Jewellery Historian
| EXHIBITION
As its name implies, transformable jewellery can be modified due to ingenious systems turning one jewel into several other pieces. Brooches can be turned into pendants due to special loops; the centre piece of a bracelet can be transformed into a brooch with a specially adapted pin; tiaras can be turned into hair clips, brooches and even “devants de corsage”. Mellerio has been using this system since 1830.
the early Christian and Byzantine influence. One can also see in the painting of “La Princesse de Broglie” by Ingres in 1853, that the princess is wearing a Byzantine bulla pendant bought at Mellerio’s in 1851. The House and the jewellers Castellani have also collaborated for over ten years creating many archaeological inspiration jewels such as the extraordinary necklace of the Io heads, Priestess of the Temple of Hera in Argos.
The name “archaeological jewellery” is given to all creations evoking the antiquity era manufactured during the second half of the eighteenth century. The designs are inspired or directly imitated from pieces discovered by famous archaeologists during their excavations, of important archaeological discoveries such as the discovery of Herculaneum in Italy(1709), the discovery of Pompeii in Italy (1748), the 1812 discovery of Petra in Jordan, the translation of hieroglyphs by Champollion in 1822, the discovery by Heinrich Schliemann on May 27, 1873 of what he called “Priam’s Treasure”. In 1871–73 and 1878–79, he excavated the hill and discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Schliemann declared one of these cities — at first Troy I, later Troy II — to be the city of Troy, and this identification was widely accepted at that time. Following his passion for Homeric stories, Heinrich Schliemann, excavated, first without permission in 1874 and since August 1876 with the permission of the Archaeological Society of Athens and under the supervision of one of its members, Panayiotis Stamatakis, on Mycenae in Greece, where in 1841 Greek archaeologist Kyriakos Pittakis found and restored the famous Lion Gate. Mellerio’s jewellery was inspired also from the excavations and the discovery by Arthur Evans non only of the city of Cnossos, but the discovery of the Minoan civilisation on the island of Crete in Greece.
Gothic and Renaissance inspired jewellery was at its peak under the Restoration and has carried on throughout the XIX century. As early as in 1808, one can see the Middle Age and Renaissance influences in Mellerio’s creations such as the “gothic rings” ordered by the Empress Josephine.
Mellerio referred themselves to archaeological catalogues for their Egyptian, Roman, Byzantine, Etruscan inspirations... A gold and amethyst “devant de corsage” was enamelled with an ancient Greece palm frieze as well as a gold and emerald set ordered in 1863 by Napoléon the third for the wedding of Marechal François Certain de Canrobert. Very influenced by their Italian origins, the Mellerio members often went to Rome to seek out the highest expertise of their time. They had large quantities of cameos made in specialized workshops, as seen on the cameo and pearl set. Mellerio placed orders with the Vatican workshops to produce micro-mosaics composed of minuscule glass fragments. The beetle bulla pendant and its chain illustrates
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Their sources of inspiration came from the Romanticism, the rediscovery of the Middle Ages and the great interest of the architectural repertoire under François 1st. This influence can also be found in the literature : in Walter Scott’s novels, stories were set in the imaginary Middle-Age times, and Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame written in 1831 reinforced this growing appeal. The beauties of architecture are copied and reinterpreted by the jewellers to create unique pieces. As a result, Gothic revival jewellery frequently incorporated ogives (pointed arches), trefoil, quatrefoil motifs, canopied niches, or even shields. Silversmith techniques such as enamelling and engraving become essential components to the jewellery making. Around 1830, Mellerio perfected a precise technique of articulated bracelets. Made up of springs and articulated hinges, this system enables the bracelets to adapt to any size of arm and can be worn on the wrist but also on the upper arm like in the Antiquity. This procedure developed under the Second Empire was essentially used for snake bracelets and others set with precious stones. The symbol of the snake represents the idea of life and death. The snake moult represents rebirth and eternal life. In the Egyptian times, l’Uraeus (the female cobra) protected the Pharaoh from his enemies. For the Amerindians, the snake is the symbol of the cycle of life : death and revival. In Ancient Greece, the God Asclepius was represented by Esculape coiled around a long stick. Mellerio, influenced by the archaeological discoveries and the revival of the Antiquity, used the image of the snake as a symbol of strength and beauty. As seen on a pair of Egyptian snake bracelets in gold, rubies, emeralds, diamonds and black and white enamel (around 1860), they represent the alliance of feminine and masculine strength