Brimo, Di Castro & Kugel at Academy Mansion

While heading towards Museum Mile the other day we stumbled upon one of the neatest things one could possibly stumble upon: an exhibition of fabulous treasures from Europe displayed in a storied NYC mansion. 

 "Academy Mansion," as it's called, is located at 63rd street and 5th. Originally built in 1921 by the heir to a baking powder fortune, the splendid residence is best known as the one-time headquarters of the New York Academy of Sciences. Now it's used as an event space, and the restored interiors are worth a visit even when empty of art:

Entry hall at Academy Mansion, located at East 63rd St. and 5th ave.

The current exhibition represents the combined efforts and inventories of three super high-end European galleries: Brimo de Laroussilhe of Paris, Alessandra Di Castro of Rome, and Galerie J. Kugel of Paris.  Expect to find museum-quality gems tucked between ancient Egyptian sculptures and Renaissance furniture. 

Jonah and the Whale casket. Strasbourg, c. 1640 -1660. Signed P. Crispin. Enameled gold, baroque pearls diamonds, rubies, pyrite, silver. From Galerie J. Kugel. 

The exhibition is free and open to the public through the end of October, and definitely worth the trip to the Upper East Side.  

Talismans & Treasures at the Cloisters

This weekend we took a trip to the tippy top of Manhattan to visit Treasures and Talismans: Rings from the Griffith Collection at the Cloisters.

Rings of every shape and size, dating from ancient Rome to the Renaissance were resting in cases between paintings and precious vessels relevant to the jeweler’s art. Our favorites were the pieces that held some symbolic or sentimental meaning.

View of the Treasures and Talismans exhibition hall. 

There were lots of posey rings engraved with secret love poems sweet and strange...

17th Century English Posey Ring. Inscribed "A Verteuous Wiffe Prolongeth Liffe."

... and elaborate betrothal rings that put modern solitaire settings to shame.

Renaissance gimmel ring which splits apart to reveal the Latin inscription "What God has joined let no man put asunder." Also hidden inside are a tiny baby and skeleton, to remind the happy couple of the fleeting nature of life. We may have seen this same ring at a different exhibition in the past... 

Sapphire and Gold ring, late 14th century - sapphire 10th century. Stone is engraved in Arabic "Abd as-Salam ibn Ahmad." Ring is engraved in Latin "For love you were made and for love I wear you."

We saw opulent ecclesiastical rings that proclaim one's faith (and wealth) to the world...

7th - 8th century Bishop's ring from Lombardy. 

...and of course lots of haunting 'memento mori' rings to remind us all that we are slowly turning in to skeletons.

17th century 'memento mori' locket ring in gold, enamel and diamonds.

The exhibit is on view through October 18th, so plenty of time to get to the Cloisters and pick out your own favorites!

Museum Monday: Fashioning the Body at Bard Graduate Center

The history of jewelry and the history of fashion are closely intertwined, so we went on a field trip to the Upper West Side to visit the Bard Graduate Center’s current exhibit Fashioning the Body: An Intimate History of the Silhouette (on view through July 26th).

Some of the elaborate old-timey undies currently on view at Bard Graduate Center.

The exhibit traces the evolution of body-shaping undergarments from the 1500s to the present day, and presents a number of gorgeous (and torturous) corsets, stays, bras and bustles. Also on display are exquisite examples of the outer garments meant to be worn over these impressively engineered undies. An eighteenth-century gentleman’s overcoat with gold embroidery and diamond buttons (and space for “muscular”padding) was a favorite piece.

All the tight-lacing reminded us of an unusual Victorian bangle we had in the shop a while back:

15k & garnet Victorian "corset" bangle. 

Fashioned in 15k yellow gold and garnet, this corset-style bangle is an example of what jewelry historians Ginny Dawes and Corinne Davidov call “Victorian Porongraphica” – a cheeky reference to the famous prudishness of the era.

While we’d gladly submit ourselves to wearing this slightly-naughty bangle for a day, we’re content to limit our interactions with actual antique corsets to museum visits. Though they may look glamorous, constricting corsets are completely incompatible with running to catch the subway.

The Shah Jahan Diamond in NYC

Wandering around the Metropolitan Museum of Art this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Shah Jahan - one of my favorite huge, historically-important diamonds - is visiting NYC as part of the exhibit Sultans of Deccan India, 1500 – 1700: Opulence and Fantasy, on view through July 26th, 2015.

The Shah Jahan Diamond, currently on loan to the MET from the al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait

The Shah Jahan diamond weighs 56.72 carats, and is a covetable fancy light pink color. The octagonal portrait-cut is drilled with tiny holes on the top, so it could be sewn onto a turban. The stone is named after the Shah because it very closely resembles (and possibly identical) to a gem shown in a portrait of Shah Jahan, who reigned as Mughal Emperor from 1628 – 1658. 

Hashim. The Emperor Shah Jahan standing upon a globe. Dated 1629

The Shah’s flair for opulence extended beyond gemstones, of course, and today he is most remembered as patron of the Taj Mahal, built as a mausoleum for his beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in NYC this summer. 

Museum Monday: Jet Jewelry

Jet has its beginnings in the Jurassic period, and is the fossilized wood of pine forests that died out about 175 million years ago. It is an organic gem, like pearls or amber, and is black, lightweight, and easily carved into sculptural pieces. Jet has been mined and used as jewelry in the British Isles since the earliest of times. 

Whitby jet beads found at a burial in Killy Kiaran, Scotland. c. 2050 - 1800 BCE. National Museums, Scotland. 

The material was especially popular during the Victorian era, and was an integral part of the costume and pomp of nineteenth-century ladies’ mourning attire. 

Carved jet bracelet, English c. 1870. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.  

We had some Victorian jet beads hiding in the Gray & Davis safe, so we decided to add some simple 14 karat gold hooks and turn them into earrings. 

Antique jet beads on 14k yellow gold hooks. Available for sale at Gray & Davis. 

At it turns out, there is a very similar pair in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art which dates c. 1880:

Metropolitan Museum of Art 

How neat!