My inspiration for jewelry that I design often comes from history. For example, the Empress series was inspired by the jewelry of Catherine the Great. There is a portrait of her, wearing a multi-strand choker of pearls, with two strands of pearls that looked like it went all the way to her navel. In between the two long strands of pearls, there is another strand of either rubies or garnets, with a red crystal pendant, of either ruby or garnet, that’s as long as my hand! I have dreams about that necklace!
I also read that her favorite gemstone was actually amber. She commissioned that room in the Kremlin that is wall-to-wall amber! It’s amazing. Hence many of the amber necklaces I design are named for her.
Another item that I have drooled about is the turquoise and diamond earring and necklace set that is shown in the Smithsonian, that once belonged to Marie Antoinette. Oh, my God! Perfect, Persian, robins-egg blue turquoise pendants the size of duck eggs! Hand-carved rosettes and briolettes of diamonds inches long. I had read about it. It was presented to her by her father-in-law, Louis X!V. It was said that his mistress, Madame Pompadour, was furious that it went to Marie Antoinette, and not to her. She also coveted the Tavernier Diamond, a phenomenal five-sided blue diamond that was initially presented to Louis XIV by the explorer Henri Tavernier. It was first set in a brooch, and was called the Medal of Freedom. After the French Revolution, it disappeared.(Gee, what a surprise) It turned up decades later, and much smaller. It was to become what we have come to know as the Hope Diamond. Damn! That’s another piece that haunts me.
In many respects, my tastes are from the Bronze Age. I just groove on the idea of rubies the size of my fist, that are too big too fit in my navel, and I’ve got a perfect “inney”. Yeah, arm cuffs studded with gems! Gold, jewel-studded necklaces that would stagger a goat! I drool when I think about it. It’s why I make big jewelry.
Elizabeth Tudor loved pearls. There are over 2,000 seed pearls sewn onto the gown in which she was corona ted. Some whispered that her love of ‘gems was“mannish”. Don’t forget, back then, gold, precious gems, were exclusively the purview of priests and the Holy Roman Empire (for the glory of God) and kings, who represented God’s rule on Earth.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was the first European woman of record to receive an engagement ring. It was a diamond, set in gold. The Pope was horrified when he heard about it. And it scandalized both the French and Norman(English) court. People whispered that Eleanor had “bewitched” Henry Plantagenet. The tittering turned into a roar when she married Henry, and was crowned Queen, with a little, tiny gold circlet, that wouldn’t keep your hair out of your eyes, its so to thin. But she was the first woman in Europe to be Crowned. That really got the Pope’s bowels in an uproar. He called Eleanor a witch. He threatened Henry with excommunication, if he didn’t take it back. Eventually, he was, but that had more to do with Thomas Beckett, than Eleanor. Although, she had no love for Beckett, and urged Henry to disassociate himself from Beckett. But that’s another rant.
And pearls were worn more by men than women. No gentleman would ever be caught dead at Court, without a nice pair of pearl bobs! Christopher Columbus, was so poor, that he did not own a pair of pearl earrings. When he was first invited to the Spanish Royal Court, he had none to wear. Ferdinand was contemptuous of a man with no earrings, and refused to see him. A courtier, who was friendly to Columbus, loaned in his best pair, when
