The "nef" jewel, of which we have spoken, was also a favourite one. In
the Queen's inventory are a number of entries of this class of pendant,
and among them: "A jeuel of golde, being a shippe, sett with a table
dyamonde, of fyve sparcks of dyamondes, and a smale perle pendaunte.--A
juell, being a ship of mother-of-perle, garneshed with small rubys,
and 3 small diamonds." One of the chief treasures among the Hunsdon
heirlooms at Berkeley Castle is a pendant of this form, a present to
Elizabeth from Sir Francis Drake, and given by her to Lord Hunsdon. It
is supposed to represent the famous _Golden Hind_, the ship in which
Drake sailed round the world. The hull, which is of ebony, is set with a
table diamond; the masts and rigging of gold are enriched with blue,
white, green, and black opaque enamels, and set with seed pearls. In the
ship is a seated figure of Victory blowing a horn, and behind is a
cherub crowning her with a wreath. The small boat suspended below is
enamelled blue (Pl. XXXV, 2).
A jewel also associated with Sir Francis Drake, and perhaps the most
important of all Elizabethan pendants, is preserved, with other relics
of the great navigator, at Nutwell Court, Devon. It is set in front with
a fine Renaissance cameo in Oriental sardonyx, representing two heads--a
negro in the upper and dark layer, and a classical head in the light
layer of the stone. Behind is a miniature by Hilliard of Elizabeth,
dated 1575. The border, of most admirable work, is richly enamelled in
red, yellow, blue, and green, interspersed with diamonds and rubies.
Beneath is a cluster pendant of pearls, to which is attached a very fine
drop pearl (Pl. XXXIV, 4). This magnificent jewel was presented to Sir
Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth in 1579, and in his portrait by
Zucchero (now belonging, together with the jewel, to his descendant Sir
F. Fuller-Eliott-Drake) he is represented wearing it suspended from the
neck by a red and gold cord, over a silk scarf, also a present from the
Queen.
The cluster of pearls, as on the Drake Jewel, was a favourite form of
ornament for Renaissance pendants. In the National Portrait Gallery is
a portrait of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk (father of Lady Jane Grey),
wearing a George of the Order of the Garter, below which is hung a pearl
cluster and a large pear-shaped pearl attached. A similar pendant, like
a bunch of grapes, serves to enrich another fine jewel of this time--the
Barbor Jewel in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the centre of this
jewel is a beautifully cut cameo portrait in sardonyx of Queen Elizabeth
in a frame of translucent blue and green on opaque white enamel, set
alternately with rubies and table diamonds. According to a family
tradition, Mr. William Barbor, who had been condemned to be burned at
the stake in Smithfield for his religion, had this jewel made to
commemorate his deliverance through the death of Queen Mary and the
accession of Elizabeth (Pl. XXXV, 4).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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