Recounting of the histories of famous stones and fascinating descriptions of the development of the jeweler's art from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century.

Over 300 spectacular pendants, combs, buckles, rings, bracelets, brooches, umbrella handles, penknives, buttons, clasps, and scissors in detailed photographs reprinted from rare, turn-of-the-century folios.

""A new, imperishable beauty," was how the artist and architect Henry van de Velde described it. European Art Nouveau jewelry of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries embraced a new aesthetic characterized by sensuous forms, dramatic imagery and vivid symbolism. Many of the designers associated with the movement sought their inspiration not in traditional jewelry, but in the work of the pre-Raphaelites and Impressionists and in the arts of Japan. Rejecting the rigid naturalism typical of European decorative arts, designers such as Ren Lalique and Henry van de Velde, and the artists of the German Jugenstil and Austrian Wiener Sezession movements, created ornaments that expressed the spirit and freedom of the era. These artists and designers adopted a free-flowing line and asymmetrical format that invigorated their work and set it apart, while their use of natural motifs and of the female form imbued their creations with energy, sensuality and dreamy mysticism. But underlying the undeniable exuberance of these works was a fin-de-sicle edginess that endows this period with inexhaustible fascination." "Illustrating nearly eighty ornaments from a single private collection - the finest of its type in America - Imperishable Beauty features all of the major designers and jewelers from this groundbreaking era. Paintings, prints, posters and textiles fill out the presentation, making this book as rich and intoxicating as the aesthetic it portrays."--BOOK JACKET.

Jewelry was one of the purest, and most successful, expressions of the Art Nouveau movement. It captured the atmosphere and the passion of the fin de siecle, as well as the moral and artistic freedom that characterized the period. Fresh designs and motifs were created with an intense excitement that was shared by artists all over the world. Sensuous animal and plant forms surged with new life; the female form struggled toward a new freedom, suggesting a long-hidden eroticism; and sunsets and changing seasons reflected the symbolic view of art in nature borrowed from the Japanese. This book deals with major jewelers in France -- their inspirations, techniques, and themes -- and then follows the parallel modern movement that spread through Europe and the United States. With a detailed reference section and a collection of dramatic photographs, this treasury will appeal to collectors and jewelry lovers alike. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Spectacularly beautiful, this authoritative book presents jewelry designs of this century. With almost two hundred full-color photographs specially commissioned for this book and archival pictures of pieces that have disappeared into private collections, the volume features the finest artworks in precious metals and jewels from collections around the world, including creations by Lalique, Cartier, Boucheron, Bulgari, Tiffany, and David Webb. The fascinating text surveys the glittering world of gems with an illustrated introductory essay investigating the development of jewelry design at the end of the 1800s, and the shift from Victorian and Art Nouveau works to pieces stamped with the personality and vision of a single designer. The next chapter thoroughly examines the successive revolutions in style of the twentieth century. The balance of the book is a cornucopia of photographs portraying pieces from the beginning of the century through the 1960s: the grand era of commissions and patrons. Here you will find the Duchess of Windsor's famous necklace of diamonds and rubies as well as a fabulous pin in the shape of a World War II tank, and a veritable menagerie of diamond-studded elephants, enameled tigers, and jade dragons. This thorough history is a dazzling jewelbox of a book.

Sinous and elegant, Art Nouveau style found a natural expression in jewelry. The swelling outlines of a vine, the graceful arc of a swan, and the profiles of serene feminine faces are some of the more familiar motifs. This guide showcases the wide variety of patterns made under the Art Nouveau aesthetic, highlighting more than 100 glittering examples that reflect the very essence of their period.