Bijouterie (Genève)

Henri Vever
Belt Buckle
1897
gold (partly enameled)
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Gilbert Albert
Bracelet
ca. 1970
gold, turquoises, pearls
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Roman Empire
Theatrical Scene from Menander
140-80 BC
chalcedony cameo
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Etruscan Culture
Athena Promachos
550-525 BC
sardonyx scarab recut as intaglio
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Anonymous Swiss Jeweler
Bracelet
(concealing painted miniature)
ca. 1830
enameled gold, opals, rubies, emeralds, pearls
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Jean-François Bautte
Brooch
ca. 1825
enameled gold, turquoises, rose topazes
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Jean-François Bautte
Ear Pendants
ca. 1825
enameled gold, turquoises, rose topazes
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Anonymous French Jeweler
Pocket Watch
ca. 1825
gold, paved with graduated pearls
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Suzanne Belperron
Ear Clips
1967
gold, sapphires, emeralds and glass
(made in Paris using vintage gems)
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Louis Pautex-Meilland
Peach Brooch
ca. 1880-1900
enamel on copper
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Anonymous Swiss Jeweler
Brooch
ca. 1846
enameled gold, diamonds, ruby
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Anonymous Swiss Jeweler
Bracelet
ca. 1846
enameled gold, diamonds, ruby
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Marcel Constant Bastard
Finger-Ring as Bee with Watch
ca. 1930
enameled gold, diamonds, sapphires
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

René Lalique
Pendant - Allegory of Autumn
ca. 1898-1900
enameled gold
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Marie-Mathilde Bedot
Necklace
ca. 1900
shell cameo and turquoises set in silver
Musées d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève

Henri Vever
Paper-Folder - Moth
1900
gold, silver, bronze
Musées d'Art et d'Histoir, -Genève

After the herald had said this, the Athenians sent a herald of their own to the Boeotians, denying that either they had done any wrong to the holy place already or would willingly do any hurt to it hereafter; for neither did they at first enter into it to such intent, but to requite the greater injuries which had been done unto them; as for the law which the Grecians have, it is no other but that they which have the dominion of any territory, great or small, have ever the temples also, and besides the accustomed rites, may superinduce what other they can: for also the Boeotians, and most men else, all that having driven out another nation possess their territory, did at first invade the temples of others and make them their own; that therefore, if they could win from them more of their land, they would keep it, and for the part they were now in, they were in it with a good will and would not out of it, as being their own; that for the water, they meddled with it upon necessity; which was not to be ascribed to insolence, but to this, that fighting against the Boeotians that had invaded their territory first, they were forced to use it; for whatsoever is forced by war or danger hath in reason a kind of pardon even with the god himself; for the altars, in cases of involuntary offences, are a refuge, and they are said to violate laws that are evil without constraint, not they that are a little bold upon occasion of distress; that the Boeotians themselves, who require restitution of the holy places for a redemption of the dead, are more irreligious by far than they, who, rather than let their temples go, are content to go without that which were fit for them to receive; and they bade him say plainly that they would not depart out of the Boeotian territory, for that they were not now in it, but in a territory which they had made their own, by the sword; and nevertheless, required truce, according to the ordinance of the country, for the fetching away of the dead.

To this the Boeotians answered that if the dead were in Boeotia, they should quit the ground and take with them whatsoever was theirs; but if the dead were in their own territory, the Athenians themselves knew best what to do.

– from The Peloponnesian War as written by Thucydides (5th century BC) and translated by Thomas Hobbes (1628) and edited by David Grene (1959)

Solids

Boston & Sandwich Glass Company
Pomade with Cover
ca. 1850
pressed glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Johann Friedrich Ardin
Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate
ca. 1708
enamel on copper in frame of silver, brass and glass
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich

Anonymous American Manufacturer
Vase
(issued for the centennial of the American Revolution)
1876
pressed glass
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Charles Robert Ashbee
Brooch
ca. 1900
silver, enameled copper, amethyst
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

Anonymous Chinese Carver
Lidded Vase with Ring Handles
ca. 1900-1950
rock crystal
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Giacomo Balla
Futurist Flower
ca. 1918-25
(reconstructed in 1968)
painted wood
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Josef Hoffmann
Fruit Bowl
1917
silver
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Louise Bourgeois
The Blind leading the Blind
1947-49
painted wood
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Claire Falkenstein
Set Structure with Cylinders
1944
stained and lacquered poplar wood
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Hans Arp (Jean Arp)
Bust of an Elf
1949
bronze
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Barbara Hepworth
Large and Small Forms
1963
slate on painted wood base
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Claes Oldenburg
Soft Bathtub (Model) - Ghost Version
1966
painted canvas, plaster, foam, wood and metal
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

David Nash
Rostrum with Bonks
1971
pine, ash, horse chestnut and birchwood
Tate Modern, London

Bronwyn Oliver
Mantle
1985
painted fiberglass
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Carol Cohen
White Fish II
1992
painted glass on wood base
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Hal Metlitzky
Cyclone
2012
exotic woods
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Carole Brendan Hetzel
Basket no. 232
2005
plant fibers, steel, pigment
Minneapolis Institute of Art

What man is he that yearneth

    For length unmeasured of days?

Folly mine eye discerneth

    Encompassing all his ways.

For years over-running the measure

    Shall change thee in evil wise:

Grief draweth nigh thee; and pleasure,

    Behold, it is hid from thine eyes.

    This to their wage have they

    Which outlive their day.

And He that looseth from labour

    Doth one with other befriend,

    Whom bride nor bridesmen attend,

Song, nor sound of the tabor,

    Death, that maketh an end.

Thy portion esteem I highest,

    Who wast not ever begot;

Thine next, being born who diest

    And straightway again art not.

With follies light as the feather

    Doth Youth to man befall;

Then evils gather together,

    There wants not one of them all –

    Wrath, envy, discord, strife,

    The sword that seeketh life. 

And sealing the sum of trouble

    Doth tottering Age draw nigh,

    Whom friends and kinsfolk fly,

Age, upon whom redouble

    All sorrows under the sky. 

This man, as me, even so,

Have the evil days overtaken;

And like as a cape sea-shaken

With tempest at earth's last verges

And shock of all winds that blow,

His head the seas of woe,

The thunders of awful surges

Ruining overflow;

Blown from the fall of even,

    Blown from the dayspring forth,

Blown from the noon in heaven,

    Blown from night and the North.

– Sophocles, from Oedipus Coloneus, translated by A.E. Housman (before 1936)

Dressing - IV

attributed to Agnolo Gaddi
St Lawrence and St Catherine of Alexandria
ca. 1360
tempera on panel
Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Albrecht Dürer
A Lady from Nuremberg
and a Lady from Venice
ca. 1495
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Bernardino Luini
Portrait of a Lady
ca. 1520-25
oil on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Hans Krell
Hedwig Jagiellon, Electress of Brandenburg
1537
oil on panel
Jagdschloss Grunewald, Berlin

Erasmus Horninck
Details of Stuffed and Bejeweled Animal-Pelt
ca. 1575
etching (pattern sheet)
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Jacopo Ligozzi
Study of Young Woman in Turkish Costume
1614
watercolor on paper
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Jan Harmensz Muller after Peter Paul Rubens
Portrait of Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia
1615
hand-colored engraving
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Anonymous German Artist
Electress Magdalene Sibylle von Sachsen with her Son
1617
oil on canvas
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

Jan Anthonisz van Ravesteyn
Portrait of a Woman
1620
oil on canvas
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

Francisco de Zurbarán
St Agatha
1630
oil on canvas
Musée Fabre, Montpellier

Michiel van Miereveld
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1630
oil on panel
Musée Saint-Loup, Troyes

attributed to Jean de Saint-Igny
Woman with Mirror
ca. 1640
drawing
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Wenceslaus Hollar after Martin Schongauer
Woman wearing Horned Headgear
1646
etching
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Nicolaes Maes
Portrait of a Lady
1674
oil on canvas
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse

Johann Alexander Boener after Benjamin von Block
Portrait of Eleonore Magdalene of Neuberg
ca. 1685
engraving
Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig

Hyacinthe Rigaud
Portrait of Marie Cadenne,
wife of sculptor Martin Desjardins
ca. 1690
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen

The fair name of Philostorgius contains twelve letters, and therefore I wrote as many books, the first beginning with the first letter, and so on, thus by the initial letter of each writing my name.

Even, stranger, is the water of Hellespont cruel to women. Ask Cleonike of Dyrrhachium. For she was sailing to Sestos to meet her bridegroom, and in the black ship she met with the same fate as Helle. Poor Hero, thou didst lose a husband, and Deimachus a bride, in the space of a few furlongs.

You will cite the holy marriage of Harmonia, but that of Oedipus was unlawful. You will tell me of Antigone's piety, but her brothers were most wicked. Ino was made immortal, but Athamas was ill-fated. The lyre built the walls by its music, but the strains of the flute were fatal to them.* So did Heaven compound the destiny of Thebes, mixing good and evil in equal portions.

Ah! would that the waves of the wintry sea had engulfed me, wretched ship that I am, my load of living men now changed for one of corpses. I am ashamed of being saved. What doth it profit me to come to harbour with no men in me to tie my hawsers? Call me the dismal hull of Cocytus. I brought death to men – death, and they are shipwrecked inside the harbour.

I see upon the signet-ring Love, whom none can escape, driving a chariot drawn by mighty lions. One hand menaces their necks with the whip, the other guides the reins; about him is shed abundant bloom of grace. I shudder as I look on the destroyer of men, for he who can tame wild beasts will not show the least mercy to mortals. 

As thou wast cutting the dry roots of old trees, unhappy Mindon, a spider nesting there attacked thee from beneath and bit thy left foot. The venom, spreading, devoured with black putrefaction the fresh flesh of thy heel, and hence thy sturdy leg was cut off at the knee, and a staff cut from a tall wild olive-tree supports thee now on one leg. 

– from Book IX (Declamatory and Descriptive Epigrams) of the Greek Anthology, translated and edited by W.R. Paton (1917)

*Thebes is said to have been destroyed by Alexander to the accompaniment of the flute-player Ismenias

Precious

Reliquary in Crown Form
ca. 1250-1300
silver-gilt panels set with rock crystal, pearls and gems
Musée du Louvre

L'Ordre du Saint-Esprit
ca. 1740-50
diamonds and ruby mounted in silver
(membership badge)
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous French Jeweler
Dragon
ca. 1600-1615
baroque pearl mounted in enameled gold
Musée du Louvre

Châtelaine
elements acquired and assembled by several users
ca. 1640-1850
gold, enamel and gems
Musée du Louvre

La Côte de Bretagne
spinelle of 108 carats inherited by François I, 1524
carved into dragon-shape for Louis XV, 1749
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous French Jeweler
Brooch
ca. 1830
diamonds and sapphires set in gold
(restored Bourbons resetting Napoleonic gems)
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous Italian Jeweler
Ring
16th century
partly-enameled gold, cabochon sapphire
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous French Jeweler
Mirror
ca. 1630-35
rock-crystal mirror purchased by Louis XIV
gold frame (partly enameled) set with cameos, hardstone panels and gems
Musée du Louvre

Alexandre-Gabriel Lemonnier
Crown for Empress Eugénie
1855
gold, diamonds, emeralds, leather
Musée du Louvre

Paul-Nicolas Menière
Pair of Bracelets
1816
rubies and diamonds mounted in gold and silver
(restored Bourbons resetting Napoleonic gems)
Musée du Louvre

Anonymous French Jewelers
Earrings of Empress Josephine
ca. 1805-1810
pear-shaped pearls mounted in gold with diamonds
Musée du Louvre

Le Regent
rough diamond mined in India in 1698
cut in London to 140 carats ca. 1704-1706
purchased by the Regent for young Louis XV in 1717
Musée du Louvre

Le Sancy
diamond of 55 carats cut in Paris ca. 1550-1600
purchased by Cardinal Mazarin ca. 1645
bequeathed to Louis XIV in 1661
Musée du Louvre

Diamant Hortensia
rose diamond of 21 carats
purchased in the Netherlands ca. 1670-80
acquired by Louis XIV and inventoried 1691
Musée du Louvre

Le Tessier de Montarsy
Presentation Box with portrait of Louis XIV
ca. 1680
enamel miniature, silver, gold, and diamonds
Musée du Louvre

Jacques Evrard Bapst
Diadème de la duchesse d'Angoulême
1819-20
diamonds and emeralds set in silver
Musée du Louvre

Augustin Duflos
Crown of Louis XV - made for his Coronation
1722
partly-gilt silver, embroidered satin, false stones
(genuine stones sold in 1793 during the Revolution)
Musée du Louvre

    I have read such perfunctory descriptions in other writers, too, even writers who are much admired.  The writer seems to say to herself, I need to describe a desolate city landscape because my character is driving through it on his way somewhere else, to a more important scene.  And so the writer quickly puts down the first images that come to mind, useful, appropriate images, but she does not truly enter that landscape for that moment: she does not stop to consider, in a loving manner, the exact qualities of a vacant lot or an old brick tenement that interest her.  After all, she seems to say, I just need it for my character to drive through, I don't care about it. 

– Lydia Davis, from Into the Weeds (Yale University Press, 2025)