The Victorian Era - Part I

By: blog.RubyLane.com

The Victorian Era encompasses 64 years; from 1837 to 1901, the same period as the reign of Queen Victoria from which it takes its name. The period sees many changes in the world along with a broad mix of design styles, which makes it difficult to summarize. The Victorian Era takes it name from Queen Victoria who “by the Grace of God is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith, and Empress of India”, the longest reigning English monarch. Some people view the period as a stuffy, unchanging time, and some refer to it as “an age of innocence” but in reality it was not, it was a time of tremendous change.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Queen Victoria was born in 1819, a period when England ruled supreme after the Napoleonic Wars. When she was eleven years old, the steam engine, and the steamboat were relatively new inventions, and the Brit’s establish it’s first commercial railway. By the time of her coronation, rail lines and canals crisscrossed the country, making it the hub of world commerce. During the year of her coronation, the creation of the first oceanic steamship and use of the telegraph occurs. Queen Victoria was born into an age when travel was primarily by horse and carriage, and is still the ruling monarch when the first horseless carriage comes into use. Some say the Victorian Era saw “the invention of invention” – the idea that man could better the world through his own innovations, upward mobility is possible, and human kind, no longer trapped by class, has the ability to better itself.

Although the Victorian Era was truly a British Century, the term is universal and applies to all items invented or produced in this period. America was expanding, Germans rule the world of philosophy, and the French dictate fashion, but Britain rules the waves and establishes colonies worldwide. “There will always be an England,” and “the Sun truly never sets on the British Empire,” are statements heard often during Victorian times. Change pervades every nook and cranny of Victorian life. The changes occurring in England influence everything including the fledgling American jewelers and their work develops in a manner that parallels what is happening in England.

CHARACTERISTICS

At the start of the era, jewelry workers produce items by hand. The gold supply is limited, dictating the style of jewelry produced, with jeweler’s opting for designs that use a minimal amount of material, such as canetille work. Jewelers employ the use of alternate metals such as iron, steel, and pinchbeck - a unique blend of copper and zinc. The development of electroplating in 1840 makes pinchbeck obsolete rather quickly. Jewelry makers apply the principles used in the creation of Sheffield plate to create other materials, such as gold plate, gold filled, and gold overlay.

The century brings new finds of gold in America, Australia, and Africa, expanding the world supply of gold. In combination with new soldering technology and mass production methods jewelry production is revolutionized and becomes known as the jewelry industry

There were strong negative reactions to this mechanized mass production by some. The writings of John Ruskin, born in the same year as Queen Victoria, inspired William Morris, especially his writings on the relations of art to society. Morris had tremendous influence on Victorian tastes and his principles survived well into the 20th century with the Arts and Crafts movement. Born out of his time, Morris said, “Apart from my desire to produce beautiful things, the leading passion of my life has been and is, the hatred of modern civilization.” He and the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood created an artistic culture derived from the Romantic Period, inspired by Keats, Shelly, and Coleridge, with an affinity for medieval things. The aesthetic movement of the 1870’s practically flows from the Pre-Raphaelites, with additional input from such luminaries as Whistler, Beardsley, Wilde, Verlaine, and Rimbaud. The Arts and Crafts movement springs from the aesthetic movement through the involvement of Liberty and Company and designers such as Archibald Knox and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The Arts and Crafts movement or aesthetic movement emphasized the nobility of the use of natural materials, color, and handwork. This emphasis came as a reaction to the uniform mass production and lack of aesthetics in much of Victorian culture. Art Nouveau can find some of its roots in this aesthetic movement. The Arts and Crafts movement in continental Europe takes on a slightly different flavor, with the Jugenstil and Vienna Sezzesionists and eventually morphs into Art Deco. The groundwork laid in Victorian times continues to bear fruit into the 1930s.

STYLE

The styles of the Victorian Era were many and varied. While the Victorians loved their innovations and inventions, they also loved to borrow from the past. The designs of the era are strongly influenced by the ancient Etruscans and Romans, the Middle Ages, the Gothic, the Renaissance, Louis WAV, Louis XVI, and the Rococo all flavor their jewelry designs. Exotic and faraway lands of the Empire have their influence as well, with the Orientalist influences of Moorish, Japanese, Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian cultures. The expanding Empire also changes the nature of gem materials used. At the start of the era, many genuine stones are rare, far out of reach of common people and reserved for the heads of Church and State. Eventually they are shared with the expanding middle class as the discovery of large quantities of opals in Australia in 1849 and diamonds in South Africa in 1869 makes them affordable to many. The turquoise of Afghanistan, the rubies of Burma, and the pearls of the Persian Gulf are all within the reach of the British Empire.

India, a country managed and ruled by the British for most of the 19th century, was a major source of gems, both old and new. One of the stunning exhibits at the Crystal Palace Exhibition was the Koh-i-noor Diamond often referred to as "the Mountain of Light,” a stone owned by Mogul emperors of India for more than 500 years before being acquired by the East India Company. On the 250th Anniversary of the ‘Company’, they presented the 186-carat stone to Victoria. Cut to 108 carats at the request of Queen Victoria, the stone now adorns the crown of the Queen Mother.

Victorian jewelry pieces encompass a broad array of styles incorporating individual design elements from other periods and cultures, making the term ‘Victorian style’ meaningless, in many cases. Simply possessing one or two style elements used in the making of jewelry during the Victorian Era does not necessarily make a piece “Victorian Style”, as these design elements or styles are also present in the work of other periods. We advise caution when using the term 'Victorian style'.

We will address additional aspects of Victorian period jewelry in Part 2 of Victorian Jewelry, which will include notes and facts for identifying Victorian era jewelry pieces. Stay tuned!

Article Source: https://www.collectibles-articles.com

Source: Notes from the Lane at blog.rubylane.com - Your complete resource for online sales success. RubyLane.com is home to over 2000 online shops from around the world offering Antiques and Art, Vintage Collectibles and Jewelry in 2,000 categories.

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