Modern Jewellery and Art. 9 



much to boast of; and the best specimens of jewellery there, as 

 at home, take the shape of pure diamond- work. 



As was naturally to be expected, it was in the arrange- 

 ment and manufacture of diamond parure that the best display 

 of really artistic progress was shown. There the draughtsman 

 and the modeller were thrown back upon their own resources ; 

 for, seeing that little was to be effected, as a rule, by contrast 

 of colour, so much more devolved upon grace of form and 

 boldness of relief, for ultimate effect. The diamond-workers 

 were always a better trained, and better paid class of men, than 

 the goldsmiths, and the costly material upon which they were 

 employed permitted an outlay, and demanded a degree of 

 attention, which the labours of the goldsmith could dispense 

 with. But even the diamond-work made on the continent 

 from the beginning of the sixteenth century, down to within 

 the last fifty years, was heavy, inartistic, and, considering its 

 value, ineffective. Perhaps the Venetian diamond-work was 

 the best, and much of this excellence resulted from the 

 manner in which the gems were cut, viz., rectangular, with 

 deep, single facets, and a broad flat table. Venice then 

 led the way in most of the arts, and it is not surprising that 

 her diamond jewellery should excel that of all other countries. 

 In England, till within the last half century, diamond orna- 

 ments, in common with all kinds of jewellery, were simply 

 execrable. Perfectly flat, and although usually imitative of 

 some kind of foliage, with no more relief or modelling (move- 

 ment, the French call it), than a platter, the jewel was rather 

 a rude mass of silver, in which diamonds were here and there 

 set, than a piece of work with any traceable design. It was 

 usually a cast block with a rounded back to each stone, and no 

 gold whatever upon it beyond what was necessary as a means 

 of fastening it to the dress. Where the pattern was not 

 clearly floral, it was a mere jumble of grotesque shapes, not 

 traceable to any original on the earth, or in the heavens. 



The first real improvement in the design of diamond-work 

 originated in Vienna, and from its very character led to new 

 and more artistic development. It began in a parure 

 of slender grass leaves, from which were pendent small stars, 

 or dew- drops, and its best feature was a conscientious desire 

 to follow closely upon nature. For a loug time the simple 

 field flowers and long grasses were the ruling models of 

 diamond-work in the Austrian capital. The new fashion soOn 

 spread from Vienna to Paris, and thence, through French and 

 German workmen, to London. At this time what is tech- 

 nically called " thread setting" was little used in London. 

 The English workman prided himself upon his " grain setting/ J 

 i.e., his work, whether leaf, flower, or nondescript orna- 



