Oro e gioielli nel Rinascimento

A rare 16th century gold sundial and compass ring, possibly German, The hinged oval bezel designed as a seal and engraved with a coat of arms, opening to reveal a sundial and compass, on a plain gold hoop, dimensions of bezel.

Designs for Royal Jewellery by Hans Holbein
British Museum

The only surviving daughter of James I and Anne of Denmark, Elizabeth married Frederick, Elector Palatine in 1613. In this portrait she wears the famous Medici Pearls, also known as the Hanover Pearls, six strands joined together in a thick rope. The pearls have a long history. They were originally given to Catherine of Medici by Pope Clement VII; she in turn gave them to her niece, Mary, Queen of Scots. When Mary died the pearls were, it is thought, confiscated by Elizabeth I. On Elizabeth's death they passed to Mary's son James I who gave them to his daughter, Elizabeth of Bohemia. Elizabeth in turn gave them to her daughter Sophia on her marriage to the Elector of Hanover. The pearls returned to England with Sophia's son, George I, and remained here until the reign of Queen Victoria. Victoria refused to return the pearls to her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, when he became the Elector. This led to a court case which lasted for twenty years and which was eventually settled in favour of Hanover. The pearls may never have been returned however. Queen Alexandra wore a choker of them and it is said that Elizabeth II has earrings and a diadem of the same provenance.

While men might have straightened their shoulders and suffered through the miasma (though they, too, had stench-ridding weapons), ladies and their sensitive sniffers required relief. They found it in the form of pomanders which first came to the rescue in the 14th century. Carried over from Arabia, these scented objects take the name from the French “pomme d’ambre“, referring to the pomme or apple shape of the container, and ambergris, the waxy resin substance used as the recipe’s base from which perfumes are then added.

Pomanders became popular in plague years when physicians theorized disease was trasmitted through befouled air. Alas, woefully untrue, as physicians would later discover, but pomanders still had plenty of practical uses. Worn around the neck or the waist for immediate access, their form was as varied as their bearer. Aristocrats carried perforated miniature globes made of fine metals and decorated with precious stones and/or intricate designs. These globes were the predecessors of the vinaigrette, used around the early 1700s throughout the mid 19th century.

Devo ammettere che aver scoperto cos'è l'ambra grigia ha tolto un po' di poesia