Further reference to these and other remarkable Elizabethan jewels will
be given when the special species of ornaments to which they belong is
being dealt with. There is one jewel of this date, however, which,
though it no longer exists, is of particular interest from the fact
that it is specially mentioned in the famous inventory of Charles I's
collection drawn up by Abraham Van der Doort in 1639.[140] This golden
jewel, we learn, was round, and hung with a small pendent pearl; one
side was enamelled with a representation of the battle of Bosworth
Field, and the other with the red and white roses of Lancaster and York
upon a green ground. Within were four miniatures, Henry VII, Henry VIII,
Edward VI, and Queen Mary. The miniatures are still preserved at Windsor
Castle, but shorn of their enamelled case, which has long since
disappeared. The jewel was bought by the King, so Van der Doort tells
us, from "young Hilliard," son of the famous miniaturist Nicholas
Hilliard, who, besides painting the miniatures, probably also executed
the enamel-work upon the jewel itself. Hilliard, like the artists of
the Renaissance already cited, had been brought up as a goldsmith and
jeweller, and, as we see by the inscription which he placed round his
own portrait, held an appointment as goldsmith at Elizabeth's Court;
while his knowledge and love of jewellery are admirably displayed in his
miniatures, in which every jewel is painted with faultless accuracy and
care.
[140] Vertue (G.), _Catalogue of the collection of Charles I_, p. 47.
The mention of Hilliard introduces to our notice the other creators of
the beautiful jewellery of the period. English work continued to be
influenced by the Continent; and engraved designs for jewellery by the
Frenchmen Ducerceau and Woeiriot, and by the eminent goldsmith and
engraver Theodor de Bry, who himself worked in London in 1587 and the
two following years, must have been well known and imitated in England.
In spite of this, however, it would appear that Englishmen were no
longer actually dependent for their jewellery upon foreigners. The
latter ceased to hold the virtual monopoly they had once enjoyed; and
their place was taken by a number of native craftsmen. Among these, the
following were the most prominent: Dericke Anthony, Affabel Partridge,
Peter Trender, and Nicolas Herrick--elder brother of William Herrick,
James I's jeweller, and father of Robert Herrick the poet. During the
latter years of her reign Hugh Kayle and his partner Sir Richard Martin
supplied the Queen with jewels as New Year's gifts and presents to
ambassadors amounting to upwards of £12,000.
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