Since the beginning of civilization humans have sought to adorn and decorate themselves, and the Chinese were no exception. Inspired by the beauty and variety of the birds and animals around them they sought, from the very earliest times to emulate these seemingly perfect creatures by first adorning themselves with their pelts and plumes. Then with increasing sophistication to embellish the clothes and accessories they wore, finally establishing by the time of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) a highly-stylised and visible social and political hierarchy. This was based upon their perception of the intrinsic characteristics of these creatures and famously epitomized by the bird and animal rank badges of that era.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, headgear and hairstyles evolved in the most spectacular manner, and the crests and head plumes of the birds the Chinese encountered provided inspiration over the centuries for an astonishing variety of hats, crowns, tiaras, hairstyles and hair ornaments. Drawn by their iridescent beauty, many races and peoples have used feathers as adornment or accessory, and the earliest humans, including the Chinese, probably initially sought to decorate themselves using entire feathers from the bird; we are all familiar with pictures of races right up until modern times such as the Papua New Guinean tribes, which continue to do so.

It is only the Chinese however who evolved beyond this to discover a way to incorporate the colour and sheen, which they so admired in the beautiful feathers, into something far more wearable, sophisticated and elegant (Hartman, R., 1980, p80). The most highly-prized of all as seen in the short poem above were the flashing iridescent turquoise and blue feathers of the little halcyon, or kingfisher bird, at that stage plentiful in China and in fact, in most of Asia. As can be deduced from the date of Ch’en Tzu-ang’s poem, the use of kingfisher feathers appears well-established at that stage and they were clearly already highly valued as much, if not more, than gold.

Excavations of T’ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) tombs have revealed tiny kingfisher jewellery pieces, which were probably used more in the manner of gems or decorative items, and there are descriptions of a dying king from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) detailing his private chamber in which there were “kingfisher hangings on jasper hooks” and “bedspreads of kingfisher all seeded with pearls”(Hartman, R., 1980, p76), apparently from the manner of their description not necessarily unusual objects for the time.

Beverley Jackson in her extensive book on the subject of the use of kingfisher feathers recounts a marvelous episode where the indefatigable English author Oswald Sitwell is musing upon the glory that was Angkor Wat, and concludes, somewhat amazed, that such glories in a country with few resources such as ancient Cambodia must have been provided by one thing only – the enormous trade in kingfisher feathers for the insatiable Chinese market (Jackson, B., 2001, p5). This rather startling observation provides some insight into the ubiquity and popularity of the exquisite objects, and certainly no museum collection of Chinese dress is without at least one or two examples of this art

Indeed kingfisher feathers were employed with dazzling effect in a large variety of items for personal adornment including not only hair ornaments but crowns, wedding head-dresses, bracelets, nail guards, brooches, earrings, pendants and occasionally even larger objets d’art such as screens and tableaux. Although it is evident that kingfisher decorative items had existed for many centuries, they were at their most spectacular when used to decorate women’s hair ornaments, and this was an art form whose artistic culmination was reached in the Qing dynasty when the Manchus took control of Imperial power.

Although they sought to enforce Manchu customs and language from the beginning of their reign in 1644, by the time of the Qianlong Emperor (c 1736-95) the ruling Manchus were increasingly concerned that not only were the ethnic Han Chinese continuing with their own style of dress, they were also influencing Manchu style. Subsequently in 1759, the “Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Court” (Huangchao liqi tushi) was published, ostensibly in an effort to unify the country but in reality of course to control and impose their rule upon the Han(Garrett, V., p10). Under this system, clothing was divided into official and non-official wear, seasonal wear, styles, and colours, all based on rank. As women held no official role in the court (other than occasionally acting as regent, most notably the Empress Dowager Cixi) their rank was determined by their husband’s⁴.

Subsequently their dress, hairstyles and even their hair ornaments were very formalised so combined with the immense wealth and leisure time these women enjoyed, the art of dressing the hair and ornamenting the subsequent confection reached new heights – literally in the case of Manchu women, who sought to develop increasingly towering styles. Combined with her extra physical height, floor-length robes and 4-6” platform shoes, the Manchu court female was an imposing figure, and made the shorter-statured, bound-footed Han Chinese woman look girlish and doll-like by comparison(Johnson, B., 2001, p61).

Naturally in this era no woman of rank or wealth, Manchu or Han, did her own hair; in the case of the Manchu woman if a hat was not being worn for an official occasion, the preparations for this coiffure could take some hours, especially with the higher ranking princesses and empresses of the court(Princess Der Ling, 1911, p67). In order to keep the elaborate structure in place, a gel-like substance was used called pao bua, derived from soaking fine wood-shavings from a special tree in hot water until a sticky jelly was obtained. This was then combed through the hair which was then styled. In the case of Han women, unless their husband was a mandarin at the Imperial court this style would have simply been in the fashion of the day, often a simple coil or two braids at the nape of the neck; very few ornaments were used, often just fresh flowers or a couple of small pins.

In the case of Manchu women however it was a much more complex process and the gelled and combed hair was then wound around elaborate frames made of horsehair; according to the dictates of her rank a number of different types of styling followed, the best known of which is the liangpa tou “two handle ends” seen in many portraits of the day including the Empress Dowager. Against this towering backdrop (further augmented in the late Qing by a similar structure made of black satin), numerous beautiful objects such as sheng (combs), zan (hair slides), chai (hair pins) and buyao (hair ornaments) could be displayed, along with fresh and artificial flowers, pompoms and tassels (Garrett, V, 1997, p76, Hartman, R, 1980, p90, Jackson, B, 2001, pp61-63)

The hair ornaments themselves could be functional or decorative, serving to either help hold the hair in place in the case of the very large hair slide known as bianfang which essentially supported the two side buns and was often decorated on one side with a large hanging tassel which swung as the wearer walked, or in the case of smaller pins and ornaments be displayed entirely for their beauty and workmanship. The variety of materials used along with the kingfisher feathers included gold or silver (depending on wealth and rank), pearls, precious and semi-precious stones notably unfaceted rubies and sapphires, tourmalines and carnelians, the highly-valued Peking glass, coral, jade or jadeite, mother of pearl, and sometimes in the case of dangling hair ornaments (liusu) brass figures such as fish.

The ornaments themselves came in a huge variety of shapes including birds, animals, insects, flowers and other plant life including fruit and gourds, children or small figures, auspicious symbols including the shou “long life” and shuangxi “double happiness” symbols, shapes such as the Eight Precious Objects and even in the case of larger crowns and tiaras, small still life scenes depicting court life or famous scenes, however the most popular themes were butterflies, bats, dragonflies, grasshoppers, fish and gourds(Garrett, V, p19-35, Hartman, R, 1980, pp76-80, Jackson, B, 2001, p97) The reason for these choices was several-fold, for apart from their intrinsic charm and beauty these motifs held another type of significance. The Chinese language is rich with homophones, words that sound like one another but have different meanings, with the result that saying one thing can evoke something entirely different, sometimes humorous or for the superstitious Chinese, auspicious.

Well-known examples of this include “happiness” fu and “bat” bianfu, “prosperity” yu and “fish” yu, or interesting combinations such as “butterfly” and “gourd” guadie mianmian creating a rebus meaning “offspring for eternity”. Other motifs had their own inherent meanings, such as peaches and pomegranates (fertility), paired ducks (marital happiness) cranes (immortality) and lingzhi mushrooms (longevity). Because of this there resulted a strong visual vocabulary, almost a type of ‘visual shorthand’, so that the use of certain animals, insects or symbols would result in a piece that was not only able to be admired for its exquisite workmanship, but also had great meaning for the wearer and all those around her and usually connoted her wish for a happy and fulfilled life, preferably with many sons (Hartman, R, 1980, pp76-80).

It can be understood in the light of this that the Chinese of this era wore jewellery for different reasons to us today, usually more for aesthetic reasons or the enjoyment of the wearer, or as a practical means of storing their assets, rather than actually showing off wealth. In addition, the choice of background metal was again stipulated by formal decree, and gold was generally only permitted for ornaments for the ladies of the Imperial court or the very wealthy.

Whatever the metal it was wrought into an astonishing variety of shapes, often three-dimensional, and was frequently worked as filigree; quite frequently design elements such as stems, branches and leaves were fashioned with a springy copper ball so that they trembled when the wearer moved or walked, adding to the charm and beauty of the final picture(Jackson, B, 2001, p85).

While it is certainly acknowledged that the art of working with kingfisher feathers is one of China’s traditional handcrafts (Yuan, H, 2006, p97), the actual construction of the pieces themselves has been the subject of some conjecture. What is known is that thin sheets of gold or silver were formed into the desired shape with the appropriate ridges in the design being fashioned with a tiny hammer and a surrounding lip then being attached, much in the fashion of cloisonné(Hartmann, R, 1980, p76). The pieces of feather were then painstakingly laid in place and then affixed with adhesive or glue.

The method of fixation may have been variable depending on the way the piece was constructed and has been variously describedas eithercovering the entire finished product with a glue-like substance(Jackson, B, 2001, p53-54) or affixing each piece individually, as in a fascinating eye-witness account of the timedescribing how individual feather filaments were dredged through the glue before being laid flat upon the metal surface(Jackson, B, 2001, p50) What is agreed upon is that the glue must be invisible, and not discolour the feathers at all.

The exact composition of this glue is not precisely known although it was most likely a combination of adhesives derived from both animal (hide) and plant (seaweed) sourceswhich would have been plentiful and readily available at the time. The feathers themselves also appear to have been used in a couple of different ways to create the jewellery. One technique, by far the slowest and most painstaking and most likely that used for the Court jewellery, involved the method described above whereby individual feather filaments were laboriously attached side by side until the piece was covered and a solid lacquer-like effect was achieved.

Alternately and possibly as demand for these objects grew, a different and no doubt slightly more efficient technique was employed with larger sections of actual feather being attached. This may also have been used for larger pieces. What is certain is that with the inevitable intermingling of the ruling Manchus and the Han Chinese women, demand for these pieces grew as every women in China wanted one of these covetable and fashionable items. In addition the increasing influx of Western visitors combined with the aesthetic of the Art Nouveau movement in Europe made these pieces desirous beyond Chinese shores, and demand eventually outstripped supply with the eventual hunting to extinction of the little kingfisher bird in China.

Fashions then changed and with the advent of the sweeping social changes that were to befall China, this art, like so many others, was lost. The last factory producing these items commercially closed in Canton in 1930(Hartman, R, 1980, p78), and although reproduction items are still produced in China and the Philippines today, the items are generally inferior and do not use genuine kingfisher feathersbut rather dyed feathers from other birds(Jackson, B, 2001, p53).

What is so remarkable then is that the appreciation of, and delight in these beautiful little objects endures in both China and the West, and even in such a changed world as ours the fact that we can still admire and desire these little gems, and the very fact that so many pieces of this extraordinary art form still survive today is a tribute to both the skill of the artisans and the timeless beauty of the pieces themselves.

Guest Author: © Dr Sheena Burnell Shanghai 2009 – 2012 **Ch’en Tzu-ang (661-702) Translation by Paul W. Kroll

Dr Sheena Burnell is an anaesthetist currently living in the East. She began collecting Chinese objet d’art and Japanese ukiyoe (wood block prints) in the 1980s. Her shift in focus to Chinese dress accessories dates from her first visits to Hong Kong in the early ‘90s. This led to an expanding interest in women’s and children’s dress accessories in general and more recently kingfisher hair ornaments. Sheena appeared on the Australian ABC program ‘Collectors’ in 2007, with her collection of bound feet shoes and related objects.

Related posts:

1. Collecting Chinese Snuff Containers
2. Chinese Ceramics – ‘Knowledge Comes from Seeing Much’
3. The Mistress and the Consort, Paying the Wages of Beauty

Spending a rainy day reading in bed is certainly my idea of luxury. I have always imagined that one day I may very well end up like the ‘poor poet’ in one of my favourite, charming ‘Beidermeier paintings’ by Carl Spietzwig. In my room, snuggled up with just my bed and books around me. Although hopefully, I won’t need an umbrella like he has, to stave off the leaks when it rains.

My God of Double Happiness his 'Mona Lisa' smile quite grabbed my attention years ago when he was part of a collection belonging to a friend. It's the crinkles around his eyes that drew me in.

In a way surrounding myself with books has been part of my looking to value myself and to conserve my health and wellbeing for a very long time. They have also aided my life’s journey and over the years have practically helped me to plan many adventures with my family, both at home and overseas. For thirteen years they were also freely available to students of The Academy (Academy of Design and Decorative Arts) who spent many a happy hour browsing and researching from them in the Art Deco Academy space in Macquarie Street at Sydney (1992 – 1999) and in The Turret teaching space in the precinct of St John’s Cathedral at Brisbane (2000 – 2005).

When, a few years ago, I was put into a position of having to sell off this fine art, design history and decorative arts library, which had been put together lovingly over forty years, it was like tearing out both my heart and soul. One of the few people who understood why I was so distressed was my eldest son, also a bit of a Bibliophile, albeit on a smaller scale these days. He is collecting books on a Kindle instead of in a bookcase. Certainly much easier to take with you when you move. After making all the arrangements to send them off at the last minute I couldn’t bear to see them all go, because they were so important to my security. Irrational I know, but there it is, I am only human. And I freely admit they were, and are my ‘Linus’ blanket. My books, and my wonderful ceramic God of double happiness are my home, and where they both are you will find me also.

So, the night before they were leaving, and because I wanted to survive well I grabbed back a small cross referenced collection, which included some renowned for their scholarship,  some that placed form above content, some that were old, some rare, and some first editions, as well as one or two from private presses and the like.

For a long time they were unable to be unpacked but they are now and surround me daily in my working space at Melbourne, along with my ceramic God of Double Happiness and a large tapestry that I love. The ‘God’ is really special as he once belonged to a friend of mine whose erudition I admired. He used to visit me often to share his prodigious knowledge. When he passed on into that big library in the sky I secured him at auction.

Being a bibliophile is not only about heartbreak, it is also about happiness too. The ‘smell’ of books en masse has for me at least, has always been very alluring. Especially since many childhood hours spent in the Randwick Municipal Library and later the State Library in Macquarie Street at Sydney.

I have always loved those books ‘bound in Morocco’, a tradition associated with binding books with the skin of goats formerly grazing the grass at exotic Morocco. And what about those with pure gold protecting the edges of their beautiful hand made paper from dust.

For me, and I suspect for many other members of the ‘baby boomer’ generation, part of the process of having an association with books was browsing through the bookstores. Such special places. I have particularly enjoyed hunting about in shops that specialized in antique and out of print books.

Frequent visits to Melbourne were a joy and found me headed straight for Kay Craddock’s basement bookstore on chic Collins Street, which was right next door to the fabulous flagship emporium, Georges, now only a memory too.

Happily I can report from Melbourne, for those that may not know, Kay is now back in her book basement following renovations to the building.

Browsing in the rare division and buying at Berkelouw’s amazing book barn in the Southern Highlands of NSW was an annual joy all through the ’80′s and early 90′s. Often when purchasing old and rare books I would find a personal photo, a cutting from a newspaper, or a letter from a previous owner that had been filed away carefully and then passed along to me. Special.

I remember being in Berkelouw’s store at Paddington in Sydney in the early 90′s and discovering a rare set of all the novels by the controversial (woman dressed as a man) author George Sand (1804 – 1876) brilliantly bound in colourful Morocco. At the time I so wished they could be mine, but they were outside my budget so I had to decline. I was always ‘tough’ with myself about the budget. They were of special interest though and I enjoyed the opportunity to view and handle them wearing white gloves. Not long before this had happened I had seen the movie Impromptu (1991), which starred Australian actor Judy Davis as the writer who dressed like a man, George Sand with Hugh Grant as Chopin and Julian Sands as Franz Liszt. Just brilliant.

Incredibly a few nights later I went out to Sydney airport to pick up my husband from off the last flight from Melbourne. In those days it was easy to go through and wait at the door for the passengers to come off the plane. As I was standing there alone, at about 10 pm amazingly, up came Judy Davis.

Judy Davis as George Sand, Impromptu

Ms Davis was there to also pick up her husband Colin Friels from the same plane. So I plucked up the courage to talk to her and we passed pleasanteries. I told her all about my find and the delightful set of Sand novels in the Paddington store and said that if anyone should own them, she should, having played Sand so brilliantly. When I went back a few weeks later they were gone and I have always wondered if they ended up in her bookcase. It’s a mystery.

Then there is a delightful poem I discovered tucked up in a book about glass. Called Chinoiserie, it was written by someone who remains anonymous.  Click the red link if you would like to read it.

There were constant delights when plotting with a book dealer and friend James Larsen, who was an enthusiastic and important conduit in my search for additions to my ever expanding collection. He would ring out of the blue from unexpected places to report his findings. I remember it took him years in the eighties to find a copy of Nancy Mitford’s large ‘coffee table’ size book of the biography of Madame de Pompadour for me.

Then he endeared himself forever when he also found the biography of Louis XIV The Sun King in the same large edition. James Larsen specialized in finding rare and out of print editions, crime, science fiction, history, biography, and children’s books and still does, in his delightful bookstore at Exeter in NSW. These days he’s also handily ‘online’.

The longest time we spent was about ten years to find a pristine copy of the limited edition of the very rare ‘Castiglione at the Court of the Chinese Emperors’. In all that time I never gave up hope one would turn up as another Bibliophile joined that larger library in the sky. Then out of the blue he rang from deep in one of the states in the U.S.A. to say he had found it and to confirm its purchase.

Remembering that someone else had preserved, and passed a book along to me was what eventually got me through my personal crisis over losing most of my treasured library. I had to keep reminding myself it was all about being a conservator and safeguarding someone else’s imagination, which as 20th century scientist extraordinaire Albert Einstein reminded us, is more important than knowledge.

An early association with books, or learning in any form, is the path to getting in the habit of embracing lifelong learning, which is now an essential aspect of twenty first century life. Encouraging children to read and become used to handling books should happen for any child from as soon after birth is possible. Reading aloud to them is vital in ensuring their path forward will be as good as it can be.

As soon as each of my three sons arrived home from the hospital a colourful heavy card or padded plastic book was the first object that went into their cot alongside a colourful mobile and rattle. By the time they all sat up it was the first thing they reached for.

Reading aloud, and singing a song each night before they went to sleep, became an essential aspect of their daily routine and early education from a few months onward. Reading aloud continued until they were all able to do it for themselves, and even then the youngest would still occasionally ask would I read to him to help him go to sleep.

Having a love of reading certainly helped each of them with their study and attaining good averages at school and university. Now all grown up one of them is actually in the book business, one has been in the publishing business, although he has now moved into digital media and the third is in the telecommunications business. I am sure the reading aloud helped shape their future.

Today, I am very pleased to observe they are all still voracious readers and devourers of knowledge. Recently it was revealed that reading aloud and my singing them to sleep at night is among the happiest memories of their childhood, as were trips to the The Children’s Bookshop (1971) at Beecroft in the northern districts of Sydney where we lived for eleven years.

The world is now a changing, with ebooks and ibooks being the way of the future. After this decade to enjoy the tactile quality of books will mean visiting ‘antique’ or ‘vintage’ style bookshops.

Being a bibliophile has been part of my life journey and like most people, it started in my childhood, however it was not as well planned by my own parents, even though my father was in the ‘education’ business. A Headmaster.

It was my mother who first encouraged my interest in reading because her childhood had been virtually bereft of books, except those kept at the tiny one man, one room school she attended as one of the daughters of the Head Shearer on the Belltrees Station at Scone in rural NSW.

Her education ceased at sixth grade Primary School because out of her big family she was the one ‘chosen’ to stay at home and complete domestic tasks and look after her mother. Although she got out of that one by marrying and having seven children of her own. So it was left to dear Aunty Ivy, whose fiancée was killed in World War II, to fulfill that role. She was a great reader too and encouraged me constantly.

As I was growing up my mother was always warning me of the very real dangers associated with ‘rising above one’s station in life’. This was totally at odds with her secretly encouraging me to read and expand my knowledge behind closed doors. My darling grandmother was the most encouraging.

She wanted me to not rise or walk, but to leap forward and embrace life and knowledge. She knew it was the only way to keep ‘moving forward’ as she had done when her husband died dreadfully of cancer at a young age and she gathered up her 9 children (3 fostered) and moved to Sydney so they would all survive.

Following my father’s death, when my mother was 66, she was found every day devouring every word in the Herald newspaper and Women’s Weekly monthly magazine, which were the only luxuries she could allow herself on her Australian ‘widow’s’ pension. I was in a position at the time to indulge her new found love of reading with novels I knew she would enjoy for gifts. She became an armchair traveler until finally in 1999, aged 93 she journeyed on alone.

Heartbreak and happiness is definitely part of the story of a bibliophile. Why I became one? Well that is a another story and for another day.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010 – 2012

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1. CIVILISED: At the Beginnings of Art
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Munich in the south of Germany is the capital of Bavaria. It was voted the world's most livable city in 2010. The city father's took a great decision to rebuild it exactly as it had been prior to World War II

The intellectual ideas of every period and culture in world history are reflected in architecture and their are consequences if we tear down our living heritage, even in regard to modern buildings of great merit. Heritage is not about age. It is about buildings that have contributed to the growth and cultural development of a society, a city, a town or hamlet. The decision to be made is really all about whether they can continue to have a role to play by using clever design to incorporate old into the new. Nearly every instance where this happens the result is not only pleasing but helps in aiding people’s quality of life.

Conservation of an amazing building gives a city character. As a bonus for all time, the layers of history can be peeled back to reveal what its citizens have achieved. It can also help inspire and motivate the future we are moving toward. Consider the city fathers and citizens of Munich, who took a decision to rebuild and preserve their old city, despite it being bombed nearly out of existence during World War II. This extraordinary feat means that today. with a little wear and tear, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between the old and the new. What is important is the contribution the restored city has made to its economic welfare, which noted in the billions of dollars it attracts as a financial and publishing hub in the south of Germany. The capital of Bavaria, in 2010 it was voted the world’s most livable city.

Careful efforts at reconstruction are underway and have been for twenty years or more. This involves fixing problems from previous reconstruction among other issues

The fabulous stone buildings on the Acropolis at Athens are another wonderful example. They stood for over 2,400 years, despite human folly, bloody mindedness and sheer stupidity. They are a symbolic foundation stone for today’s western culture. There is still so much to learn from, and about them, as currently those working on their conservation and reconstruction can confirm. The ruins remain as visual evidence of a society that had a great grasp on the natural environment and why space should be an integral aspect of, and important to, the production of aesthetically pleasing design. The mathematical genius of the Parthenon whose columns optically stand in a straight line, but are in fact all deliberately curved, is gob-smacking stuff. It has stood on the high ground of the Acropolis for thousands of years. It has been blown, up, rocked by earthquakes and its sculptural treasures plundered. Its aesthetic has been disfigured by people hell bent on destroying humanity. Today in ruin it manages to provide us with a platform of knowledge to learn from, which is nothing short of amazing.

In almost every field of their endeavor the ancient Greeks were pioneers and their achievements in architecture, in literature, thought and science are a part of the Greek legacy to the world at large. It was in a garden dedicated to the Greek hero Academus, hence the word Academy, that Plato taught Greek philosophy. Early Greek philosophy is nothing less than the discovery of the cosmos, i.e. the realization the world as a whole had a structure, revealing it to rational enquiry. The Greek word kosmos means order.

Among other things Plato developed was the art of self-criticism, seeing his own life as a divine mission to his fellow citizens. That required picking out the ‘soul’, and not the body, as that part of a man that required cultivation. As the body is improved by healthy exercise, so the soul benefits from morally right behaviour and ruined by the opposite, the soul was traditionally regarded as the source of life…but we digress.

The word classic means of the first class having acknowledged excellence; the word classical pertaining to the standard achieved by ancient Greek and Latin authors or their works, or the culture, art, architecture of Greek and Roman antiquity generally. The main characteristics are clarity of outline, restrained, harmonious and in accordance with established forms.

Gothic style stables belonging to the Governor now the Conservatorium of Music at NSW

In the late 60’s and throughout the 70′s, the scene that unfolded in most major cities in Australia was also happening in many other parts of the world. At Sydney aesthetically pleasing well-designed solidly built buildings, either domestic or commercial, were biting the dust. I must admit while being a witness to this chain of events I could not foresee a time in the future when we would have any regard, or appreciation, for our built heritage.

It is a miracle really that the ‘Gothic style’ stables, built to be part of the first Government House at Sydney survived to be incorporated into and provide such a wonderful point of contrast for a backdrop of amazing architectural modernity that is the Conservatorium of Music. Learning about music and the harmony of life in such surroundings for students must be a powerful experience and motivator.

When working in the 60′s as a personal assistant (interior design student) to an architect in a building firm heavily involved in small commercial work and the modern renovation of many fabulous large bungalows in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Whelan the Wrecker and his swinging ball was destroying much of Sydney’s early heritage. The interesting aspect of the story is that he got so sick of the destruction himself he had the union impose bans to stop it. Today he holds an important position protecting what remains of Sydney’s heritage.

Goodness, how many fabulous stone and brick buildings did we witness being wiped out in the name of ‘progress’? I was constantly in hot water with the architect for asking why we could not have better solutions to re-arranging a living space without destroying the aesthetic and the architectural integrity of the original house’s design. There was so many quality fittings and superb timbers originally used. And these were being removed. He would tell me I was not to ‘rock the boat’, and ‘I was really too young to know what I was on about’. What we were getting was going to be much ‘better’ and that the clients were going to be ‘better off’.

But are we better off today than we were? And, will we be better off 20 years from now? I am not against change. Personally I embrace it constantly and its part of a progressive society. I also enjoy advancements in the arts, sciences and technology, however I am against change for change’s sake.

Change needs rhyme, reason and intelligent unemotional and unselfish debate.

Federation style Flats, Carr Street, Coogee Beach, Sydney

At the time my architect boss didn’t realize I had lived most of my life in a wonderful old block of what we now describe as Federation style flats near the sea. I just love old blocks of Flats (as opposed to apartments) because they have large rooms with high ceilings, superb architectural detailing, sometimes a walk in pantry or butler’s pantry, milk boxes, letter boxes, a back door and spaces that conformed to the tenets of the golden ratio of measurement. This meant human beings really felt good when they were at home.

One 30′s deco flat I lived in also had its original maid’s quarters. In direct contrast to the Victorian way of accommodating maids in an attic, it was indeed luxurious with a bedroom, sitting room, with built in bookcases, cupboards and easy access to the kitchen.

The block I lived in as a child was vandalised on an ongoing basis by an owner hell bent on dragging the tenants into a ‘promising future’. This meant replacing beautifully rendered in excellent condition timber window frames with mean thin aluminium ones. They were hard to maintain, especially near the sea (you can paint and stain timber) and this was pre-powder coated, which still has to be maintained if its going to continue to look good.

Ceilings were lowered by false ceilings by an ugly board studded with holes. As a child I used to think these were hideous. Today we can perhaps say at least they protected the original ceilings so they could later be restored. Then lovely details like picture rails were also stripped off in the name of fashion. They were usually part of a scheme that divided the room into aesthetic proportions, so that when removed they put the design out of kilter.

Deep open arched verandahs were glassed and boxed in with a combination of dreaded aluminium windows and cheap ply board. This ongoing awful act of ‘modernisation’ (vandalism) sealed my fate. I actively went in search of knowledge about the history of the evolution of design, especially as it related to architecture. I wanted to gain an insight into, and better understanding of, the intellectual ideas that gave great buildings around the world, birth. The objective was of being a fully informed interior designer. It turned out to be so much more of a journey, one I have riding along on ever since.

I still haven’t quite got over the council at Sydney allowing the destruction of one of its most respected architect Harry Seidler’s groundbreaking buildings at the bottom of Macquarie Street during the early 90’s. At the time, after practicing my trade for nearly 20 years, together with like-minded colleagues, I started a lecture series about the evolution of western art and design.

The objective was to use our collective knowledge to raise people’s awareness of the visual arts and also offer an appreciation for our living heritage and cultural inheritance. The first lectures were held in one of the rooms in the concrete modern annexe at the State Library of NSW, Australia.

During the break we would stand out on the roof terrace overlooking Macquarie Street and discuss how we all felt a great pit of despair inside as we viewed the sad and sorry state of the Macquarie street-scape.Ghastly late 60’s and 70’s brick buildings had replaced many of the beautiful nineteenth century Sydney sandstone classically styled town houses and commercial buildings that had made this one of the most classy and elegant streets in the country.

Between the wars these quite wonderful buildings had been interspersed with some other very good buildings, such as the first Sydney New York Gothic style skyscraper (BMA House).  It did add up to a very charming mix.

When they were torn down they were replaced by quite simply dreadful box style buildings, whose interiors and exteriors were proportionally disparate. Bland beyond belief they had ubiquitous low ceilings, that made people feel claustrophobic with often awful consequences. Many had crumbling mortar and were dotted with mean rust-ridden air condioning boxes that stuck out of previously fashionably framed timber windows – replaced by those mean metal windows. They dripped stale water onto all those walking along the street below, while slowly staining the walls on the way down. ‘Yuk’ was the only word that came to mind as we stood there looking at them. Here was visual evidence of the ‘good life’ we were all aspiring to and the riches money could buy and, as we were constantly reminded, all in the name of ‘progress’.

But did that mean it was going to be better? An article by Richard Reeves in a 2005 Journal of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufacture and Commerce in England entitled ‘The Sun sets on the Enlightenment’ poses many interesting questions. One point he makes is that ‘only by having a clear view of where it is we want to go can we stand any chance of determining our path. We need to rejuvenate the spirit, reinvent the sense of progress or be condemned to managerial politics bleached of idealism and vision, corporate short sightedness and disillusionment’.

Powerful stuff.

© Carolyn McDowall The Culture Concept Circle 2009 – 2011

Related posts:

1. A Cultural Conundrum – Melbourne vs Brisbane, the new Black?
2. A Passion for Gothic Decoration
3. A ‘Compleat’ Gentleman, more than a leader of style

New Zealand designer, David Trubridge's Float Bed Designed for Dreaming

Since ancient times men and women have had a very real need for sleep, love and dreams. Over the centuries the bed gradually became the most important piece of furniture in the house, and a very real symbol of rank, wealth and power through its association with fertility. The idea of ‘ making a bed ‘ evolved from the early Saxon tradition of filling sacks with hay, and it is a term we have used ever since.

The whole idea of occupying a single chamber to sleep in became a reality during the so-called middle ages, a period in history that spans from the fifth, to the end of the fifteenth century. It was a luxury enjoyed only by a privileged few. The main ‘ chamber’ was about receiving guests, conducting business, as well as a hundred and one other activities, which included sleeping in a set up similar to our modern idea for ‘open plan living’. People traveling in regions previously frequented by outlaws and marauding tribes sought shelter in great castles where sleep became a communal affair – the sharing of rooms, or beds, recognized as a mark of political esteem or as a symbol of arms laid to rest.

Detail late nineteenth century wool embroidery on a linen bed curtain

By the sixteenth century producing an heir to carry on the family name, increase its wealth and uphold its traditions was of increasing importance, as was the obligation for offering hospitality. During this time the bed gained a great deal in importance and as privacy became an issue long curtains, suspended from hooks on the ceiling,  protected occupants from the gaze of others or servants who bedded down on straw pallets nearby.

Curtains aided warmth and repelled horrendous draughts in vast stone former strongholds struggling to become noble dwellings, rather than just bastions of defence. Textiles were an expensive commodity and bed curtains a ‘luxury item’ and very prestigious.  If fabric covered the whole bed it was a symbol of absolute nobility and wealth. Early bed hangings were often made of wool, embroidered with flame or crewel stitch with heavy tapestries also popular. Canopies evolved, attached to the ceiling, enabling curtains to be suspended underneath. During the day they were tied up or ‘bagged’ out of the way.

Infamous Great Bed of Ware, now restored

During the sixteenth century Diane de Poitiers the famous mistress of Henry II of France associated herself with Diana, the Roman goddess of women and childbirth. The crescent moon was her symbol, intertwined with the initials of her famous lover, decorated the wooden paneling on her bedchamber’s walls. Diane, like all well educated women of her time, knew to heighten her desirability by contrasting the whiteness of her skin against the black satin sheets on which she lay.

Next to Diane de Poitiers bed was the symbol for her lover, King Henri II in the panelling.

Sixteenth century beds had four posts to support a wooden canopy with a headboard and footboard, elaborately carved, our ancestors lavishing great funds on this piece of furniture that nurtured life from conception to birth through life and finally, death.

Many a sixteenth and seventeenth century man embarked on a ‘business trip’ leaving his wife behind, to enjoy the spectacular orgies held in the Great Bed of Ware. Originally housed in the White Hart Inn in Ware, England it could accommodate some 15 people including on the pull out beds hidden underneath the great bed.

A high degree of comfort and convenience would become a priority in grander homes during the seventeenth century and the bedchamber was often used to receive guests. Some bedchambers gained a close stool ensuite and mirrors, with glass now being able to made in larger pieces, were becoming an essential requirement for any lady of style.

From the beginning of the Renaissance to the French Revolution the bedchamber and the bed flourished along with the fortunes of Central Europe.

Seventeenth century Dutch Bedchamber, note the interior close stool in its own recess with a door - very avante garde

In the seventeenth century Louis XIV, The Sun King led the way. From 1701 his bedchamber occupied the exact centre of the chateau as he was the Sun King, and around him everything revolved. He devised ceremonies and elaborate rituals to keep his nobles at court, out of mischief and well entertained, so they could not plot against him. In his bedchamber he held his famous state rising and retiring ceremonies.

The bed was designed to stand out from the centre of the wall, which became known as the aristocratic position. It was placed behind a balustrade where the King could only be attended by men of noble blood. The elaborate hangings were changed from winter to summer and it was here you presented petitions and ask for jobs or favours.  The crowd approached the great man hopefully via the official path progressing along the axis of honour (the enfilade), which could take days to achieve.

More than often, those he really wanted to talk to intimately were quietly brought up the backstairs into the privacy of his closet, a small room off the bedchamber, where favours were generally secured. At Versailles a gilded carving above Louis’ bed represented “France watching over the King in his slumber” and in 1715 he, who had made the bedchamber ‘the sanctuary of royalty’, finally died”.

The great tradition of State Beds in England was established late in the seventeenth century when Charles II returned from an exile spent at the courts of France and Holland. The bedchamber gained additional furniture with chairs and stools upholstered ensuite, a mirror, table and stand, often in walnut, marquetry or lacquer.

Looks like a lover has fled the seventeenth century bedchamber after a confrontation with a husband?

The Melville Bed designed by Daniel Marot, upholstered by Francis Lapiere London 1700 Oak, pine. The bed was an extraordinary commission, made in 1700 for George, 1st Earl of Melville for the Apartment of State at his new Palace. V & A Museum, London

The Melville Bed is one of the most spectacular exhibits at the V & A Museum at London.

Designed by French Huguenot Daniel Marot, the son of a distinguished French architect and engraver it still retains its original luxury hangings of crimson Genoa velvet, backed by ivory Chinese silk damask linings embroidered with crimson silk trimmings

Marot had left for Holland a year before Louis XIV revoked the continually controversial Edict of Nantes. He had worked in the French royal drawing office in his youth and because he was in Holland when the Edict of Nantes was revoked he was exiled from his homeland and so could not return.

He settled, entering the service of William of Orange in 1686 and becoming his Master of Works responsible for the decoration of the Palace at Het Loo, bringing his knowledge of Parisian design and decoration in the most advanced form. He went to England with William and Mary when they accepted the invitation to rule jointly on the throne of England after James II had fled the country in 1688. At first beds were brought over from France, but within a short time Marot had appointed upholders and manufacturers to fulfill his design commissions.

Marot’s genius lay in his ability to view a complete interior and demonstrate how unity of design could be applied to the decoration of a room as a whole, and he was one of the first designers to do so. His work in England was to have  a profound effect on the history of interior design.

The Canopy at Hardwick Hall, note the Oak Tree to the right and left of the coat of arms. It signifies the strength and endurance of the indomnitable, Bess of Hardwick

Beautiful English needlework used for hangings were masterpieces of the upholsterer’s art, as at the first English Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole’s house, Houghton Hall and at Hardwick Hall the embroideries on the canopy of the State Bed were among the finest in the country.

Bess of Hardwick outlasted four husbands, becoming wealthier on each occasion. Her bed hangings were embroidered with all manner of flora and fauna, including the oak tree, a symbol of her own personal fortitude and strength.

Now bed bugs are not usually associated with the Age of Elegance, however, they plagued Europe for centuries. In the seventeenth century authorities suggested linen overalls should be worn over the clothes in bed and undergarments made lice proof by lining them with taffeta!

Samuel Pepys, the English diarist recorded ‘ he had found a bed, good but lousy’, which sounds rather odd, and poor Lord Herbert lamented ‘he saw hundreds of bugs on their march home, full of prey’, as he had been bitten ‘on a very tender part, which I shall forbear mentioning and which we Brittons think the best part of the bullock to make steak of’.

During the eighteenth century seasoned travelers on their Grand Tour of Europe sent their servants ahead to attend to such matters. Bed pests did not have any respect for rank. Bug men abounded, and a certain Mr. Tiffin secured precedence over all others through his advertisement in Bell’s Weekly Messenger of 1814

May the Destroyers of Peace
Be Destroyed by Us
Tiffin and Son
Bug-Destroyers to her Majesty

An eighteenth century French bedchamber from a detailed painted picture on porcelain

‘I mostly find the bugs in the bedsteads’, he said, ‘but if left unmolested, they get numerous and climb to the tops of the rooms, they’re very high minded and prefer lofty places’.

The formal layout of houses with the main bedchamber at the end of a succession for rooms was breaking down by the middle of the eighteenth century. The increasing desire for families to seek privacy away from the public gaze, the introduction of a room for dining in, were factors in altering the structure of how houses were laid out.

In France by the mid eighteenth century a luxurious bedchamber featured superb parquetry flooring and gilded mirrors whose candles were disposed on the frames to refract the light.

The Bed had gained silk hangings with the addition of ‘tie backs’ as well as huge pillows and bolsters for comfort.

The bed would also feature a counterpane (bedspread) . Young mothers received their friends following the birth of a child and they brought the traditional French gift of cone paper packages filled with delicious, delicate confectionary (dragées).

Scottish architect Robert Adam completed his Grand Tour and introduced his neoclassical taste into England on his return in 1758, setting up shop in London. The neoclassical movement has been likened to a new Renaissance particularly in terms of house layout and decoration. Instead of living life on one level important reception rooms moved down to the ground floor with bedchambers remaining on the first level. His predecessors would not have understood the term ‘going up to bed’.

Bedchamber Nostell Priory with original furniture by Thomas Chippendale

Cabinet Bed designed by Scottish Architect Robert Adam made by Thomas Chippendale for Actor David Garri

Adam and Yorkshire cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale were an eighteenth century phenomenon. They worked in many houses together and the bedchambers were embellished with beautiful Chinese wallpapers, festoons, garlands of flowers and classical motifs, with furniture and furnishings becoming lighter and more elegant.

The bedchamber at Nostell Priory originally decorated by Adam and furnished with polished or painted timber and upholstered furniture by Chippendale has had its original hangings replaced.

Nostell Priory in Norfolk is home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of furniture by Thomas Chippendale in the world, all of which was made especially for the house.  A floor of bedchambers not ever seen before have, in 2009, been handed over to the trust for viewing from 2010.

Adam also designed a piece of furniture that looks like a bookcase, but originally was made to contain a bed, which folded up inside.  Attributed to Chippendale’s workshop it was later converted into a wardrobe. A folding bed allowed a bedroom to be used as an extra living room during the day.

This bed is part of a group of furniture preserved because it belonged to the celebrated actor David Garrick (1717-1779). It was made for the guest bedroom at his country villa at Hampton, Middlesex.

Josephine's Bedroom at château de Malmaison

The room also contained armchairs, a sofa, a dressing-table and a wardrobe, all painted blue and white to match with blue silk upholstery and curtains. Contemporary Americans admired furniture designed by Chippendale and Neoclassical architect Robert Adam’s designs as well as the French idea of changing hangings from winter to summer and they were all taken up with great alacrity becoming part of an ongoing tradition.

Early in the nineteenth century, during the reign of Napoleon as Emperor of France, the severity of the Empire style was softened by the use of exquisite silks, sheer and opaque fabrics.

Empress Josephine had official architects Charles Percier and Pierre Leonard Fontaine design a magnificent bedchamber in her country house at Malmaison, after she had been put aside by Napoleon so he could marry again in order to gain an heir.

Her bedchamber was a triumph. The bed was raised on a dais for maximum effect, an eagle atop the canopy.

The walls hung with drapery, tent style, with slender gilded columns holding up the richly embossed ceiling painted with clouds and using Napoleons’ preferred colours – Scarlet red, for blood perhaps? and Gold, undoubtedly for Glory!

Bedchamber of Juliette Recamier

The Empire style of Napoleon and Josephine was enormously influenced in its early stages by a beautiful young woman who moved in elite circles Madame Juliette Recamier (1777 – 1849).

Contemporary descriptions tell us, ‘walked like a goddess on the clouds and her voice thrilled the senses’. She dressed in a cloud of diaphanous white mousseline, never wore diamonds only pearls, and appealed to romantic sensibility, wearing crowns of real pansies and cornflowers on her head and posies on her gown. Juliette was married at 15 to the wealthy banker Jacques Recamier.

In 1798 he bought a house for her on the rue deu Mont-Blanc, which he employed the architect Berthaut to furnish in the Greek Style.

Juliette insisted on having flowers everywhere, even on the stairs, and would greet invited guests with a charming smile and invite them to see her famous bedroom.

The bed itself was raised on a dais, and declared the most beautiful in Paris, against its background of mirrored walls, draped as it was in a froth of transparent gauze, a white vapor falling from the ceiling, surrounded by vases and candelabra, and an artificial rose tree.

Her bathroom was described as ‘rich and choice’, the bath itself hidden under a red stuffed top when not in use.

After 1830 in Europe cities became overcrowded with little or no suitable restraints on birth control. Coupled with advances in medical practice survival for large families was ensured and elaborate beds once again stood in the main chamber being used for a whole range of family activities

Early Oak Bed in Kelmscott Manor designed and worked by May Morris, daughter of William Morris, Morris & Co Embroiderers. The Bedcover was embroidered by Jane Morris, William Morris's wife

In Victorian England increasing industrial wealth meant country houses expanded.

William Morris La Belle Iseult 1851

Self-contained bedchambers accommodated guests at weekend parties with clever hostesses arranging their occupation to suit the games played ‘ after dark’.

Walter Scott’s tales of Knights of the Round Table had every late nineteenth century woman panting at the thought of Sir Galahad arriving on his white charger to carry her off!

Love was considered superior to sex, conducted on a higher plane involving much talk of the ‘passion of the soul’.

Arts and Crafts Designer William Morris, leader of the Arts and Crafts movement, depicted his wife Janey Burden, as Le Belle Iseaut in 1858 in her bedchamber, her bed in disarray, its bed hangings ‘ bagged’ as in the middle ages.

Janey became, like all the other women of her age, guardian angels of the hearth and upholders of the sacred values of the Victorian home. Her husband William’s ideal of womanhood exemplified the treasured image shared by most men for that of a medieval damozel at work upon the hangings for her castle bedchamber.

Mae West

The aesthetic movement towards the end of the nineteenth century in Europe and England preached beautiful surroundings, promoted spiritual and mental health.

The rose motif and white paint became popular with followers of Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was a very influential designer during this period, especially in Germany and Austria.

It also became fashionable for the modern women to assert themselves and become involved directly in the decoration of their homes; a display of taste as important as dressing well and looking beautiful.

In America following World War One Hollywood movie stars became guardians of our morals. They were required to keep one foot firmly on the floor during scenes taking place in what was now known as the bedroom.

Popular star Mae West, fearful of the damaging effects of sunlight and fresh air on her beauty, kept her blinds permanently drawn, the air conditioner humming and those lucky enough to come up to see her sometime discovered that her mirrored’ boudoir revealed all!

Contemporary Zen Bedroom courtesy Robertsons Furniture

The bedchamber or bedroom today is a comfortable and familiar friend, one in which the most significant thresholds of our experiences are crossed, enveloping us in its warmth and security.

It provides a place in which we are free to consider the consequences of our days while we progressively plan for the happiness of all our tomorrows.

‘ and so to Bed, pray, wish us all good rest!
Sleep tight, oh, and don’t let the bed bugs bite!’

Carolyn McDowall The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

Related posts:

1. Women of Influence, Marquise de Pompadour
2. Love Jewellery – Rome to Renaissance
3. Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro

The Arming and Departure of the Knights. Number 2 of the Holy Grail tapestries woven by Morris & Co. 1891-94 for Stanmore Hall. This version woven by Morris & Co. for Lawrence Hodson of Compton Hall 1895-96. Wool and silk on cotton warp. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Historically tapestry is a fabric heavy with meaning and intention. In the late nineteenth century, at the advent of what is now called Modernism, English designer and social activist William Morris (1834- 1896) rebelled against the ugliness of his countries ever expanding industrial age, becoming an advocate not only for a different work ethic, but also a new aesthetic. In the age of Arts & Crafts Morris believed human beings of every race and culture should be able, in an atmosphere of peace, simplicity and grace, gain pleasure from their everyday surroundings.

The Failure of Sir Gawaine: Sir Gawaine and Sir Uwaine at the Ruined Chapel, Number 4 of the Holy Grail tapestries woven by Morris & Co. 1891-94 for Stanmore Hall. This version woven by Morris & Co. for Lawrence Hodson of Compton Hall 1895-96. Wool and silk on cotton warp. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

He said ‘The age is ugly…if a man nowadays wants to do anything beautiful, he must choose the epoch which suits him and identify himself with that’. He looked back to the medieval age for inspiration for establishing his contemporary tapestry workshop and also began a quest to expand knowledge through the arts.

His commission of six tapestries for William Knox D’arcy’s Dining Room at Stanmore Hall in Middlesex illustrated the story of the Holy Grail quest, as told in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. They took five years to weave and are considered among the most significant works made during the nineteenth century when romanticism was at its height. They paint a beguiling picture of lovely maidens and dashing knights in a style that was very appealing. The original tapestries were sold off after 1920 and are now scattered in various private collections and galleries around the world.

Tapestry and embroidery are both forms of textile art. However both have very different techniques and the difference is not always understood. Tapestry is a thick textile fabric in which weft threads are woven (originally by hand) into warp threads fixed lengthwise onto a loom and pictures or designs are created as the weaver progresses. Embroidery is the enrichment of a flat foundation using needle, coloured silks and cottons, gold and silver thread or other extraneous material.

Tapestry Book Cover, Sheldon Workshops 1614

From the eleventh century onward tapestry gradually became a great symbol of status and influence. By the fourteenth century in Europe was the greatest of all the forms of artistic expression. Subsequently they became spoils of war, as knights traveled around Europe and also during the early crusades of European knights into the Holy Land.

Tapestries were often woven in sets to enrich early Christian church interiors edifying worship by illustrating biblical stories. They dramatized the lives of saints and martyrs reinforcing and demonstrating the tenets of Christian belief. They also supported other image art forms such as stained glass windows and statuary.

The Fates in antiquity represented the personification of the inescapable destiny of man.

Layer upon layer of meaning was built up using symbolism to illustrate the writings of medieval Christian mystics and others. It is important in our understanding of why this was so is that the majority of the population was for centuries totally illiterate. Teaching through imagery was how they gained an understanding of the world they lived in and their heritage. Subsequently their visual awareness was more than likely much more acute than ours is today.

In Greek Mythology the three Goddesses of Destiny and Fate were dressed in draped white cloth. They were the so called ‘three fates’, an image that has long been captured in many formats depicting them weaving the threads of destiny.

Lachesis determined the length of thread – the period of one’s life, Klotho combed the wool and spun the thread of life and Atropos wove the thread into the fabric of one’s actions.  So the belief was that it didn’t matter what you decided you couldn’t really escape a pre-ordained destiny. The priests of the temple were the oracles, seers and its no coincidence that clergy are regarded as ‘men of the cloth’.

Sixteenth Century Tapestry Detail Fabulous Beast

The qualities that were the special characteristic, or hallmarks of what would become the fully developed European Medieval Art of Tapestry were excellence in design, crispness of execution, wonderful depth of tone, superb richness and exquisite gradations of colour.

The colours were natural dyes set by mordants such as Alum a necessary process in fixing the dye to the wool. Owning deposits of Alum at that time was a sure way to wealth and in today’s terms could be compared to owning your own oil wells. Secular themes included ancient tales of Greek and Roman mythology, aspects of love, as well as contemporary conflicts and revelry.

The symbolism attached to numbers and animals was also of major significance assisting in conveying a message, moral or otherwise, about the glory and welcome abundance of creation. Designs were created as the weaver progressed out of their imagination or from documentary evidence we have, from about the fourteenth century from a cartone (It. broad sheet of paper) or cartoon (drawing or painting).

Superb 'Hercules' Tapestry from Arras

Some of these very earliest cartoons still in existence were hardly more than sketches and it was quite common for weavers to exercise their own flair by adding a small animal or a particular expression to a face ensuring that each work had its own peculiar characteristics and features. Some however were by such famous artists as Italian Renaissance master Raphael.

Of the notable centres where the industry of tapestry-weaving has been in considerable practice, Arras in the 14th and 15th centuries, Brussels in the 15th and 16th, Middelburg and Delft in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Paris in the 16th and 17th centuries and down to the present time, the English Cotswolds Workshop of William Sheldon in the 16th century and Mortlake  during the 17th century, probably standing foremost; from them the services of experienced workmen equipped with frames and implements were requisitioned and secured at most of the short-lived contemporaneous.Sheldon’s craftsmen were mainly Dutch protestants fleeing religious persecution.

A tapestry of the 'Verdure' type

Flanders remained a key centre for European tapestry production while in Germany and Switzerland a cottage industry grew up producing smaller works on a commercial basis.  These workshops produced an abundance of pastoral scenes and what we know as the ‘verdure type’ one that has predominantly blue and green colouring of landscapes with streams and waterfalls and an emphasis on trees, foliage and fauna.

The Lady and the Unicorn - Sight

In the late medieval period of the fifteenth century the now famous mille fleurs tapestries appeared characterized by their backgrounds being made of hundreds of tiny flowers. The word millefleurs is French for “a thousand flowers” and as a background for a tapestry they were considered the height of fashion and sophistication.

Tapestries sparkle with a profusion of amazingly intricate blooms providing the perfect foil for scenes depicting late Medieval hunts and courtly love.

Although the precise origin of the millefleurs motif is open to speculation, one possible suggestion is that this technique was an attempt to preserve year round images of fleeting flowers.

Speculation aside, the thousand flowers style clearly continues to delight viewers, even after all of these centuries.

The most famous of these are the six tapestries in the series known as La Dame á la Licorne.

They have been on display at the National Musee du Moyen Age (formerly Cluny) at Paris since 1883.

This group of tapestries features an enchanting combination of deep red ground strewn with an abundance of flowers.

Woven from a combination of woollen, silk and gold thread these fabulous wall hangings have exercised an almost universal fascination on all those who have encountered them for hundreds of years.

The Lady and the Unicorn - Sound

In the nineteenth century Prosper Merimé Inspector of Historic Monuments drew the attention of authorities to the beauty and importance of the tapestries after finding them hanging on damp walls in the rat ridden Chateau at Boussac in 1835.

They were still there in 1844 when renowned novelist of her day, George Sand mentioned them in her novel Jeanne and endeavoured to use her influence to have them removed to safety.

They were still there in 1853 when Baron Aucapitaine drew the attention of Edmond du Sommerard, Curator of the Cluny Museum at Paris who negotiated long and hard to secure them and they were officially inaugurated in 1883.

Every detail delights the eye; their superb contrasting colours create a unique impression of harmony.

The background is made up of flowers and trees found in France at that time. They are combined with familiar animals such as foxes, dogs and ducks all mingling with exotic creatures such as panthers, cheetahs and lions.

They are meant to intrigue and they do. Our gaze lingers longest, and perhaps with a curious pleasure on that mythological beast with the body of a horse, the head of a goat and a horn the unicorn. He is worth an essay of his own.

To this we must add the beautiful centrally focused Lady. Each time she is depicted in an ordinary every day attitude although she is dressed in different costumes historically so it is she who creates the aura of mystery, one that has endured.

Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry - Taste

Who was this lady? Did she represent some famous person or is she…as some scholars claim, an allegory of the Blessed Virgin.

Does the crescent motif repeated constantly in each work suggest a fascination with the East or is it an allusion to her being aligned with the Greek goddess Artemis (Roman Diana).

History has since destroyed most theories and many questions still remain obscure. What we do know is that the Coat of Arms belong to a family from the region of Lyon. Jean le Viste had a distinguished record of service to the King as President of the Court of Aids. The tapestries proclaim the high position he held and reflect his personal glory.

The lion and the unicorn, in some instances, appear to have been just plucked off a coat of arms to flank the figures and give them authority. Each composition is skilfully rendered and the beauty of their draughtsmanship is striking. Brocades, velvets, silks and jewels have all been rendered in wool with surprising exactitude and the detailing of the mille fleurs or thousands of flowers, is impressive.

Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry - Touch

Five of the tapestries represent the important senses; smell, hearing, taste, touch and sight. Five is a powerful number in symbolism.

Early cultures believed the five senses were a facet of the creation of man and sacred, to the extent to which you consider a human being to be sacred, or at least potentially so.

Earth, air, fire and water are all basic constituents of the temporal realm with the Spirit or God at its epicenter.

Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry - Desire

Then there is the sixth tapestry with its tent studded with golden tear drops, its flaps framing the brocade be-gowned and be-jewelled young lady drawing all eyes to the central scene where she is replacing jewels in a casket lending credence to the moral significance of the inscription a mon seul désir…’freedom from the passions provoked by ill controlled senses’.

But is she receiving them or sending them back? Therein lies another story. Two important details still elude researchers; the personality of the artist who designed the tapestries for Jean le Viste and the place where they were woven.

In the end if you take your needle or work at your pattern it will come out all right and endure, just like the threads of destiny. Life is like that; one stitch at a time taken patiently.

We sleep, but the loom of life never stops, and the pattern which was weaving when the sun went down is weaving when it comes up in the morning**

© Carolyn McDowall The Culture Concept, 2009 – 2011

*Alfred Lord Tennyson – Sir Galahad
**Henry Ward Beecher 1813-1887

Related posts:

1. Raphael – Weaving Tapestry Magic for the Sistine Chapel
2. The Lady and the Unicorn and ‘Millefleurs’ Style Tapestries
3. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel

Steve Jobs age 20, tempted fate by taking a bite of an Apple that secured a future for many

In catching up with that great 1959 William Wyler epic movie Ben Hur a scene caught my attention. It was an interaction between the Roman Prefect of the 1st century Roman province of Judaea,  Pontius Pilate. He is best known for being the judge at the trial of Jesus and allowing him to be executed.  Ben Hur is a ‘Prince of Judaea’,  a fictional character in a Tale of the Christ written in 1880 by American Military general and author Lew Wallace. It is the scene following Ben Hur’s win over his arch Roman rival Messala in the chariot race, which is a high point in the film. Pontius Pilate (Aussie actor Frank Thring 1926-1994) says to Ben Hur (American actor Charlton Heston 1923-2008)) with great imperiousity. ‘Where there is greatness, great government or power, even great feeling or compassion, error also is great. We progress and mature by fault…’

We all want to drink from the fountain of life, but will it run dry unless we learn how to forgive those who vex us, so that together we can at least keep the cup half full?

Watching the movie made me ponder a podcast made by computer entrepreneur and inventor Steve Jobs (1995 – 2011), when he was waxing lyrically about the release of MacBook Air. After Jobs delivered the stories about its journey from creative conception to final completion he talked about a significant coming software change, Lion. When Steve Jobs was presenting new products he always had millions eagerly awaiting his next announcement. When he returned in 1997, to the firm he founded after being unceremoniously dumped by the board in 1986, in just over a decade he took the company from the verge of bankruptcy into quoting financial numbers quite literally hard to absorb. He re-built the social capital of Apple from within.  Social capital, or mutual goodwill is shaped when you volunteer to help others, to help your neighbor move, have your friends around for a barbecue, or to look after your family. Every time you participate in a community event, you’re generating social capital, both for yourself and the other people involved.

Steve Jobs spent his years on the sidelines learning and maturing by fault. He came to the understanding that his firm would be unable to operate within a future global society without at first defining the nature of its own culture; that way it would have the best chance possible to further develop intercultural communication skills.

Jobs wanted everyone at Apple involved in the creation process. To do that he knew they would all need, in a spirit of camaraderie, to co-operate and collaborate effectively with each other, as well as outsiders, to ensure practical and positive outcomes for the products the company was offering the public. These were products Jobs knew we wanted before we did. He was a visionary in more ways than one. He knew they had to believe as much as he did, if he was to succeed. Surely the story surrounding Steve Jobs, his return to Apple and, its following success, provides one of the most important role models in western corporation history and indeed, in the development of cross-cultural communication and western society.

Co-operation cross-culturally has become vital for the wellbeing of our common humanity, for our planet and for survival. For any cultural policy in any country in the world today in order to succeed requires mass patience and active participation. It needs the support of both individual citizens and whole communities as well as an improved connection between individuals and generations.

Vale Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

The progressive CEO at the end of the first decade of the twenty first century, has gained a new style of enlightenment. Hopefully he has moved past the era from the mid 80′s, when he saw himself as a king surrounded by kowtowing courtiers espousing a theory greed is good.

In 2011 an enlightened CEO will more than likely find he/she is compared to the head of a huge ideal family. Although it’s all very new age, the CEO is ultimately responsible, much as a king, a noble, aristocrat and gentleman was for generations, for all those who come under his care. Executives of corporations have become the new nobles and aristocracy.

Make no mistake about it, no one really appreciates just how much it can cost that individual, both financially and mentally to take on the role. They need to stay committed and uncorrupted by both money and power and that takes a very rare individual, much like Steve Jobs.

Whether male or female, the CEO is expected to be a good head of the family by maintaining a serious posture, while everyone else has a happy time in the world they provide. Continually dispensing wise and considered counsel is mandatory as the CEO has to make sure just like any head of family that his managers (sons and daughters in law) subscribe and support the ‘families’ aims and goals.

Some will need cater to the CEO’s needs while others succor the young up and coming recruits (children and grandchildren), mentoring them wisely through the minefield of experiences they must gain and they mistakes they must make in order to learn. When they make mistakes the corporate ‘family’ is there to provide a buffer of support while they recover. If the family succeeds the young look up to their corporate ‘elders’ following the role model established by them

However there is one thing very different in our all new age; forgiveness. This it seems is not an option for many, especially if the head of a corporate family messes up. Then they find themselves, just as Jobs did years ago, eliminated swiftly and often having to endure trial by media as well, such as Mark McInnes CEO David Jones Ltd Sydney in 2010.

Climbing higher and higher...but where does it all end?

The merging of professional and personal life has happened because private family life has spectacularly failed in the the last fifty years of the twentieth century, along with the all encompassing message of love and forgiveness on which western civilization was founded at both the birth and death of Jesus, the Christ. Instead of fostering an atmosphere of love and understanding many families have been torn apart by playing a blame game, which is fueled by the loss of faith, hope and trust. There’s certainly no welcoming homecoming celebration for the prodigal son or daughter.

The corruption and de-valueing of the world’s biggest currency, its moral and social mores, has turned the western world upside down.

In the corporate family Steve Jobs management style proved the theories and practicalities attached to building social capital by making good mistakes is OK. People like Steve Jobs, who invest in social profit and capital, are far more likely to find help where and when they need it. Social profit depends on people listening, reacting, contributing, connecting, conversing and creating.

Creativity’ is intrinsically human; it doesn’t care about skin colour, origin, gender, how rich or poor you are, or the kind of family you grew up in. It is all about the world that you create for yourself, which is what Jobs did so brilliantly. He did not just interpret that world he also changed it, which was the point. It is about embracing the old adage ‘if at first you don’t succeed, the chances are you are making progress’.

We all want better relationships, happy parenting and as Miss Universe contestants would say, ‘world peace’. But the complex web we weave in our own dealings with each other means, that it is just about impossible. It is also counterproductive to eliminate mistakes in the name of progress, especially when misunderstandings and mistakes define our progression in a world of ‘I don’t care’.

Utopia, another promised 'garden of eden'...be careful, Adam, or is it Steve? Don't eat the apple

Everyone wants to live in Utopia. However what many don’t realize was that Utopia was only ever a place of theory, not one grounded in any sort of reality. Anyone involved in the world of theory knows that it and practice is more than often poles apart.

The version of Utopia expounded in 1516 by English Catholic Bishop Thomas More was truly a strange book for a so-called ‘man of the cloth’ to write. It has some interesting concepts though. In it he weighs criminals down with chains of gold: the theory being that in fettering them with the one thing all Utopia’s citizens think they want, that somehow they would gain a healthy dislike for the glittering golden metal. This happens because he has made it all the more difficult to steal it by placing it in plain view.

During the ‘enlightenment’ of eighteenth century Europe the advancement of society and knowledge meant that all of its current theories and societal structures had to collapse and be replaced by new ideas. Many many thousands of people died in the process. If we have now entered a period where it has to happen all over again, then our next world view surely will need to carefully balance the friction between expectation and outcome. We will also have to fire up our curiosity and continue to edge incrementally forward on a new pathway of sel-discovery, without violence. And, instead of the reduction of errors being seen as regressive, they will now have to be viewed as positive, and a hallmark of our success.

History has proved it is impossible to progress without fault. Life is far from being predictable or preordained. Creativity breakthroughs are often just an immediate response to events, that in hindsight, we may have changed. It’s still all about timing. Understanding who said what to whom and when is important in the decision making process. The lessons that came out of New York since 11th September 2001 have informed that thought.

Don't forget I am the king of the jungle...

The Apple corporation climbed the ladder of success step by step, without any kind of hesitation or insecurity while Steve Jobs was at the helm. Colleagues, supporters and enemies all said thank you and actively supported Jobs by helping him to lay stepping stones on the field ahead. For Steve Jobs, and others like him, corporate life was like a battleground, but it was just a different sort. It was a war waged under a whole new set of ideas and principles, not the least the value attached to society and its good health, mental strength and inner wellbeing.

It’s the harmful consequences of mistakes that we need to eliminate. Not making them. In the computer age bugs are damned irritating, but they have to be dealt with, whether they are in our bed or in our intellectual domain. To eradicate them we have to succumb to a new law of unintentional consequences by inducing a massive and dramatic change of attitude.

Perish the thought, but we might all have to accept less happiness to ensure that humankind continues to progress through fault. It will mean embracing our most embarrassing errors and, instead of viewing them as abhorrent and seeking to enact revenge or punish everyone around us, we will need to step up to the plate and help to fill the cup more than half full, or even to overflowing so that everyone around us benefits.

Then, and only then will we truly be able to let the Lion really roar.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

Related posts:

1. On Beauty and Progressing the Arts – Leon Battista Alberti
2. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel
3. CIVILISED: At the Beginnings of Art

The mirror has occupied a unique place in the imagination of humans for as long as recorded history. It has been described as the ‘matrix of the symbolic’ accompanying the human quest to know and understand our identity. Many myths, legends and superstitions are associated with the mirror and in all cultures they are associated with truth. In antiquity the eye served precisely to characterize one’s beloved ocule mi, my little eye. In the pupil was an image of the one who looked into it. Gazing at one another to see the reflection of each other in the eyes was an aspect of love. It was in Eve’s eye, described as the mirror of love, that Adam first learned to know himself. From that encounter ‘reflection, concentration, self construction and reproduction’ were said to have been born.

Mastering reflection was one step towards an evolution that began with an observation by ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle in 330 BC. He questioned why the sun could make a circular image when it shined through a square hole. In the words of contemporary French historian Sabine Melchior Bonnet, it was part of a cycle that climaxed with the ‘democratisation of narcissism’ in the nineteenth century. Over the centuries a mirror became a metaphor for eye catching deception. What is it that the eye is really seeing?  Does the image it reveals have a foundation or consistency. When you move away from the mirror the image is lost, much like a shadow? Is it magic…how does it work? Was it really the Greek God of fire and metal Hephaestus who invented the mirror?

Know thyself is an ambitious ideal and a continuing dialogue between philosophy and love. It was well known in ancient times when writers mention that this, and other aphorisms were written the walls of the proneos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. In Ancient Greece looking at one’s reflection could mean losing one’s soul, and the ancients put forward all sorts of hypotheses concerning the formation of such images.

Narcissus, a painting attributed to the Baroque Master Caravaggio - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica at Rome

Narcissus in mythology was the son of the blue nymph Leiriope conceived when the river God Cephisuss raped his mother. He grew to be very beautiful but took no notice of other people because he did not care about anyone except himself. The beautiful nymph ECHO was one of many maidens who fell in love with him. She had lost her voice, except in foolish repetition of another’s shouted words but when she tried to declare her love he sent her away.

After witnessing his callousness, as one story goes, the Greek Goddess Artemis caused Narcissus to catch a glimpse of his own reflection in a pristine pool of water and fall in love with himself. This made it impossible for him to ever consummate a love of his own or possess a beloved, just like all those suitors he had turned away and rejected. His grief was so great he plunged a dagger into his breast and where the blood fell to the ground beautiful pure white flowers sprouted.

There are many myths and legends associated with the paintings on ancient Greek vases. They reveal secrets about ancient Greek civilization, including the daily ritual of the ladies ‘toilette’.  We know ladies painted their faces with white-lead paint using hand mirrors that consisted of circular pieces of polished bronze or a combination of other metals, either without a handle or with one that was often richly adorned.

The earliest known mirror, from a cache world-wide of about three thousand such mirrors, dates from ten centuries before the Christ event. It is Etruscan, a thick disc made of metal alloys to which a small handle was attached by means of three rivets.  As in all ancient mirrors it was polished to a high degree on one side to obtain a reflection.

Etruscan Engraved Mirror

Mirrors engraved with figurative scenes date from the so-called Saitic period between 663 and 526 BCE.  It is clear from comparison with other ancient Greek mirrors from the same period the Etruscans occupied part of which we now know as Italy and were not only inspired by Greek art in a general way, but also frequently copied Greek models. They did this with such great care and precision today it needs an expert to reveal the difference.

Mirrors found were an important aspect of Etruscan burial sites, perhaps as funerary offerings like in the burial of the Pharaohs of Egypt when everyday items were included for the journey into the afterlife.

Much of the mythology associated with mirror images relates to offering a moral message. They may also have had a further meaning ‘extending beyond cosmetic needs’ for that of ‘cult’ ceremonies and rituals. This would explain why some subjects recorded on ancient mirrors would not be suitable for a ‘ladies’ mirror but instead be used on a mirror used by a man.

Greek Geographer Pausanius, whose travel guide was published in the second century records that a mirror decorated the entrance to the temple of Lycosura considered the most ancient city of ancient Greece, and indeed perhaps the world.  The Mirror was supposedly a reminder to those entering that in order to be receptive of the message of the Gods they needed to shed their own appearance and reveal their souls beneath so they could be refreshed and healed.

Before leaving they were able to re-clothe themselves with a new identity and go forth into the world with a sense of direction, motivation and purpose. This whole idea is mirrored if you like, in the ceremony of Christian baptism, where one must go through a symbolic ritual of dying from the life you are currently living and after being immersed in water reborn again into a new life.

Roman Engraved Silver Mirror

During the Roman Empire men used mirrors and, not only its elite aristocrats. Servants too acquired mirrors at that time and their owners took great care to protect them from rust, stains and scratches by using fabric coverings and remnants are still visible on some specimens that exist today. Besides metal Romans valued a black transparent volcanic rock called obsidian for its reflective powers.

Archaeologists have established that mirrors used by the Emperor Nero in his ‘domus aurea’ were made of a reflective phengite a mineral that reputedly ‘gave off such a dazzling glow they overpowered the natural light of day”. Light was an intangible phenomenon by which our own world was made visible. Symbolic of goodness, revelation and beauty light became the focal point of philosophical argument and theories in all the different religions and cultures of the world.

Today we associate glass with mirror. However it was a long time before metals and glass were brought together to make what we would today call a mirror. Glass in its earliest form was not blown, but moulded, using tools to shape and form it. An ability to make tools to mould and carve materials at will meant that hunter gatherer man, as well as being able to form weapons for survival purposes, could expand his skills and make artifacts that by extension are at the beginning of art.

The terminology of glass was recorded on cuneiform tablets from the ancient Sumerian city of Nineveh seven centuries before the Christ event where three different furnaces for metal are described. Receptacles for melting raw materials are also mentioned in Egypt in the Amarna period during the reign of monotheist Pharaoh Akhenaten.

To explain the origins of glass many writers turn to a picturesque story written in the first century by Roman writer and commentator on natural and social history Pliny the Elder. He tells how merchants encamped on the sands of the River Belus placed their cooking pots on cakes of natron, a native hydrous sodium carbonate, they were engaged in transporting. In the morning they found the sand and soda had fused together forming a new substance, glass. Pliny also talks about the ‘makers of glass’ with reference to the inhabitants of Sidon in Lebanon. The only other early written reference we have is by Alexander of Aphrodisias in the third century.

The beauty of Roman Glass

We do know the Romans were producing glass in some quantity from the first century by the fragments and vessels found in the ruins of Roman sites and at Pompeii where glass vessels are clearly depicted in wall paintings. Whether the ancients were familiar with glass mirrors is a matter of debate amongst scholars. The Romans became very proficient at blowing glass and used lead to strengthen it. Most archaeological evidence of glass mirror dates from the third century and comes from Egypt, Gaul, Asia Minor and Germany.

Archaeological digs in Egypt have uncovered mirrors made and backed with lead that have glass with a convex curve behind the lead over which a coating of gold or tin had been applied. Variations on this process prevailed it seems for centuries well into the Middle Ages. Exploitation of light in the East was always through carved tracery of stone made possible because of climatic conditions. It was only in Europe that the introduction of an optimum amount of light was required because the climate of the Middle Ages was one of a preponderance of dull days.

Window stained glass refracting glorious light in St John's Cathedral at Brisbane

Great expanses of glass became the hallmark of what has since been termed Gothic architecture, whose other characteristics include pointed arches, stone tracery and external buttresses. It was during the Abbot Suger’s rebuilding of the Royal Abbey at St. Denis near Paris in the eleventh century the golden age of European Gothic architecture and use of glass stained with colour began.  Neo-Platonic theory, to which Suger subscribed meant that he produced a style of architecture lit by ‘radiant windows’ to ‘illumine men’s minds so they may travel through it to an apprehension of God’s light’. This was only possible by his age because of the advances being made in France in glass making techniques and an ability to colour glass. Before the advent of this uniquely Christian art form windows were only utilitarian. Monks like Suger were aware coloured glass not only sent an image of deep spirituality but also drew the faithful to read the messages of the stories it told because it dazzled them with its radiance.

One can only try to imagine the effect of such brilliance on a medieval mind emerging from a state of written illiteracy – it must have been quite staggering. In Cathedrals around the world reflected colours are an evocative reminder of the rainbow and God’s covenant with man following the flood, according to Genesis.

Going to church for medieval people not only meant inner spiritual instruction and comfort but also entry into a magical kingdom where a mystical experience made man more receptive to God.  A contrast in our own day would be with computer generated special effects in movie cinemas. There we are transported to another world where we can forget our difficulties,  mind numbing challenges and allow ourselves a break from the humdrum reality of everyday life.

Lady and the Unicorn - Sight

During the twelfth century a monk named Théophile recorded contemporary glass making techniques.  This was at a time when commentators viewed science and the supernatural as intimately linked, with the transformation of half solid, half liquid, molten glass into a transparent and rigid substance viewed as some sort of magic or alchemy.

In his writing he refers to French glass-makers being considered masters of the art and a recipe….two parts beech tree ashes to one part sand. Their methods of glass blowing involved procedures he states ‘as inherited from the ancients’. The technique of applying a silvered backing to mirrors evolved slowly and from the thirteenth century small mirrors were being exported to Genoa and from there all over the Mediterranean world.

In the thirteenth century a Franciscan monk from Oxford in England John Peckham wrote a treatise on optics mentioning glass mirrors covered in lead. The famous medieval poem Roman de la Rose also dedicated a great stanza to the ‘marvellous powers of the mirror’. Germans figure among the possible inventors of modern glass-making process with two glass makers from Murano in Venice declaring they were the only ones to know ‘the secret of making mirrors of crystalline glass, a most valuable and singular thing‘.

The technique of blowing glass was recorded quite methodically by a secretary to the Duke of Lorraine in the early sixteenth century. He describes how ‘an iron attached to the end of stick’ was pulled out so ‘that the glowing timber which, once blown and rolled out on a plank became so round and swollen it took the form and size of large, average and small mirrors as needed’.  The worker then ‘applied lead ‘with great skill in order to reveal the lustre’.

The Venetians challenged the glass-makers of Lorrain to be the first to perfect glass making and over three hundred years they would rise to such prominence that no one believed they could ever be overtaken. From the middle of the fifteenth century glass-makers from Murano knew how to make a glass so pure, white and fine they called it ‘crystalline’ because of its similarities to rock crystal, whose transparency and shine it resembled.

...who is the fairest of them all...

However the reputation the Venetian republic established in glass-making attracted workers from northern Europe and eventually it wiped out all competitive initiatives from abroad. At Venice they nurtured and treated glass-makers like artists, rather than artisans, granting them privileges such as the right to marry the daughters of nobles with many families gaining celebrity status. However it also imprisoned them on the island of Murano to keep a monopoly on supply by guarding the secrets associated with its production.

As they were perfecting the technique of cylindrical blowing the Venetians improved silvering by the addition of mercury and tin and arrived at a ‘divinely beautiful, pure and incorruptible object, the mirror’…’a beautiful and useful invention’.

A Mirror so I can admire myself
You must give me one of the ivory ones
And the case that is noble and genteel
Hung from silver chains.

In the sixteenth century in France King Francois 1 owned a Venetian mirror decorated with gold and precious stones. A lover of luxury and Italian art at his court at Fontainbleau Francois acquired 25 more. Just one cost 360 ecus of gold and he started a fashion his courtiers followed and soon everyone was investing in this fascinating new object.

One of a sixteenth century Lyon group of writers Claude de Taillemon had a motto; one’s duty is to see. He said ‘the pupil of the eye transports me to itself so that I enter in the center where I see myself clearly’. During the medieval period ancient goddesses such as Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of Love, or Venus her Roman counterpart, had been a focus of fear of nudity, luxuria, or sensuality, as well as paganism. During the Italian Renaissance  she returned to her original role as universal mother and creator of all living things.

...what is the truth asks painter Peter Paul Rubens

Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted her as a contemporary lady and placed her before a mirror, a symbol of truth (it does not lie) but reflects pride (Satan’s image), as well as vanity and lust. Rubens used the mirror as a symbol of idle dalliance and as an allegory for the battle for her immortal soul. The power of love was meant to transform the soul and became a popular theme at this time in art works. He used pearl earrings to illustrate the darker and lighter sides of passion, the white pearl highly visible, the black pearl teasingly reflected only in her mirror. She is a truly luscious lady wearing, well nothing at all really, except a gold bracelet decorated with arrows, a sign that Cupid has been around endeavouring to use the power of love to disarm her strength.

Mirrors were fascinating and rare objects at this time. Through their lens until today the material world worked its way well into our consciousness, affecting the way in which we perceive others, as well as ourselves. From the sixteenth century onward the mirror was an indispensable hand tool for the toilette of well born ladies. The Venetian mirror however was still a very rare object for more than two centuries and owning one became a symbol of high status.  At the same time painting and literacy shared an objective for that of increasing the value of an image.

For the greater portion of the population it was mainly polished metal mirrors that remained widespread. They were sold at the market or by street vendors who would cry out Little mirrors shiny and snug…ready to reflect your ugly mug! And- I sell purses, belts and laces, I know how to tie up your shoes and have mirrors for the sweetest faces

In the sixteenth century flattery was recognized as a deceptive illusion, and this was all bound up with vanity. It was considered better to please someone than alienate them in a social setting where personal expression was now considered to reflect one’s own power and glory. Supplying the French court and nobles with mirror became an important concern for Venice as it seemed they could not resist the seduction of its novelty.

Catherine de Medici installed a cabinet lined with 119 Venetian mirrors following the death of Henry II and visitors could view their portrait multiplying before the mirror. The Chamber of Mirrors became the height of fashion and there was great rivalry between the ladies of the court who could not imagine herself without a chamber of mirrors of her own.  From the late sixteenth and into the early seventeenth century Henry IV, the Great of France encouraged glass makers by granting titles of nobility whether they be French or foreigners and many took up his offer. Venice kept itself informed of their progress but in the end none of the scattered efforts was conclusive and French dealers still continued to import their wares from Venice.

During the reign of Louis XIV (1638-1715)  the furniture inventories of the crown recorded 563 mirrors and it was Louis XIV’s able 1^st Minister, Colbert who decided to concentrate his efforts and found a glass industry. He granted Sir Nicolas Dunoyer, the son of one of the king’s butlers and a tax collector in Orleans a warrant to establish the policies and procedures of the new company, which would eventually become the Royal Company of Glass and Mirrors.  However this would not happen before a lot of intriguing, spying at Murano and other matters of industrial espionage had taken place. From 1666 French writer, essayist and philosopher Voltaire wrote ‘We began to make glass panels as beautiful as those of Venice, which had previously furnished them to all of Europe and soon we made some whose size and beauty were never imitated elsewhere’

The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles by William Orpen

In the Comte de Saint Simon’s Memoirs of his time at Versailles he describes the court as a multitude of voyeurs all observing each other’s secrets…’As we were walking in his small hallway, I saw in the mirror at the end of the passage that he was laughing while lowering his eyes, like a man enjoying the conversation he was overhearing’. The mirror allows nothing to hide in the shadows and inset into all the walls and doors they became a theatre of reflection and artifice. When the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles was presented to the public in 1684 everyone found something to say in praise.  What more perfect symbol could be found for the dazzling reign of the so-called Sun King himself.

Everyone could admire himself or herself from head to toe. Seventeen false window casements opposite seventeen real windows were covered with eighteen mirrors placed side by side, unframed, joined by finely carved gilded copper frames. There were 306 panes of glass blended to give the appearance of being part of a larger single pane…the hall vanishing in the radiance of shimmering surfaces and bursts of light. Some visitors described it as the ‘architecture of emptiness’. Reality and reflection supported each other reciprocally.

It cost altogether 654,000 pounds to produce the effect although it is not known how much of this was spent on the glass. Over the years since it has reflected many great moments in the history of the world. At the time however Colbert, Louis’ 1^st Minister, that great entrepreneurial master of ceremonies used it to launch the Royal Mirror Company and its success gave considerable momentum to the young industry and in increasing public awareness of the decor possibilities of the mirror.

Jeanne-Antoinette, Marquise de Pompadour in her mirrored boudoir

By using mirror the French designers could now reflect nature as an element of interior décor, choosing the best location for the installation of glass. The aristocratic society of the court were passionate about emphasizing the optical and visual as it was all associated with light that element so desired indoors on dark days and dark nights. When Francois Boucher painted Mme de Pompadour, Louis XV’s mistress he also used mirror to reflect the fact that she was exceedingly proud of the nape of her neck.

The metaphorical distance between the polished surface of a mirror from antiquity to one made of glass for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in the seventeenth century is immense. It is probably about the same as that of between the plaited rushes used in window insets of medieval houses to that of plate glass display windows of a modern department store.

Mastery over the reflection was only the first stage of a cultural revolution that would influence the relationship between man and image for evermore.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the ability to produce larger sheets of mirror became a reality. It promoted the compleat gentleman, helping him to refine his image and bodily adornment and also served to establish the reputation of the beautiful soul, just as a rich frame set off the beautiful mirror.

Regency Convex Mirror c1810 courtesy Martyn Cook, Martyn Cook Antiques, Sydney Australia

“Ribbons, lace and mirrors are three things the French cannot live without’ said a Sicilian visiting Paris.

Mirror that has pleased me so well
Mirror ever since I have seen myself in you
Deep sighs have killed me
And I am lost myself
Just as handsome Narcissus became lost

In the nineteenth century the mirrored boudoir serving as a stage for dual narcissism, one in which each lover is both voyeur and exhibitionist trying to attract the gaze of the other.

The clever convex mirror also came back into popular use in interior decor allowing the user to see what was happening behind them. They had a wide field of view and if you were dabbling in the art of intrigue it could be very handy and, they also reflected the light from candles elegantly.

The Mirror in history was at first an instrument of social hierarchy and aristocratic ideal. Then, as it became commonplace, it served as a symbol of equality feeding our narcissistic need for recognition. What role will the mirror continue to play in our future or will we always remain haunted by what is not found within it?

Mirror Mirror on the wall….who is the fairest of them all?

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

*Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825)

Related posts:

1. CIVILISED: At the Beginnings of Art
2. A ‘Compleat’ Gentleman, more than a leader of style
3. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel

Leaning Tower, Pisa, Italy

Towers are structures that come out of a tradition as old as our memories of time and their symbolism has evolved with our own cultural development. The many towers around the world standing today are a potent reminder of all our desires for hope and freedom. They are symbolic of a future filled with faith and promise for everyone.

Religion, literature and government, as well as its visual art forms, define the character and individuality of any civilization. While the former may change in both attitude and stance, or else fade away, many of its visual art forms still remain vivid and accessible as a fountain for knowledge and inquiry.

Prior to the twentieth century towers mainly served two purposes. First for that of space saving in the worlds overcrowded cities and towns accommodating the majority of the population in private or professional life; secondly, as symbols to the heights of material wealth and prosperity that the western world had yet achieved.

The twin towers in New York, demolished in 2001, had the distinction of housing a ‘League of Nations’, which is why they ended up targets for international terrorism.

The perpetrators by attacking such a symbol to western democracy wanted to strike an individual blow at the centre of the western psyche and its emotional well being.

However what they underestimated was western societies ability to ‘bounce back’, shored up by a faith that their progress toward a world in which we can all share its bountiful blessings without hatred of colour, race or creed is the right one.

At the central core of these beliefs is a respect and reverence for tradition and its values and a belief that right and good triumphs over wrong and evil, a concept well documented through the ages of world history and one that features continually in contemporary culture.  Transforming the grief of the past decade from being a negative force into a positive one for good is an all important way forward in the future. One way we can do that and achieve it is through Liberty, which is about enlightenment through knowledge.

The perceived wisdom and wealth of the people who occupied the Mediterranean region in ancient times is  both captivating and compelling. In almost every field of their endeavour the Greeks were pioneers. Their considerable achievements in literature, thought and science are but a part of a wonderful Greek legacy that belongs to the world at large.

The ancient Greeks at Athens had the Acropolis (from the Greek akros – highest + polis = city) for the populace to retreat to in times of threat or siege. Its natural defences high up looking out over the city and countryside were aided by an enclosing wall. At Athens is a tower, the Horologium of Andronicus of Cyrrus, known as the Tower of the Winds. Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, whose first century treatise on architecture is the only one to survive from ancient times, mentions it in his discourse on town planning ‘regarding the direction of the streets with remarks on the winds’.

Up until this period many argued that there were only four winds, but Andronicus in order to prove his theory there were eight built a marble octagonal tower at Athens. On the sides of the octagon sculptural reliefs represent the winds and it is surmounted by a bronze Triton who, holding a rod outstretched in his right hand, acted as a pointer to the representation of the wind that was blowing.

The Romans, when not able to take advantage of lofty heights built tall structures within city walls. These were placed at regular intervals `solely for looking out on the countryside around them’ and  came to be called towers. (Latin – turris). The Roman’s great strength lay in improving the ideas of others, gained during the expansion of their Empire.  Etruria, Tuscia, Toscana, or Tuscany are all names given to one region of a state we have known since the late nineteenth century as Italy.  When the Romans arrived they found cultivated fields set between forests and they expanded the numbers and kinds of crops grown.

Towers of San Gimignano

Tuscany has a documented history spanning 3000 years and its people preserve a unity of spirit, language, culture and art and have done so in the face of the most trying adversity and at times when it seems their independence may have been lost. It is a country of hills and valleys contained between the diagonal range of the Apennines, lesser hills and to the south the Tyrrhenian Sea, all forming a natural unit.

The very easy access to its valleys throughout the centuries made it extremely vulnerable to attack and so the Tuscans built spectacular hill towns on high ground far above the valley floor. Their lofty heights acted as a defensive standpoint and today buses and cars by the dozens wheel through the gentle countryside to visit the ‘city of the towers’ San Gimignano now on the world’s heritage list. It seemingly floats like a dream image on top of a hill and is the only hill town in Tuscany that has preserved an authentic medieval skyline. The shafts of its tall stone towers make it appear like a sculpture against the blue of the sky. During the Renaissance it was caught like a ham in a sandwich, between the cities of Sienna and Florence, which were always feuding about something or other. They survived not only such bloody rivalry, but also the devastating effects of plague high up above the malarial plains of the valley floor. Today San Gimignano has gained a romantic reputation, via such influential authors as Henry James, Edith Wharton and E.M. Forster, whose perceptions have been shored up by romantic views of it in popular movies such as ‘Only You’ starring Robert Downey Jr and Marissa Tomei.

Town Hall Siena, Italy

More than one legend tells of a daughter shut up in a tower by her father to discourage and protect her from unwanted suitors (who usually go on a great quest to save her) so a tower also became a symbol of chastity and virtue. Who can forget the tale of poor Rapunzel having to let down her hair to be rescued. If legend is to be countenanced the high tower at  Sienna was founded as a result of Roman rivalries; Ascius and Senius, the sons of Remus, were obliged to flee from Rome to escape the wrath of their uncle Romulus. They called the spot where they stopped to make sacrifices to the Gods Diana and Apollo ‘Castelsenio’, which is still the name for a district of Sienna around which the city developed. The height of the tower atop the Town Hall in Sienna is higher than that on the church, a sign of the great rivalry between the Pope and the Emperor during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Most of our knowledge of Roman architecture comes from observation of remains or from Vitruvius, whose manuscript was re-discovered in 1410 by eminent historian Poggio Braccioloni. Such influential Renaissance architects as Leon Battista Alberti re interpreted it in his Ten Books of Architecture. He explained ‘the ancients used, on each side of their gates to erect two towers, larger than the rest and strongly fortified on all sides to secure and protect the Entrance into the town.’

Bell Tower, Florence Italy

From the seventh to the fourteenth century when they were being built three buildings, the Baptistery, Campanile (Bell Tower) and Cathedral were placed in juxtaposition, one to another to create maximum magnetic visual impact. This happened in Florence and at Pisa, where the famous bell tower leans. Numerical symbolism was important in all religions and in both the Old and New Testaments many numbers were considered both holy and mystical Three represented the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Christian religion.

The nature of Christian worship is such that it does not necessarily require a setting; nevertheless through the centuries it has had an architectural setting, which expressed the Christian understanding of worship at that time. On the day of their re-birth Christians were fully immersed naked in a large deep font located inside the Baptistery at the light of a new dawn. This symbolised the central Christian theme of resurrection. While the bells rang with joy they were robed and then led into the cathedral to begin their new life in Christ. The introduction of bells to church buildings is ascribed to Paulinus of Nola c400 while in England they were introduced from Italy c680. From the ninth century they were placed inside towers and by the seventeenth century the peculiarly English art of change ringing had developed.

During the Middle Ages bells were baptized in the name of the Trinity. Prayers in the service reveal that at that time they were thought to drive away evil spirits and protect the building against storm damage. They were also rung on joyous occasions, at times of trouble, for births, deaths and marriages and to call people to prayer. They became an integral and important aspect of town, country and city life and a source of comfort to many. Great Cathedrals built during the Middle Ages throughout Europe stood at the centre of each town. They reflected ‘not only the realisation on earth of the Celestial City, as described in the Revelations of St. John the Divine’, but acted as a symbol of the religious faith and commercial prosperity of its townspeople’.

The bigger the building and the higher its tower the better, as it could be seen from miles around. Each Cathedral was a source of great civic pride and its nave became the background to many secular activities ranging from legal to commercial. At Amiens in France the entire population of the city of 10,000 people could all fit into its great cathedral, which covered 7,700 square meters and the mighty tower on the Cathedral at Strasbourg soared as high as a forty storey building.

White Tower, London

When the Norman’s arrived in England in 1066 they brought the techniques of building stone towers, also heavily influenced by architecture crusading knights had encountered in the Holy Land. William 1, the Conqueror built the White Tower of London of limestone imported from Caen in Normandy, traditionally on the site of a fort erected by Julius Caesar. ‘Ye Towers of Julius, London’s lasting shame with many a foul and midnight murder fed’.

The Norman’s were among the first in Europe to pioneer this type of huge stone keep that it is part of the complex now known as The Tower of London. It occupies a central role in the history of England both as a royal residence and as a state prison and many famous people in English history were incarcerated there prior to their execution.

One can only begin to imagine their fear when passing through the water gate, knowing what was in store for them. The story of the ‘Princes in the Tower’, King Edward V and his younger brother, Richard Duke of York, is one of its great legends. Their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester assumed the crown as Richard III after reputedly, murdering them, but there is no conclusive proof. (Bones found during the excavation near the White Tower in 1674 were transferred to Westminster Abbey and in 1933 experts proclaimed them to be the bones of children of ages corresponding to those of the princes

‘During the Middle Ages free standing residential towers persisted long after the need for defense, which gave it birth had vanished, satisfying the strong predilection of the age for verticality and for symbols of authority’. Tower houses developed all over England, in Scotland and Ireland during these troubled times. There are upward of 100 round towers in Ireland, of which innumerable and wild conjectures of their origin and purpose have been made. The most sober is that they were the earliest form of buildings of a monastic order, adapted to the exigencies of a Christian settlement who were protecting themselves from pagans and pirates, the entrance to them being some 15’ off the ground.

Craigievar Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

In Scotland one of the most striking examples of the deeply rooted preference for the security of a tower house is at Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire. Built 1610- – 1624 it is coated with roughcast made from local granite chips. It is entirely ‘picturesque’ and exudes a pink ‘glow’ and has a top-heavy air of fantasy about it covered as it is with corbelled angle turrets. It also has pepper pot domes so conspicuous an aspect of English Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture and the whole is great charm personified.

It was at Canterbury in England the Gothic style, already flourishing in France, was fully developed for the building of great Cathedrals, most of which had their western facades flanked by twin towers and were surmounted by a huge bell tower topped with a spire. The tower that surmounts Canterbury Cathedral was built 1472-1494 and houses Bell Harry. This bell is named not because of King Henry, but because from medieval times it contained only one great bell known affectionately as Harry and it has been described as ‘the queenliest tower in Christendom’.

Nonesuch Palace, favourite palace of Henry VIII - there was no other such

Twin Towers reputedly flanked the gateway of Henry VIII’s hunting lodge without equal – Nonesuch Palace (demolished 1682). Little is known about Nonesuch except that it was a favourite palace as it was of his daughter Elizabeth and renowned throughout Europe for its unrivalled splendour. In the inner courtyard a visitor was surrounded by huge stucco figures of gods and godesses so deeply moulded Anthony Watson described them as leaping off the walls toward him. Watson the rector of Cheam gave a an eyewitness account of the building between 1582 -1592. He said the stonework was carved with the ‘living image’ of plants and animals, the ground floor walls of stone, the upper storey of timbered construction whose stucco panels were decorated with a variety of classical motifs in high relief’.

Built around two principal courtyards, it revealed none of its secrets from without, the simplicity of the stone clad outer court only emphasising the glories within, the steps leading to the inner court slowing the approach in order to heighten the impact of its Renaissance splendour.  The towers also had a spectacular prospect over the surrounding gardens and out into countryside, a most desirable feature for any Renaissance house or palace.

St Paul's Cathedral, London

Prior to the Great Fire of London in 1666, there were ninety-seven parish churches in London; the oldest Saxon in origin, while most had Norman remains. The bell tower in church architecture’s role by this time was to call attention to its presence from afar, to summon worshippers and toll for each death in a parish. The bells were rung nine times for a man, six for a woman and three for a child, plus, once for every year of their life.

During the dreadful plague of 1665 the church bells tolled endlessly, day after day, morning and night until the practice had to be abandoned as there was not a sufficient number of sextons (who rang the bells) to bury the dead. After the Great Fire mathematician and architect Christopher Wren was given the job of rebuilding fifty-one churches, incorporating some of the former smaller parishes into another. The skyline of the city became very important to him, as it was to those who remembered and cherished what had been lost. He added towers, spires and steeples to the churches in white Portland stone, or lead, to enhance the effect of his great domed Cathedral to replace the old St. Paul’s.

Tower at St Mary Huish Episcopi, England

His first grand invention of a tower topped with a classical steeple was at St. Mary le Bow, which was of a great height, described as truly magnificent and bespoke originality. The remaining City churches today still reflect by their variety, the varied quality of the City itself but sadly many of Wren’s earlier light and happy classical edifices were sacrificed to the Gothic revival craze of the nineteenth century. (Today under 40 remain due to this later demolition and bombing during WWII). Country church towers throughout England also have stone towers with little wooden turrets, while others were rich enough to afford a spire or gilded weather vanes to top the towers. Most of these were paid for by medieval trade guilds.

There is no end to the architectural influence of local materials. Somerset is famous for its towers; one of the most handsome a perpendicular number at a village called Huish Episcopi, which is 100 feet high and dates from around 1500.  It has multi pinnacled corner buttresses, windows and bell openings, the whole built of blue lias stone which is indigenous to areas of Southern England including Somerset, Warwickshire and Leicestershire.

The tower is extensively embellished with pinnacles and quatrefoil panel bands and has a superb stained glass window by late nineteenth century English artist Edward Burne-Jones. From the beginning of the nineteenth century when Britannia ruled the waves and the commercial prosperity of England was at its height the craze for a return to the Gothic took hold and private citizens got caught up in the race to build the tallest tower.

Fonthill Abbey

Fonthill Abbey was a great romantic confection that rose dramatically from the Wiltshire Downs in the shape of a Cathedral competing with Salisbury Cathedral in both size and splendour. It was built for aloof, eccentric, wealthy romantic William Beckford who incorporated a jasper-floored tomb for himself, as he wanted it to be ‘a cathedral dedicated to the arts, a site of splendid ritual and solemn music, a shrine for the work of the best English painters and craftsmen of their day’.

However its architect James Wyatt failed to give its giant centre tower proper foundations and it embarrassingly fell down during a violent storm in 1800. It was promptly rebuilt only to fall down again forever in 1825. On his death bed the contractor confessed the tower had no foundations and expressed surprise it had stood at all…in the end it became a fashionable ruin, part of the ideology of the romantic movement of that time.

It only ever saw one great entertainment in the December of 1800 a monastic fete when ‘everything, as a chronicler of the evening reported ‘was provided to steal upon the senses, dazzle the eye, and bewilder the fancy’.

Le Tour Eiffel, Paris

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, ranked as the world’s greatest engineering marvel when it was built in 1889, and rises 984 feet from its base, which is 330 feet square. It is a huge wrought iron skeleton tower on the Champ de Mar in Paris, designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exposition of 1889. Fees to take people to its various stages as a lookout in its first year of operation paid for its cost and for many years it was the tallest structure in the world.

During World War 1 it served as an important military observation tower and became symbolic of the idea of liberty, fraternity and freedom one that French people have fought hard to preserve. Today it’s a great tourist attraction, a romantic place to propose marriage and has become symbolic of all our dreams for a better world.

When Henry VIII decided he would no longer reside in the Palace built by Edward the Confessor (1003 – 66) and enlarged by his successors, an Act of Parliament decreed that ancient Palace ‘shall be called the King’s Palace at Westminster’. Today it is commonly referred to as The Houses of Parliament.

Big Ben, Palace of Westminster, London

Designed by Charles Barry, assisted by Augustus Welby Pugin, in the Gothic style of the Tudor period, the main buildings date from 1852. A great 320 feet high Clock Tower stands close to the site of the original erected by Edward 1 (1239-1307), which was shaken by an earthquake in 1580 and pulled down in 1715.

The popularly named great bell ‘Big Ben’ was named for Sir Benjamin Hall, Chief Lord of the Woods and Forests nicknamed “Big Ben” on account of his immense physique. Its continual striking is meant to remind Judges to administer true justice and the tower houses the largest mechanical clock in the world.

This symbol of western democracy defied the thrust aimed at its very heart by Adolf Hitler during World War II and reassured English speaking people throughout the world all was well. It came into use in 1859 and, except for a few occasions, has run continuously since, chiming the hours to the tune of Handel’s “I know that my Redeemer liveth”.

A Cathedral may often rank as an artistic masterpiece, but it is always, and primarily, an act of Faith. The supreme age of cathedral building represents for a great many design historians, the summit of architectural achievement and aspires to something well beyond the realm of just architecture.

At Lincoln in England you can stand upon the castle ramparts and view the triple towers of the great cathedral thrusting ever upward toward the sky like giant fingers. For 600 years they have dominated the city. The medieval mind, which first conceived such a tremendous vision, did not ever perceive that in our contemporary age Towers would be for many a source of comfort reassuring all those that live within their shadow that they are symbols for all those who have faith in the future.

© Carolyn McDowall ©The Culture Concept Circle 2009, 2010, 2011

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The great Roman Bath at Bath, England

The city of Bath, in the West Country of England has long been renowned for its curative medicinal springs. During Roman times, and indeed up until about the year 400 it was a thriving town named Aquae Sulis. Throughout the medieval period it was little more than a market town largely dominated by the Church. It was not until the fifteenth century when King Henry V111 came to see Bath for himself that the therapeutic value of the waters became, once again, well known and people came to be cured. At the turn of the eighteenth century Queen Anne (1665 – 1714), whose health had greatly suffered from countless failed pregnancies visited. She was seeking rejuvenation through its medicinal waters.

Entrance to The Pump Room at Bath

It became a centre for fashionable people following the arrival of Richard ‘Beau’ Nash in 1702. Born at Swansea in Wales in 1674 Nash following an unsuccessful career in the army had become a professional gamester. It was in this capacity he came to Bath, hoping for rich pickings. At that time there was a self styled Master of Ceremonies at Bath a Captain Webster, another professional gambler who arranged dances in the local Guildhall.

Nash became his aide-de-camp and when Webster was killed in a duel Nash, quick to realize he had found his métier, took over the role and by 1704 had made Bath a great centre for fashionable society in England. The ‘Beau’ was an extremely plain man who always dressed in very flashy clothes and became the undisputed King of Bath. His first move when he ascended to the ‘throne’ was to ban the fighting of duels. Then he hired a good band and found a house to act as rooms of assembly until something better could be built.  In 1706 he rebuilt the Pump Room, where Bath’s famous medicinal waters could be taken by those seeking a cure. He also engaged builder Thomas Harrison to complete a set of elegant purpose built Assembly Rooms. (John Woods the Younger built the ones that exist today in 1769). He wrote a set of rules for ‘correct’ social behaviour that was posted in the pump room. They included number 6 that dictated ‘that Gentlemen crowding before Ladies at the Ball, shew ill Manners, and that none do so for the future – except such as respect nobody but themselves’.

Beau Nash - Trendsetter

The Beau forbade duelling, the carrying of swords in town and arranged for the lighting of roads. He raised money to improve communications, presiding personally at Balls and in the process succeeded in attracting the fashionable world to Bath. The Balls or dances in the Assembly Rooms were extremely formal starting with a minuet for which the Beau would lead out the most important lady present – probably a Duchess – and then he would lead out the most important man to partner her. They would dance watched by the whole company and be followed by less important couples for the next two hours.

At these occasions the Beau banned men from wearing boots. Instead they were encouraged to wear stockings and shoes bringing about a major change in fashion for society at play. Because so many people came to Bath for their health the Balls organised by the Beau began at 6.30 pm and ended sharply at 11 pm. Even a Royal Princess was unable to make Beau Nash change his rules. Today we would perhaps think it all intolerably slow but the Beau gained a great deal of respect and he reigned supreme at Bath for over twenty years. Those individuals in society who sought to flaunt his rules suffered his disdain and were dismissed out of hand…however he was very generous to those having hard times.

He brought about a great ‘levelling of society’ ensuring that while they were at Bath merchants, noblemen and gentle folk all mixed together and learned to respect each other. He arbitrated disputes between neighbours and visitors and made valuable introductions in his self appointed role as benevolent dictator and arbiter of taste.

Prior Park at Bath a symphony in stone

Another influential inhabitant of Bath was Ralph Allen. He started life in a very small way in Cornwall but came to the city to work in the Post Office. He uncovered a Jacobite plot and so earned the patronage of the influential General Wade who had been sent to Bath to suppress any uprising.

Allen became Postmaster in 1712 aged only 19, then Mayor in 1742 and Member of Parliament for Bath from 1757 – 1764. He made a huge fortune partly from the stone quarries, which he acquired. He built a great house, Prior Park, overlooking the town with stone blocks cut with crisp clean edges to suit the newly favoured classical façade that was designed by architect John Wood. It was Allen who persuaded the architect John Wood to come to Bath and redesign the town on the lines of a Roman city.

Queens Square was built in1736 and linked by Gay Street to the Circus, which was built in 1754. Wood’s son John Wood the Younger built the fabulous Royal Crescent in Bath linking it to the Circus.

Royal Crescent, Bath, England there's a divine Hotel in the middle terrace

All these very elegant streets of beautiful classical style buildings were much copied and other architects who worked in Bath included the Scottish genius Robert Adam who designed the charming Pulteney Bridge.

At Prior Park Allen entertained lavishly. Guests included the poet Alexander Pope who designed its garden working with noted landscape gardener Capability Brown.

Bath Abbey, Roman Baths and the Pump Room

The painter Thomas Gainsborough came to Bath in search of commissions and became another well-known visitor at Prior Park as were novelists Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding. The great character Squire Allworthy in Henry Fielding’s rollicking popular tale Tom Jones is a sympathetic portrait of Ralph Allen.

Thanks to Beau Nash, Ralph Allen and John Woods and John Woods the Younger Bath became, and remains today one of the most complete elegant eighteenth century cities left in Europe. Beau Nash died in 1761 in poverty and obscurity but the Bath he created continued to attract the fashionable world.

Comforts of the Pump Room, by Thomas Rowlandson

In 1766 an anonymous publication appeared called ‘the New Bath Guide’. The very eccentric fashionable man of wit and style Horace Walpole, who was the son of England’s first Prime Minister wrote to a friend: – ‘what pleasure you have to come! There is a new thing published called the New Bath Guide. It stole into the world, and for a fortnight no soul looked into it, concluding its name was its true name.  No such thing. It is a set of letters in verses, in all kinds of verses, describing the life of Bath, and, incidentally everything else: but so much wit, so much humour, so much originality never met together before.’

The author was the Rev. Christopher Anstey. Here is a small quote from ‘A Consultation of Physicians’: - Says I ‘my good doctors, I can’t understand‘ Why the deuce you take so many patients in hand;‘You’ve a great deal of practice, so far as I find,‘But since you’re come hither do pray be so kind,‘To write me down something that’s good for the wind.‘ No doubt ye are all of ye great politicians‘But at present my bowels have need of physicians;‘Consider my case in the light it deserves, ‘And pity the state of my stomach and nerves’

Slightly later cartoonist Thomas Rowlandson, published a set of pictures of life in Bath. Together with the New Bath Guide, which has been republished, they give a graphic idea of life in Bath in the second half of the C18.

Assembly Room, Bath

By the time Jane Austen and her family came to live in Bath in 1801 it was no longer the exclusive haunt of the aristocracy. With the rise in the population and creation of a moneyed middle class many more visitors came to the city from widely varying backgrounds. The resident population alone had risen from some 3,000 in 1700 to 33,000. Although Jane Austen disliked Bath and thought it bad for her health she, nevertheless, featured it in two of her most charming novels – ‘Northanger Abbey’ and ‘Persuasion’. Most of the places she mentions are still their today in much the same state.

Pulteney Bridge, Bath designed by London based Scottish Architect Robert Adam

The upper Assembly Rooms, built by John Wood the Younger (1768-71) are where Catherine Morland, the heroine of ‘Northanger Abbey’ sat disconsolately waiting for a partner until the delightful Henry Tilney appears. These rooms were bombed during the Second World War but have been sensitively restored to their original appearance.

One can still walk on the hills where Henry and his sister, Eleanor, instructed Catherine in the delights of looking at landscape.

The Austen family lived in Sydney Place over Pulteney Bridge and next to Laura Place where Anne Elliot’s snobbish cousins, the Dalrymple’s, lived in ‘Persuasion’. And it is possible still to take a ‘Jane Austen walk’ and in that way see many of the places connected with her or, featured in her novels.

The Circus, Bath

When late in the century doctors began to recommend sea bathing as a ‘cure all’ and when the Prince Regent (later George IV) built his fabulous pavilion by the seaside at Brighton, Bath which was situated inland in the country began to lose its popularity. During the Victorian era the city sank into a decline thus escaping much of the ‘modernisation’ taking place in other towns. Invalids still frequented it but it more generally became a city of retirement for many people from the armed services on small pensions.

It was not until the Second World War when the Admiralty was evacuated there that the rejuvenation of the city really began. Since the end of World War II much restoration has taken place of, for instance, the Pump Room, the Baths, and the Assembly Rooms.

All the stone buildings from being still ‘black’ with soot in the 70’s when I first saw them all now once again glow golden in the setting sun. And, its a wonderful sight to see. Today Bath is as busy as it must have been in the eighteenth century although with more emphasis on enjoyment and tourism and much less on invalidism!

©Carolyn McDowall 2009, 2010, 2011

RULES to be observed at BATH

1. THAT a visit of ceremony at first coming and another at going away, are all that are expected or desired, by ladies of quality and fashion,– except impertinents.
2. That ladies coming to the ball appoint a time for their footmen coming to wait on them home, to prevent disturbance and inconveniencies to themselves and others
3. That gentlemen of fashion never appearing in a morning before the ladies in gowns and caps, show breeding and respect.
4. That no person take it ill that any one goes to another’s play, or breakfast, and not theirs,– except captious by nature.
5. That no gentleman give his ticket for the balls, to any but gentlewomen.– N.B. Unless he has none of his acquaintance.
6. That gentlemen crowding before the ladies at the ball, show ill manners, and that none do so for the future,– except such as respect nobody but themselves.
7. That no gentleman or lady takes it ill that another dances before them;– except such as have no pretense to dance at all.
8. That the elder ladies and children be content with a second bench at the ball, as being past or not come to perfection.
9. That the younger ladies take notice how many eyes observe them. N.B. This does not extend to the Have-at-alls.
10. That all whisperers of lies and scandal, be taken for their authors.
11. That all repeaters of such lies, and scandal, be shunned by all company,– except such as have been guilty of the same crime.
N.B. Several men of no character, old women and young ones, of questioned reputation, are great authors of lies in these places, being of the sect of levellers.

Download Life of Beau Nash by Oliver Goldsmith

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Venus and Adonis by Rubens

This rather erotic love language comes from the Old Testament of the Bible, an edited extract from the Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. Love! I am sure everyone has experienced that most frustrating, captivating, exquisite, infuriating, but enduring of all human emotions called love.

An important aspect of every human society yet recorded is a belief that gold and gemstones had an enormous effect on the affairs of many. This has not been limited to any age or culture and tokens of human affection have been treasured throughout the ages. If you bring gold and precious or semi precious stones together skilfully and make them symbolise romance and reflect true love then you have a ‘tour de force’, a triumph of Cupid’s D’art! Excavators at Pompeii found a variety of gem stones in one shop, some only partly cut along with the tools for working them.

Amorini, or cupids in a wallpainting in the Casa Vettii at Pompeii

In another shop a note left by a visitor on that fateful day in the year ‘79 saying. ‘I should like my jewel to be ready at three o’clock’.Pompeii was the place where the elite in Roman society went for a holiday and to enjoy the company of friends. A modern day Australian comparison would be Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. Jewellers had a ready market in Pompeii forming an active profession the Aurifes universi, which supported local candidates for political office. The level of business was such that even very special gem cutters and engravers were drawn to the town and made a living there.

Evidence that love and jewellery were associated in the ancient world can be found detailed in a fresco adorning the walls of the House of Vetti in Pompeii. It depicts a goldsmith’s workshop and a group of amorini, or cupids engaged in making jewelled ornaments, intended to wound a victim’s heart. According to first century documenter of Roman times, author, naturalist and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder ‘People nowadays go to buy clothes in China, look for pearls in the depth of the Red Sea and emeralds in the bowels of the earth…moreover, the practice of piercing the ears has been invented. It did not suffice to wear jewels round the neck, in the hair and on the hands; they also have to be stuck in the body!’

When people today talk about gems and gemology the basic vocabulary seems to have become confused. So just for clarification. Gemstones are minerals found in the earth. ‘Gems’ are objects fashioned from them. Jewels are gems prepared for mounting in jewellery or other objects of art. And, jewellery is the finished product that adorns the wearer.

In ancient Greek mythology Aphrodite, the Goddess of  love and desire rose naked from the foam of the sea and was reputed to have stepped ashore at Cythera in the Ionian islands where grass and flowers sprang up wherever her feet touched the earth. Her divine duty was to make love and inspire others to do so.  In an early manifestation as the familiar of Aphrodite you could describe Eros, the God of Love, perhaps as being bittersweet. Greek lyric poets and tragedians stressed his omnipotence and cruelty. What thing is love for (well I wot) love is a thing, It is a prick; it is a sting, It is a pretty, pretty thing, It is a fire; it is a coal, Whose flame creeps in every hole.’

As a companion of Venus in her Roman manifestation, known as Cupid he could be both young and beautiful. Cupids were widely used emblems of prosperity belonging to the worlds of both Venus and the God of Wine, Bacchus. As time progressed he turned into a rather chubby mischievous little boy.

Venus and Cupid by Cranch

A well-known painting of him with Venus 1531 by Lucas Cranch depicts Cupid complaining to his mother Venus. He is suffering loudly from bee stings – a warning of the pain, which so often accompanies the pleasure of love.

The history of ancient Italy does not just reside with the Romans. Long before Rome became the centre of a Roman Empire, Rome was but a town on the coastal plain tucked between the Latin tribes in the hills to the east and south, with in the north, the mysterious and very colourful people known as the Etruscans. They ruled the lands of Etruria, broadly corresponding to the modern region we now know as Tuscany.

The people called themselves Rasenna, it was the Romans that gave them the name Etruscan (Etrusci or Tusci) and the Greeks called them Tyrsenoi, rendered in English as Tyrrhenians, the name of the sea to the west of the Italian Peninsula. They had a reputation in the ancient world as  consumers of good things and were particularly famous as jewellers.

Etruscan Grape Cluster Earring V & A Museum at London

They crafted gold and silver jewellery and engraved gems, which they traded all around the Mediterranean world. Etruscan goldsmiths produced objects technically very difficult to make. Etruscan grape-cluster earrings of the 4th century before Christ are often shown worn by women on Etruscan terracottas and tomb paintings.

Some terracotta heads show they were very large and nestled behind the curls of the wearer,  tucked into the side of the neck.  Shaped from thin sheet gold clusters of gold globules they were attached and the whole decorated with filigree – attached gold wire – and granulation.

The technique of granulation developed by the Etruscan goldsmiths was brought to an extraordinary standard of perfection and was often extremely fine. It reached its height at Etruria in the seventh and sixth centuries before Christ and has never been surpassed.

Young Woman Mummy Portrait from Fayum

It was necessary to produce first tiny pellets of gold, then using a copper solution mixed with vegetable or fish glue diluted with water, the pellets were then applied in selected patterns onto the object. As copper has a lower melting point than gold, the copper, when heated, joined the pellets to the background, In this way fusion of the pellets and background was prevented and the granular effect was not lost. Granulation is often combined with filigree, which was the application of gold wire to the surface.

1st Century Roman Woman wearing an outstanding collection of Jewellery

Mummification continued to be practised during the Roman period after the year 30 BC in Egypt. Painted mummy portraits like our young lady reveal their jewellery preferences. She is wearing a stunning brooch, with complementary earrings and hair jewel. These paintings are among the most remarkable historical and cultural documents of outstanding interest found in the cemeteries of the Fayum district of Egypt by archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie (1853–1942).

What archaeologists call true Roman jewellery was first made in the first century BCE. Any Greek or Roman travelling through the Medietrranean area at that time would have been confronted by a cultural mosaic composing elements from many different periods.

The preference in the first century was for colourful, though not very elaborate pieces and pearls, gems and glass paste contrasted with the bright yellow gold to produce jewels of great effect and ostentation, beloved by the nouveaux riche.

Our second portrait was also excavated by Petrie who dubbed her Jewellery Girl. ‘In the top of her bun is a pin set with pearls and garnets. The bun is gathered with a gold chain with a central medallion and decorated gold boxes at either side. Above these a long pin is worn across the back of the head.

She has four necklaces, the uppermost matching the pin in the bun with pale stones, perhaps aquamarine in gold settings between small pearls and garnets. Beneath is a necklace of squared emeralds separated by gold beads, and below that a chain of gold beads with a gold pendant. Hanging low on her breast is a plated gold chain with a large oval stone, perhaps an emerald intaglio in a heavy gold setting.  She is also wearing trident earrings with a central pearl set above the bar and three pendant pearls.  Pearls were highly prized, the most valuable usually imported from the Red Sea could fetch exorbitant prices. Drop earrings consisting of two or more pearls were called crotalia, by analogy with the tinkling sound of the simple percussion instruments played at that time called crotali’.

Roman garnet intaglio, c. 1st century AD, engraved with a nude Apollo, his right arm raised holding a bow, his left arm reaching for an arrow from his quiver, a wreath in his hair, in a classic 22ct gold setting. Anne Schofield Antiques, Sydney

Fragment of a 1st Century Cameo

Women during Roman times wore a great deal of ancestral jewellery handed down, so dating them stylistically from mummy boards doesn’t always work for some scholars. As the Roman Empire collapsed between the fourth and sixth centuries after Christ fragments of precious jewels were preserved and today collecting them has become a favourite pastime for many.

Two of the most favoured jewels in ancient society was an Intaglio,  that of an image created by cutting, carving or engraving into a flat surface and the Cameo, where the image is what is left when the background has been cut away to leave the image above the back ground.

The measure of a cameo of great quality is the depth of its carving.

The Ancient Cultural mosaic was shattered between the fourth and sixth centuries AD as the borders of the Roman Empire collapsed and today fragmens of the Greek , Etruscan and Roman cultural mosaic are spread throughout the world. The Lady and the Unicorn (La Dame a la Licorne) is the collective title for six tapestry panels, hung originally in the Castle of Boussac and now in the Museum of the Middle Ages (Museé de Moyen Age) at Paris.

Lady and the Unicorn - Sound

The colours of the clothes, flowers (mille fleurs) and jewellery were rendered in wool and provide a superb documentary record of the style of costume worn in fourteenth century Europe. Costume encompasses all that we wear, including objects for personal adornment such as jewellery, hats, gloves, shoes, accessories and undergarments.

All these various aspects of costume have an interesting history and reflect our social growth. They also project our beliefs both religious and spiritual, while aesthetically convey an image purely for purposes of personal status or, to accommodate a desire to be distinguished from others in a culture and its society.

Henry VIII in a typical power pose

As the feudal system, that had been in place throughout the middle ages disintegrated a burgeoning of luxury in the royal and princely courts of Europe and England began.  At this level costume is subjected to politics; the preening extravagances of exotic charismatic emperors, princes, potentates or dictators was from antiquity right through until today

The Tudor monarchs of England perceived that visitors to the court equated lavish display with national strength and power. No other period in history was to give men more precious adornments to project their beauty and status and Henry VIII (1491-1547) just loved flamboyant display,  apparent in all familiar depictions of him.

19th century reproduction Renaissance Hat Badge by Castellani courtesy V & A Museum London

His chest measured 45 inches in his youth and he wore lavish clothes on which jewels were abundantly applied. By 1540 Henry’s chest had grown to 58 inches and was a perfect display area. (Who would have needed a jewellery shop with a client like Henry. He is a display case in himself). He strived to keep, forgive the pun, abreast of all the latest developments in the arts. When viewing his portraits however, we would have to believe that his elaborate codpiece protected, what he more than likely would have considered, after having had six wives, his most precious jewels of all.

At this time aesthetic and ethical ideas could not be considered a mere imitation of the classical world for it was believed that if the ancients were to be revered and admired at all it was because they were thought to have found their wisdom and art at the same source as that of knowledge and beauty. This was an ideal Henry VIII turned to in his quest for a new life.

One of the most popular adornments he wore was called an Enseigne (hat badge). Made of gold and jewels and worn on the hat or cap of men of prominence, their design was mainly allegorical accompanied by an explanatory motto. These devices, as they became known,  led to a delight in anything ingenious or unusual even if it had no secret meaning.

Artists rendering them in many mediums chose the better known mythology of the ancient world and as a result,  their works were rich in amatory illusion. The intent of any device was to teach an intuitive form of moral truth.

Their real charm however lay in the fact it was only those who could read their visual message that knew their real significance so if you particularly want to understand jewellery design of this period you need to be well versed in your mythology and legend.

15c Italian Gold Signet Ring

The Venetian ambassador to his court described Henry VIII’s fingers as ‘one mass of jewelled rings’. Rings on the finger, and indeed on other parts of one’s person, have been worn continuously since the 3rd Millennium BCE by all civilisations. The ring, being a circle, has no beginning or end so perfectly represents the enduring qualities of true love. A diamond inset into a marriage ring was, by the C15, a symbol of conjugal faithfulness because of its resistance to fire and steel. It was also used in its natural crystalline structure and set, although it did not sparkle like today’s highly polished jewels. Its hardness however was admired and it came to symbolise the durability of marriage and an important aspect of the ritual surrounding weddings. Anne of Cleves when she married Henry VIII had a very optimistic inscription on her wedding ring: ‘God send me well to kepe’.

Jane Seymour by Holbein

Henry encouraged foreign artisans to England. In 1526 German painter Hans Holbein the Younger arrived and by 1536 had become the King’s painter. As well as rendering series of portraits of eminent people of his era Holbein embraced jewellery and metal design, books illustration and decorative schemes.

Early eighteenth century British physician, naturalist and collector Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed 179 of Holbein’s jewellery designs to the British Museum and they provide a fascinating study.

Jane Seymour, who gave Henry his long awaited son and heir, was painted by Holbein wearing some wonderful jewellery given in love by Henry to her. Her selection includes a popular form of pendant made of a large emerald, emblematic of love, together with a ravishing ruby, representing his passion.

The sixteenth centuries luxurious materials, rich heavy stuffs, thick embroideries, sumptuous silks and velvets, as well as fragile lace, provided perfect settings for, or enhanced the wearing of, superb jewellery.

For many it was far more important to have seen Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558 – 1603) in person than to have seen England.

Coronation Portrait Elizabeth 1

At her coronation, which took place on a crisp winter morning with just a hint of snow in the air, ‘she wore her hair as her mother had done, unbraided… hanging loosely about her shoulders’ symbolic of her unmarried state. The congregation in Westminster Abbey went wild with enthusiasm.

She was clothed in a gown made from one of the extraordinary textiles of the time, known as the cloth of gold, holding a bejewelled orb and sceptre her hands as well as the objects being symbols of her authority . Her gown was trimmed with ermine, symbolic of her purity as a Virgin Queen as were the pearls in her crown.

Elizabeth 1 was given a great deal of jewellery as a ‘love gift’, however none more acceptable to her than that from her favourite the Earl of Leicester. She was well aware of what image and marketing, supposed modern concepts, were all about and revelled in the business of courtship, a game at which she excelled. It is evident, from all the writings about her Elizabeth loved the rich gifts of jewels showered upon her as well as the flattery and protestations of the various envoys all striving to outdo each other for her favour.

Elizabeth 1

Baron Zdenek Waldstein of Moravia visited England in the summer of 1600 and prayed for nothing so much as that he ‘might come face to face into the presence of your majesty…the greatest object of my journey ‘the figure of the Queen’ glittering with the glory of majesty and adorned with jewellery and precious gems’.

Erik XIV of Sweden declared he would ‘rush through armies of foes to protect her’ and had a superb portrait of her painted for his personal pleasure. In it, sewn to her very chic red coat and hat are clusters of gems and pearls and the sleeves of the jacket are encrusted with pearls all the way up to the elbows.

Sir Francis Bacon recorded that Elizabeth imagined people … ‘would be diverted by the glitter of her jewels from noticing the decay of her personal attractions’…and surviving contemporary portraits reveal the extent of her ability to influence people’s perceptions of her.

Artists and artisans of the Renaissance in Italy took full possession of their classical heritage and it inspired them toward new creative endeavours.

Bia de Medici (Uffizi, Florence)

The House of Medici was a new type of patron. This prominent banking family was very passionate about the antique and it had the wealth to patronise artists with great creative gifts.

The remaining Treasures of the Medici, although plundered over the centuries were a triumph of the jeweller’s art and for as long as the duchy lasted the creation of beautiful objets d’art was a focus and boast of the Medici Court.

During the Middle Ages Venus had come to represent fear of nudity, luxuria, or sensuality, as well as paganism. During Europe’s rebirth she returned to her original role as universal mother and creator of all living things.

Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted her as a contemporary lady and placed her before a mirror, a symbol of truth (it does not lie), which reflects pride (Satan’s image), as well as the two dangers of vanity and lust. Ruben’s Venus is a truly luscious lady wearing, well nothing at all really, except a stunning gold bracelet decorated with arrows.

This is a sign that Cupid, now reduced to a winged youth or chubby infant flying about on golden wings randomly shooting arrows to make his targets fall in love, or setting their hearts on fire with his torch, has been around endeavouring to use the power of love to disarm her strength….continued

This is part one of a four part series.
Love Jewellery – Cupid to Cartier

Read the rest of this series

Author Carolyn McDowall ©The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

Read the 4 Installment Series in Chronological Order

Love Jewellery – Rome to Renaissance

Love Jewellery – Restoration to Revolution

Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival

Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro

Related posts:

1. Love Jewellery from Cupid to Cartier
2. Love Jewellery – Regency to Revival
3. Love Jewellery – Romantics to Retro