Mourning Band From 1770 Tells of Things to Come
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Over the most recent Rococo articles, much has been written about the abrupt change-over into new art styles, particularly from the period of 1720, with Baroque to Rococo, and then in 1765 with the introduction of Neoclassicism.
One area that I would like to dispel, is that a change in style, no matter how popular, did not effectively kill a style off. Styles lingered, sensibilities did remain and to consider that an entire moment in time could change a global perspective is absurd. While styles that remained were obscure and could be considered anachronisms for their time, the jewellery historian in you must analyse these particular areas to understand why a jewel exists:
Money
Simply put, it was the society that could afford to change their jewellery with the times which effectively created our current understand of style in jewellery. Why is this? The more that were produced would be the ones more likely to remain today and the ones we commonly associate with the time. Neoclassical, while immensely popular didn’t cause jewellers to throw away their moulds to produce a new style overnight. The cost in changing machinery and learning new styles is enough to consider how necessary it would be on a return on investment status. Jewels that were re-appropriated from the previous generation were also used or kept, as they held intrinsic value to the memory within the family.
Age
The age of the people who were wearing the new styles of jewels in their social environments would be the ones to adapt to the popular jewels. While state and court styles were largely mandated, the enforcement on a culture of the 18th century that was learning about profit and social mobility would be difficult to holistically maintain. If an older, more ecclesiastically minded person of the previous generation who didn’t relate well to the Neoclassical movement and was more engaged by the representation of death in the Memento Mori style, then it would not be uncommon for a jewel to be commissioned with this older style. Just because a matter of several years had passed with a symbol falling out of favour, it would not disappear.
Social Tastes
In the end, society and its standardisation of style was the important thing. Yes, styles changed in much broader ways because of this, but older styles, such as this ring would exist. It’s clearly the Rococo ribbon/scroll band, a style that adapted well into the 19th century with more straight edges, but retaining the dedication around the band itself. Yet, here it is in 1770, a good step into the Neoclassical movement, but not following its popular trend.
This is why, when it comes to viewing a jewel, it’s easy to put it into context of its time, but to be completely definitive is difficult without a hallmark stamp or dedication.
Country: England
Year: 23 July 1770
Dedication: John Barberie OB: 23 July 1770 AE 50
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