Beside the watch was hung the watch-key and seals, and all sorts
of ornamental knick-knacks, as étuis and such-like. The elaborate
chatelaine upon which nearly every conceivable kind of trinket could be
attached, is the "equipage" thus described by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
in her fourth _Town Eclogue_:--
Behold this equipage by Mathers wrought
With fifty guineas (a great pen'orth!) bought!
See on the tooth-pick Mars and Cupid strive,
And both the struggling figures seem to live.
Upon the bottom see the Queen's bright face;
A myrtle foliage round the thimble case;
Jove, Jove himself does on the scissars shine,
The metal and the workmanship divine.
While women carried elaborate chatelaines, men hung from the watch in
the fob-pocket bunches of seals which dangled beneath their embroidered
waistcoats. Thus in _Monsieur à la Mode_, published about 1753, we read
of--
A repeater by Graham, which the hours reveals;
Almost overbalanced with nick-nacks and seals.
It was the seal above all which experienced particular artistic
development. Ever since the sixteenth century the seal had been worn in
addition to the signet ring. Though hung perhaps like a pomander from a
chain at the neck or from the girdle, the seal seems to have been but
rarely displayed on the person until the general introduction in the
early seventeenth century of the watch, to which for more than a
couple of centuries it was a regular accompaniment. The majority of
seventeenth-century seals are of silver with the arms engraved in the
metal; others of steel are on swivels and have three faces; others,
again, of gold set with stones engraved with heraldic devices, have
finely worked shanks, occasionally enriched with delicate enamel-work.
The gold seals of the eighteenth century, which are among the best
examples extant of rococo jewellery, are of open-work in the form of
scroll and shell patterns, of admirable design and workmanship. It is
out of the question to attempt a description of the numerous attractive
forms these pendent seals assumed, or the peculiar interest they possess
from an heraldic point of view.
About the year 1772 fashionable men carried a watch in each fob-pocket,
from which hung bunches of seals and chains. From the custom set in
England of introducing masculine fashions into dress, ladies likewise
wore two watches, one on each side, together with rattling breloques,
seals, and other appendages. In addition to the real watch with
beautifully enamelled back which adorned the left side, they wore on the
right what was called a _fausse montre_ or false watch. These false
watches were, however, often little less costly than the genuine
article, being made of gold and silver, with jewelled and enamelled
backs. The front had either an imitation dial-plate, some fanciful
device, or a pin-cushion. For those of less ample means the _fausse
montre_ was made of gilt metal or even of coloured foils.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account