The seventeenth century in Europe, in the field of jewels, was one of timid venturing. The Portuguese came to the fore with delicate work, golden sprays of leaves and flowers with tiny gems, ribbons and knots of gold. In France the _sévigné_ appeared, a simple golden bow or rosette worn on the breast, named after the Marquise de Sévigné, a noted blue-stocking and one of the greatest letter writers of her day. The sévigné, at first rather plain, was elaborated during the eighteenth century into a massive brooch, or even a gemmed stomacher. The aigrette also appeared at this time, in the form of feather-like thin movable stalks of gold tipped with tiny gems set in enamel; these vibrated as the wearer moved. _The Eighteenth Century_ In the eighteenth century greater attention was again paid to adornment. The aigrette became more popular, used mainly as an ornament for the hair. Thin silver stalks like stems of wheat were banded just below the center, with a slide for fastening; the tips were set with diamonds. Some pins for the hair and some brooches were fashioned with birds or butterflies, again on thin stalks so that they flitted as the wearer walked. This vibration of the aigrette added to the sparkle of the gems. I have made a variation of this jewel, as a flower, to fit the taste of the twentieth century. A new type of pendant earring was the girandole. This appeared in two main forms. In one, from a large circular stone at the ear lobe hung three pear-shaped pendants, sometimes amethysts or other colored stones, but usually diamonds. In the other type, from the top stone was suspended an oval hoop of gold, within which a single large diamond hung loose. More and more as the nineteenth century came near, the fashion in precious stones demanded diamonds. If not in the center of a jewel, they were used to set off the main one. They were worn in the new marquise ring, the gold of which was fashioned to hold a large oblong stone surrounded by diamonds. They were an essential element of the parure, the set of matching jewels, which developed in this century in France. Thus milady might have, in a parure, a bracelet, necklace, earrings, aigrette, and sévigné, all ordered together and made of the same metals and precious stones, patterned for their respective purposes in a concordant, harmonizing whole. _On the Romantics_ For a time, under the influence of the rococo style, and the Gothic tendency in the other arts, it looked as though jewelry designs, becoming more and more elaborate and extravagant, might again approach the eccentric and achieve the inept. In 1755, however, the ruins of Pompeii were unearthed, with their treasures of antique style, and a classical simplicity became the order of the day, fostered for a time by the “return to nature” of the Romantics. It was felt, for instance, that the diamond, now prized beyond all other precious stones, shone most effulgent when it stood alone in a simple setting.