical artistic standards, rather than as the name of the artistic style.
It was not until the middle of the 19th century that artists, in order to express the destruction and subversion of the various principles of the Renaissance, gradually sandwiched between the two eras of "Renaissance" and "Neoclassicism", the period of complex exaggeration and romantic beauty, called the Baroque period.
Since then, the Baroque has ceased to carry negative judgments and has become the name of an era.
The Baroque style was first born in Italy in the second half of the 16th century, due to the invasion of great powers, political turmoil, sharp social contradictions, the church intends to use foreign forces to promote religious reform and restore the status of religion.
Jewelry of the Baroque period
At that time, in order to survive, artists threw themselves into the church and served the church, so a gorgeous and exaggerated baroque style covering architecture, painting, clothing, jewelry and other fields spread in Italy.
Baroque architecture
In the 17th century, this style continued to spread and spread with Catholic believers on the European continent, and France, as the new center of gravity of Europe, became the leader of this fashion trend under the strong admiration of the Sun King Louis XIV.
At that time, France was in a period of exploration of the new world, international trade was booming, the wealth of the middle class increased, and people advocated luxury and pursued pleasure in life, especially luxurious and complicated court jewelry, which became the focus of people's pursuit.
Unlike the solemnity, modesty and tranquility of classicism, the most typical feature of jewelry in this period is the sense of court.
Its design is luxurious and pompous, complex and exquisite, with strong religious colors, especially subverting the traditional gem cutting process and relief process, making the Baroque style a classic that has been passed down for hundreds of years.
Mystical religious elements
Since its birth, Baroque jewelry has taken on a strong religious color.
Giampiero Dodino Baroque cross necklace
Due to social unrest and sharp contradictions, jewelers at that time sought refuge from the church in order to continue to survive, and designed a series of jewelry works that promoted religion.
Jewels of John the Baptist circa 17th century
Religious and mysterious elements such as the cross, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary became the themes designed by artists of this period.
Great Patriarch John. Hugo. Feng. The Osbec Sapphire Badge was made in the 17th century
These designs are not only three-dimensional and realistic, but also large and gorgeous in style, which became the iconic symbol of jewelry of this period.
Make good use of character reliefs
Figure relief, one of the iconic features of jewelry of the Baroque period.
At that time, the jewelers carved human figures or silhouettes on agate, shells, volcanic rock, turquoise, coral and other materials through exquisite carving technology.
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Pearls, diamonds, red sapphires and other colored treasures are selected for inlaying, thus creating a luxurious and complex, gorgeous and atmospheric jewelry work.
The unique expression of character relief has also flourished in later generations.
Queen Josephine
Empress Josephine of the Napoleonic period had a soft spot for relief jewelry. Moreover, in order to show her love, many of her relief jewels are the heads of Napoleon.
Even in today's world of jewelry styles, the character relief type of jewelry is still unique and loved by vintage enthusiasts.
Dynamic and dynamic
The sense of dynamics is the soul of Baroque jewelry.
The jewelry works of this period are no longer as ritualistic as the "Renaissance", but use dynamic modeling elements such as curves and diagonal lines, and create a tense and exciting passion through strong chiaroscuro.
The Sevigne bow is one of the most representative designs of the Baroque period, it is a flat, symmetrical ribbon bow brooch, often decorated at people's necklines, gorgeous and dynamic.
Court sense cheats: big and flashy
Large, rich gemstones, large and exaggerated pearls, and sparkling diamonds are the secrets of creating a sense of the baroque jewelry court.
In order to highlight the gorgeous feeling that the royal family wanted, large grains, highly saturated rubies, sapphires, and emeralds were set into jewelry in large quantities, which were extravagant and extravagant.
In addition to the gorgeous and huge gemstones, which were large and grotesque and could carry a variety of exaggerated designs of Baroque pearls, they were also loved by people at that time.
In the late Renaissance, with the lifting of the human body's ban, the collar line was gradually lowered, and finally completely low-cut clothes were everywhere. Collars and necklaces, which were very popular in the Classical period but almost disappeared in the Middle Ages, made a comeback in the Baroque period.
Large, exaggerated, and strangely shaped Baroque pearls have been skillfully interpreted by jewelers into ornate heirloom treasures, adorned on the elegant necks and chests of the noblewomen.
In the 15th century, diamond craftsmen of the Dukes of Burgundy invented the faceted diamond, and they found that the angled slope reflected sunlight. In some jewelry, natural diamonds replaced traditional pearls as a new material for decoration, embellished on necklaces on the chest.
From table-shaped cutting in the 15th century to rose-cutting in the 16th century Renaissance, diamond cuts have been improved to give full play to its sparkling advantages and become a good companion for large-grain colored gemstones.
However, due to the fact that the cutting tools are very primitive and the skills are limited, the small surface of the diamond bottom at that time is very large, resulting in the diamond leaking light and cannot produce full internal reflection, so the brightness of the diamond is not high.
To this end, jewelers often use silver inlaid diamonds and applied foil to make the diamonds shine in the dim candlelight.
Application of new processes
The vigorous development of economy and trade in the 17th century, the integration of various cultures, and the innovation of technology made Baroque jewelry reach an unprecedented height in craftsmanship.
In Baroque jewelry, the enamel process is often used, and the jewelers use gold as the base to depict various colors of enamel on it, and the colorful color scheme reveals a unique exotic style.
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Rose-cut diamonds became increasingly popular in the second half of the seventeenth century, but there were higher demands on diamonds—candlelit dinner parties in the Baroque era required jewelry to shine brighter.
At the end of the seventeenth century, the early brilliant cut, the "Old Mine Cut", appeared. More facets and more precise calculations allowed the diamond to finally show its high dispersion characteristics, changing the status of the previous stone and becoming the most popular gemstone in dinner jewelry.
The 17th-century St Albans hairpin features nearly 30 "Old Mine Cut" diamonds
Mr J said:
The sense of court is the most significant symbol of the Baroque style that distinguishes it from other arts.
With the accumulation of wealth, people showed a strong possessiveness for luxury jewelry that exaggerated and gorgeous, which can show financial resources, and through large-carat gemstones and exquisite skills, jewelry presented an unprecedented sense of luxury.
Even today, the baroque can still be seen in the design of major jewelry brands.
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