For jewellery intended to be carried out by this champlevé method, or
on rare occasions to be covered with translucent enamels, we have at
our service again a number of dated designs. These engravings, known
as _Schwarzornamente_ or niello ornaments, are in the nature of
silhouettes. The patterns, reserved in white upon a black ground, are
composed of curves of flat and broken strapwork. The designs are
occasionally for complete jewels, but most of them take the form of very
small motives intended as patterns for the shoulders of finger rings, or
for the borders, frames, or other details of jewels. Some engraved
plates are made up entirely of such motives; on other plates they appear
as details, either within a complete design or upon the field outside
it. Germany and the Netherlands furnish the earliest examples of these.
Several dating from the latter part of the sixteenth century are by
"monogrammists," who signed their engravings with their initials, and
whose names are mostly unknown--such as the German master A. C. of
the year 1598. Among recognised engravers in this style are the
following:--Of the German school: Arnold Jörg (1586-1596), Corvinianus
Saur (1590-1597), the rare Hans Hensel of Sagan (1599), Daniel Hailler
(1604), Jonas Bentzen (1615), and Daniel Mignot (1590) and P. Symony
(1621), both of whom placed these motives on the field of their plates.
Of the Netherlandish school is the well-known Michel Le Blon, called
Blondus, goldsmith at the Court of Queen Christina of Sweden, who was
born at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1587 and died at Amsterdam in 1656. His
designs in silhouette, the earliest of which, in the British Museum,
is dated 1605,[174] were in great demand, and appear not only on
knife-handles, but on oval and octagonal box-shaped pendants--presumably
watch-cases. Also of the same school are: the rare master, Hans van
Ghemert (1585), Hans de Bull (1590), the monogrammist P. R. K. (1609),
and Guillaume de la Quewellerie of Amsterdam (1611-1635). In addition
there is Giovanni Battista Costantini of Rome, who published his
_Ornementi per lavorare Giorje_ in 1622 and 1625.
[174] _Burlington Magazine_, VIII, p. 130, 1905.
[Illustration: _PLATE XLI_ PATTERNS FOR JEWELLERY AND ENAMELLED
JEWELS FROM SIMILAR DESIGNS]
The French goldsmith-engravers, who produced designs in the "silhouette"
manner intended for jewels that were to be enamelled by the champlevé
method, include Jehan Vovert (1602), an anonymous engraver A. D. (1608),
Jacques Hurtu (1614-1619), Stephanus Carteron of Châtillon (1615),
Pierre Nolin (1620), and Jean Toutin (1619) and his son Henri (1628).
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