Jeweled Elegance

Hand-colored plate illustrating Cartier's brilliant emerald necklace. Cartier, 1847–1947. Paris: Société d'Étude, 1947. Printed in an edition of 1,500 on the occasion of Cartier's one hundredth anniversary. Watson Library Special Collections

«From Byzantine enameled earrings to Art Deco diamond necklaces, Watson Library has a wide range of publications about jewelry in its collection. Not only do the ornate jewels depicted inside the pages glisten in real life, but also many of the bindings and illustrations conveying the jewels sparkle themselves. As whimsical embossed or hand-colored illustrations, their liveliness gives a sense of the actual dimension and material of the jeweled objects they illustrate.»

Kondakov, Nikodim Pavlovich Kondakov. Geschichte und Denkmäler des byzantinischen Emails, Watson Library Special Collections. (For the French edition, see Histoire et Monuments des émaux Byzantins. Frankfurt am Mein, 1892. Watson Library Special Collections)

For example, Watson owns two lush volumes, in German and French, describing early Byzantine, Kievan, and Georgian enamels that were part of the Aaron Zvenigorodsky collection. In 1910 the collection was bought by J. P. Morgan, and in 1917, four years after Morgan's death, his son presented the pieces from the Zvenigorodsky collection to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The German edition has full-leather boards, and the French edition has cloth boards with a leather spine and a dust jacket of silk brocade chemise.

Kondakov, Nikodim Pavlovich Kondakov. Geschichte und Denkmäler des byzantinischen Emails, Watson Library Special Collections

The chromolithographs above in the Kondakov catalog illustrate gold temple pendants from Kievan Rus', which can be seen just outside the Library, in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art.

Catalogue of the Collection of Jewels and Precious Works of Art, the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, compiled at his request by G.C. Williamson. Deluxe edition. London: Privately printed at the Chiswick Press, 1910. Watson Library Special Collections

One of the library's most elaborate bindings is J. Pierpont Morgan's Catalogue of the Collection of Jewels and Precious Works of Art. The Museum owns five of the privately printed limited editions. This deluxe copy is bound in dark-green levant morocco. The upper cover has an inlaid panel of green sharkskin, with finely wrought brass cornerpieces, a centerpiece, and two clasps decorated with images of dragons, griffins, grotesque heads, gargoyles, and an amethyst, as described in the Museum's Collection Online. Morgan was said to be especially drawn to "sumptuous materials," as described in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Winter 2000), and "objects that reflected what Belle Greene [Morgan's librarian] called 'the luxury and gorgeous barbaric beauty of the Church in the early days.'"

From Catalogue of the Collection of Jewels and Precious Works of Art, the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan 

Examples of the eclectic jewels featured in the Morgan catalog include a pair of large-pendant mermaid earrings made of ambergris and enameled gold (ambergris was used as a perfume fixative), and colorful onyx rosary beads mounted with enameled gold which are in the Museum's collection.

Maison Murat fondée en 1850. Paris: Drager. Watson Library Special Collections

In addition to lavish books presenting jewelry from the Byzantine period through the nineteenth century, Watson's collection of twentieth-century jewelry publications is also impressive. This French cufflinks trade catalog, for example, conveys its elegant wares to the customer through color-embossed depictions that seem to leap off the page, providing potential buyers with a good sense of the variety of beveled and engraved Art Deco–inspired cufflink and tie clips available to them in gold, silver, and mother-of-pearl. The dashing cover with embossed white title and gold graphics aptly announces the elegant gentleman's accessories inside.

Van Cleef Arpels présentent pour l'année nouvelle quelques bijoux et objets exclusifs. Paris: Van Cleef & Arpels, 1930s. Watson Library Special Collections

Similarly elegant is this Van Cleef and Arpels catalog featuring gold lipstick, cigarette and vanity compact cases, ruby-and-sapphire-studded cufflinks, jeweled clips, and clutch purses. The pochoir illustrations are whimsical and graphic, evoking the high Art Deco period. Highlights include rare objects such as a bejeweled tortoiseshell comb, a wood bracelet watch, and "Le Paradoxe"—a gold combination lighter and matchbox.

Blue Book. New York: Tiffany & Co., 1910. Watson Library Special Collections

Tiffany Blue Books are another example of Watson's twentieth-century holdings of elaborately illustrated jewelry catalogs. This fanciful gilt binding is in the shape of a Tiffany candelabra.

To continue enjoying the dazzle of elegant gems and jewels, see more about recent museum exhibitions Jewels by JAR and Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection.