Pendant in the Renaissance style, Charlotte (Mrs. Philip) Newman (active 1860–1910), London, England, ca. 1890.
The unifying theme in collecting jewelry for the Newark Museum has been to find objects that resonate in multiple ways with their existing collection. After a successful exhibition in 1997 that documented the once vast jewelry industry in Newark, they decided to develop the non-Newark side of the story so as to create a broader context for the gold jewelry products of their local factories. Dietz initially looked at studio jewelry as a way to enhance a neglected aspect of the Museum’s jewelry holdings and that led to the purchase of Arts and Crafts pieces. An addition of a rare piece, a brooch, by England’s first professional woman studio jeweler, Charlotte Newman, became the first work of hers to enter an American museum collection. It has been the foundation for further purchases of jewelry by women. Probably because of their ubiquity, a string of pearls had been missing from the Newark Museum’s collection. “The Osborn Pearls” changed that with the acquisition of a long fifty-seven-inch strand of over 350 natural Asian pearls, originally ordered from Marcus & Company by J. P. Morgan’s nephew, Henry Fairfield Osborn, for his wife. A fashion rage during the Gilded Age, few had survived intact. The interest in pearls endures today, and Freeman’s will offer a fine selection of natural pearl pendants, rings, and studs in their upcoming May auction.
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Koch Freres Bowknot brooch, 1905-1910 Platinum, diamonds, velvet.
Over the years, the Museum’s acquisitions included a wide variety of artistically historic pieces ranging from an Art Nouveau hair ornament of horn and river pearls to the Bakelite costume jewelry, bejeweled watches from the 1930s, and studio jewelry movement items from the 1960s. For the stewards of the Newark Museum’s stunning jewelry collection, there is an understanding that the beauty, craftsmanship, and appeal of jewelry remains universal. There is also the realization that there are many more treasures to uncover, each with a fascinating, inspiring, and dazzling story
Custom vanity case for Doris Duke, Fulco di Verdura (1898–1978), United States, 1941.
to tell. Ulysses Dietz noted that his visual approach for collecting jewelry is “as if it were art, although jewelry needs to be wearable, it also needs to embody the esthetic and moment it was created. For me, the materials are secondary to the design. They help to portray the entire item as a piece of artwork and this is what makes the Newark jewelry collection unique.” Now on view at the Newark Museum Jewelry: From Pearls to Platinum to Plastic Lore Ross Jewelry Gallery Newark Museum 49 Washington Street Newark, NJ 07102 www.newarkmuseum.org