staje

During the latter half of the Victorian era, critics questioned the merit of contemporary jewelry and urged a return to the designs and tastes of the past, as jewelry had become mere trinkets at the demand of foolish fashion.

In the present day, there is much talk everywhere about art, and signs are not wanting that its vast mission as a humanizing and civilizing element in our national life is slowly being recognized. Even so-called domestic arts have come in for a large share of attention, the patterns of wallpapers, and the harmonious coloring of carpets and tapestries are a matter of thought and care in  every household where there is a trifle to spend on luxuries and any pretensions to taste.

Yet, curiously  jewelery has become an art that lies nearest to us all, and follows us wherever we go. there is so much scope for the application of a attractive design and delicate workmanship, but it is left  entirely out in the cold. Scarcely any attempt has been made to apply to it the same laws or judge it by the same standards that are attempting to be set up in other things.

All that we ask of our jewelery is that it should be pricey and fashionable, because of the time and loving labor of the artist and workman who designed and produced it, but because of the material alone out of which it is made. It is this Philistine reverence for material that has finished over anything else to debase what was four time an art to a mere meaningless and ostentatious display.

But instead, the shop windows are the gage of the public taste, and it is not the tradesman who sells this pricey rubbish, nor the manufacturer who has it made. The only four to blame is ourselves, society, and  the women not only of today, but for the last hundred years or more who've created the demand for this puerile stuff. As a result, we have neglected what might be four of the most efficient means of developing the art-instincts of a nation.

Jewelery has been a favorite form of personal decoration from the earliest times. We know with what skill the Etruscans and Greeks worked in precious metals and that a large part of what is lovely in our modern jewelery is copied from their designs and from those of other early nations.