A picture tells a thousand words and long before photography, jewellery was telling the stories of the wearer, memorialising loved ones and even harbouring secrets. Matthew and Alyce take a journey through the history of imagery in jewellery and celebrate a craft that became a dead art thanks to modern technology.

People were capturing memories through imagery as far back as the 1500s and in this episode you’ll hear about the array of different materials and techniques used to create them, capturing everything from animals, to portraits and even more risqué scenes for lovers. Plus, we’ve got the low-down on where you can find these extremely unique and valuable pieces for your own collection.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● An introduction to imagery in jewellery

● Types of imagery in jewellery

● How technology changed imagery in jewellery

● Where to find the best pieces of this art form

● The lovers eye of a doomed romance

● Prolific military portrait miniatures from County Cork

MORE INFORMATION

Featured Ring: A fabulous French 1950s cluster ring by Mauboussin. Set with perfectly matches sapphires and emeralds, the combination of colours is striking.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu9I6OCKydf/

For more information on Gem Pursuit or to browse the Courtville collection visit www.courtville.ie.

To see some of the pieces discussed in this episode check out our Instagram instagram.com/matthew.weldons/

Gem Pursuit is produced for Courtville by Dustpod.io.

SOCIAL MEDIA

● IG - @CourtvilleAntiques

● FB - @Courtvilleantiques

● Tik Tok - @matthew.weldon

● YouTube - @courtvilleantique

● Pinterest - @courtville

QUOTES

Imagery in jewellery is really an interesting one, because it follows us as we, as humans, and technology evolve. - Alyce Ketcher

What's really interesting about a piece of jewelry that actually has an image on it is you can visualize who these particular jewels belong to, because there's a picture of someone either who owned it, or who gave it to somebody with their image on it. It gives you an insight into their life. - Alyce Ketcher

They developed photography and that was the end of a lot of imagery in jewellery. Imagery across the board was affected but portrait miniatures was a massive industry. - Matthew Weldon

I would say to people who are collecting, if you look at what material the images are on, that'll give you a really good idea of age. The image will tell you what time period it is based on clothes, etc. but if you actually look at the material, it'll help you know as well. - Matthew Weldon

In the Georgian period, those who had a romantic connection, to kind of symbolize that connection or that relationship, by gifting one another their eternal gaze, which was done through a portrait of the eye. - Alyce Ketcher

KEYWORDS

#jewellery #imagery #portrait #antiques #art #victorianperiod #collector