The Scotsman

Sparkle & status

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Scottish jewellery makers of the 16th century rivalled those of Renaissanc­e Europe and encoded their work with secrets. Rare examples from National Museums Scotland and the Royal Collection offer a glimpse into power, status and allegiance­s during the period says Dr Anna Groundwate­r, the editor of new book Decoding the Jewels

It is that priceless associatio­n with Mary that gives

these jewels their uttermost

meaning

For millennia people have made, given and worn jewellery to express emotions or communicat­e status. It has marked key life events, sealed alliances and sent political signals. Decoding the Jewels: Renaissanc­e Jewellery in Scotland unveils the meanings of a small but stellar collection of elite jewellery from 16th-century Scotland on display at the National Museum of Scotland and the Palace of Holyroodho­use. Starting with the enigmatic messages of the finely enamelled imagery on the Fettercair­n Jewel, this new book explores the lives of these exquisite Renaissanc­e jewels.

And what lives they had. From their very beginnings, the jewels were on the move, from the mining of their precious metals and stones, to the roles of the maker, buyer and recipient. On the cusp of a global age, they travelled long distances: gold from the Americas, rubies from Burma or Sri Lanka, diamonds from India, and emeralds torn from the rocks of Colombia. From closer to home were pearls and gold plucked from Scottish riverbeds. These materials were transporte­d across lands and oceans, passing through the hands of miners, waggoners, and merchants, the jewels finally coming together on the goldsmith’s workbench in Paris, Antwerp, London or Edinburgh, where they were combined by skilled artisans into miniature works of art. These pieces were multinatio­nal.

But several of them were also distinctiv­ely Scottish. This investigat­ion of Renaissanc­e jewellery reveals, as never before, the significan­ce of gold-smithing and jewellery-making in Scotland in the era of Mary, Queen of Scots, that drew on its connection­s into a pan-european circulatio­n of culture. While Scotland may be on the geographic­al periphery of Europe, the jewellery made here shows the filtration of the Renaissanc­e ideas, originally from 14th-century Italy, which had spread through France and the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherland­s) into Scotland by the mid-1500s. Here they were newly interprete­d by goldsmiths in Edinburgh whose names are captured in the Incorporat­ion of Goldsmiths records. What this meant for the rich Scottish prince, noble or merchant was that where they had once gone to the great cities of Antwerp, Paris and Bruges for luxury items, they could acquire high quality jewellery, gold and silverware much closer to home. Perhaps the most well-known of these Edinburgh goldsmiths was George Heriot, royal jeweller

nd to King James VI and I, and his wife Anna of Denmark, from the 1590s. Heriot’s accounts reveal eye-watering sums of money being spent on equally eye-watering jewellery by the court in Edinburgh, and, from 1603 following James’s succession to Elizabeth I’s throne, by the court in London.

His accounts also make mention of ‘tablets’ which are thought to refer to a particular type of jewelled locket that survives in a small grouping in the collection­s of National Museums Scotland. Two are in mint condition, framing portraits of a man and a woman thought to be Mary, Queen of Scots and a young King James VI.

The most famous of these is the Penicuik Jewels locket, which along with 14 fine gold filigree paternoste­r beads (now part of a necklace), was said to have been given to Gilles Mowbray, one of Mary’s attendants, shortly before the queen’s execution. The beads may have formed part of a rosary, although such beads were also known as pomanders – and indeed, traces of a perfumed resin have been found in one of the Penicuik Jewel beads. Perhaps we can imagine Mary

smelling them to ward off the noxious smells of the dank English castles in which she was held captive? Whatever their original purpose, they are undeniably personal objects that suggest their use in the most intimate aspects of Mary’s daily life.

It is those features, Mary’s ownership and touch, that these jewels transmit across time. Objects like these connect current day audiences to a long dead queen, helping us to bridge the centuries. They keep the memory of those historical figures alive and relevant. Through Gilles Mowbray, the locket and necklace appear to have descended for over 300 years through a prominent Lowlands family, the Clerks of Penicuik. Successive generation­s of these Clerks have passed these jewels on, venerating them as mementoes or relics of this unfortunat­e queen. It is that priceless associatio­n with Mary that gives these jewels their uttermost meaning and has kept them preserved in all their 16th-century splendour.

Mary almost certainly gave pieces like the Penicuik Jewels to sustain her memory after she was gone, as well as to reward loyalty and service. Other lockets carried more coded messages whose meanings are more difficult to decipher. One such is the Fettercair­n Jewel, an exquisitel­y made, small gold and enamel locket

nd with a large deep red garnet on its front. While the colour of the stone may suggest either love or mourning, the core message is in the extremely fine enamelled image on the reverse of the locket. Here the Greek god Mercury, the messenger strides, surrounded by various flowers, bursting with fecundity from a vase, with exotic birds and butterflie­s, and a faithful white dog at his heels. What is the message he is intended to convey?

Perhaps Mercury’s movement suggested a transition, from one state in life to another, possibly to death, or from maidenhood into marriage as the jewellery historian Geoffrey Munn muses? But there is something missing to complete the picture: inside, a small wooden mount shows that there would originally have been a miniature portrait. If that remained, we might have a clue to the identity of the person being wooed or commemorat­ed.

The message is perhaps clearer on an equally fine-enamelled locket at Holyroodho­use, the Darnley Jewel, also known as the Lennox Jewel. It is thought to have been commission­ed by Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, to commemorat­e the assassinat­ions of her son, Mary, Queen of Scots’s unreliable husband Henry, Lord Darnley, and of Margaret’s husband, Matthew, Regent Lennox. In the centre of the jewel’s front is a winged heart surmounted by a crown, both of which open to reveal hidden devices. The heart shape denotes love, and the heart as the source of emotions, and of life itself; and in the case of Margaret, it was the heraldic device of her Douglas family recalling their service to Robert the Bruce. While proclaimin­g her sadness at the death of her loved ones, Margaret reminded all of her illustriou­s lineage.

So, jewels carried, and promoted status. They could also symbolise allegiance and show diplomatic realignmen­ts. One such example is the Great H, or Great Harry, a magnificen­t jewel constructe­d of large diamonds and a ruby in the form of an ‘H’, given to Mary, Queen of Scots by her French father-in-law Henri II. Over time, this jewel found its way into the hands of Mary’s son James VI and his wife, Anna of Denmark. In the 1590s Anna is pictured wearing the ‘H’ suspended from a pearl necklace. But in 1604, after James’s succession to the English throne, he was painted with the reconstruc­ted jewel now a diamondsha­ped hat pin and re-named the ‘Mirror of Great Britain’. From proclaimin­g the ‘auld alliance’ between Scotland and France, the repurposed jewel now symbolised Scotland’s new alliance with England in the Union of the Crowns.

Far from the uncivilise­d Scotland portrayed in too many films, the evidence of this collection of stellar Renaissanc­e jewels suggests a Scotland that was home to skilled artisans working at the top of their trade. It suggests too those intimate connection­s with Europe that brought other luxury goods to our shores, and ultimately into the National Collection.

Decoding the Jewels: Renaissanc­e Jewellery in Scotland, edited by Dr Anna Groundwate­r, Acting Keeper of Scottish History and Archaeolog­y at National Museums Scotland, is published by Sidestone Press on 2 May and is available to order at www. sidestone.com

 ?? ?? A locket and necklace, above, part of the Penicuik Jewels; the front of the Darnley or Lennox Jewel, above right; reverse of the Fettercair­n Jewel, right; Anne of Denmark wearing the Great H jewel, inset left
A locket and necklace, above, part of the Penicuik Jewels; the front of the Darnley or Lennox Jewel, above right; reverse of the Fettercair­n Jewel, right; Anne of Denmark wearing the Great H jewel, inset left
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 ?? ?? Inside the locket of the Darnley/ Lennox Jewel, above; front view of the Fettercair­n Jewel, right
Inside the locket of the Darnley/ Lennox Jewel, above; front view of the Fettercair­n Jewel, right
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