Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Victorian Adornments

Tiara
Western Europe
ca. 1835
diamonds set in silver, rubies set in gold
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

The Sky is low - the Clouds are mean.
A Travelling Flake of Snow
Across a Barn or through a Rut
Debates if it will go -
A Narrow Wind complains all Day
How some one treated him.
Nature, like Us is sometimes caught
Without her Diadem -

1866

Brooch
Western Europe
ca. 1830
colored gold set with diamonds
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Ornament
England
1840s
enameled-gold, rock-crystals, pearls, garnets
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Brooch
Western Europe
ca. 1825
tortoiseshell, gold, turquoises, pearl
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

I held a Jewel in my fingers -
And went to sleep -
The day was warm, and winds were prosy -
I said "'Twill keep" -

I woke - and chid my honest fingers,
The Gem was gone -
And now, an Amethyst remembrance
Is all I own -

1861

Brooch
Western Europe
ca. 1850-1900
rubies, emeralds, diamonds set in gold and silver
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Earrings
Western Europe
ca. 1835-40
gold-filigree, turquoises, pearls
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Pendant
England
ca. 1850
enameled-gold, emeralds, sapphire, agate-cameo
Renaissance-revival design
Victoria & Albert Museum

Those fair - fictitious People -
The Women - plucked away
From our familiar Lifetime -
The Men of Ivory -

Those Boys and Girls, in Canvas -
Who stay upon the Wall
in everlasting Keepsake -
Can anybody tell?

1862

Brooch
Italy
ca. 1820-30
micromosaic panel with glass tiles
silver-gilt filagree setting
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Bracelet
Western Europe
ca. 1835-50
plaited human hair
gold clasp set with shell-cameo
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Some we see no more, Tenements of Wonder
Occupy to us though perhaps to them
Simpler are the Days than the Supposition
Their removing Manners
Leave us to presume.

That oblique Belief which we call Conjecture
Grapples with a Theme stubborn as sublime
Able as the Dust to equip its feature
Adequate as Drums to enlist the Tomb.

1871

Locket
Germany
ca. 1880
gold, pearls
enameled plaque with Cupids
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Earrings
Germany
ca. 1880
gold, pearls, turquoises, diamonds
enameled plaques with Cupids
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Pendant
Austria
ca. 1850-1900
enameled-gold, tourmalines, rubies, pearls
Renaissance-revival design
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

The Past is such a curious Creature
To look her in the Face
A Transport may receipt us
Or a Disgrace -

Unarmed if any meet her
I charge him fly
Her faded Ammunition
Might yet reply.

1872

Brooch
England
ca. 1850
gold, garnets
shell-cameo (the Three Graces)
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Ornament
Western Europe
ca. 1851
silver, diamonds
floral spray (convolvulus blossoms)
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

A Diamond on the Hand
To Custom Common grown
Subsides from its significance
The Gem were best unknown -
Within a Seller's shrine
How many sight and sigh
And cannot, but are mad with fear
That any other buy -

1867

– poems are by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) from the most recent complete edition, edited by R.W. Franklin (Harvard, 1999)