The Mineral and the Visual

The Mineral and the Visual

by | Ancient jewellery, European jewellery, Reviews

Precious Stones in Medieval Secular Culture

The Mineral and the Visual

Stones have always held meaning for people. They were believed to hold certain powers, worn as amulet or talisman, and they were even thought to cure diseases. The Mineral and the Visual explores the role of precious stones during the Middle Ages, and particularly in a non-religious context. And it is a fascinating read!

Full cover of the book The Mineral and the Visual

Bedouin Silver | Mineral full cover

The Mineral and the Visual centers around the notion that precious stones in the Middle Ages were looked upon decidedly different than we now are accustomed to. They were not merely decorative embellishments in pieces belonging to the realm of what we now regard as ‘decorative arts’, but they represented a world of art, meaning and science. They were powerful in and of themselves, and studying them was a highly valued discipline that required literacy and knowledge. Contrary to our times, where we select precious stones based on their financial value and appearance, for the medieval purpose mattered what a stone could do (p. 6). That is hardly a new concept; the agency of stones is of prime importance among for example the Bedouin [1], but here it is applied to medieval objects.

This book approaches this agency of stones through three case-studies: bejeweled crowns, illustrated texts on stones (the so-called lapidaries) and illustrated travel accounts. And in these three themes, a multifaceted, brightly coloured world emerges of living stones, knowledge about those stones, and trade and commerce in acquiring these stones. Before I take you through the book, here are a few observations. First off, the emphasis of the book is on medieval use of stones in the West, as is clearly mentioned on the back cover. Of course, there is attention for the intersection with the Islamic world, for example in the part on illustrated lapidaries where knowledge exchange is touched upon, but the geographical scope of the book is mainly Western Europe. Where sources from the Islamic world and beyond are used, this is to confirm European practices. As the trade in gemstones itself, but notably also the ideas and beliefs associated with these have always spanned continents, that half the story is left out is something to be aware of as reader. Within that European perspective, the emphasis seems to be on the German-speaking world, which narrows it down further. An example is how the German language is mentioned as recognizing ‘the gender-neutral and class-specific conmingling of human and mineal, for it links Edelmann and Edelfrau to Edelstein…’ (p. 14) – I’m no linguist, but the use of ‘edel’ with objects or notions deemed noble seems to me not limited to people and stones and not specific to the German language, either. Early medieval Anglo-Saxon names such as Aethelflaed ‘noble beauty’ and Aethelred ‘noble counsel’ employ the same form, after all. And second, be advised that this is an academic study, not a publication for a wider audience: I fear the language used may discourage non-academic readers, which is too bad, as there is so much this book offers. Having said that: onwards to the world of stones!

The first part presents the power of bejeweled medieval crowns. We expect royalty to bedazzle and shine, and that was no different for the Middle Ages: kings and queens were covered in jewellery and precious materials. But whereas nowadays that is more of an expression of status already present, in the Middle Ages the use of precious stones was what created that status in the first place. I found that a fascinating notion: the stones themselves have the power to imbue a person with royalty and its accompanying virtues. The few remaining medieval crowns are discussed and analyzed, and placed in their historic context. Here, I could not help but wonder in how far we might interpret crowns as ‘secular’ given the close, inseparable power of royalty and church in the periods under discussion, even with the definition of secular given on p. 10. The 26 early medieval votive crowns from Guarrazar, Spain, for example have been left out of this book. These are excellent examples of the continuation of Byzantine styles and its gem use, and it would be interesting to see if the theory developed by the author on the function of the Leitstein on crowns is also applicable to votive crowns.

In the second part, the author adds another layer to the reality of living, powerful stones, and that is what contemporary literature tells us about knowledge of these stones and their powers. Lapidaries are an encyclopedia of sorts, presenting knowledge about stones, and they have existed from Antiquity onwards. During the Islamic Middle Ages, many works including lapidaries from the classical world, but also from Buddhist and Hindu libraries as well as sources from further afield in Asia were translated into Arabic and improved upon. [2] It is in this context that I missed a closer examination of eastern sources in particular, as it would be intriguing to see if most lapidary knowledge was indeed based in Classical Antiquity, as the author assumes (p. 75, 83), or that there is evidence to the contrary. [3] This part traces the development of the lapidary in the Middle Ages and explores how knowledge about precious stones was interwoven with not only geology, but astrology, medicine and magic. I enjoyed the elaborate exploration into observation: not just names and colours, but also shades and hues of colours, the touch of stones and even their taste (I can’t help but wonder what stone tastes like rotten fish….!) (p. 99) The knowledge present in lapidaries is presented and discussed, and this journey into the medieval mind and the dangerous world it found itself in is fascinating – what to think of a coral table ornament hung with fossilized shark teeth set in gold, that guests could use to test their food for poison?

From what was originally learned, medical knowledge it is but a small step to magical knowledge, and that is where the knowledge contained in these scholarly books finds its way to a wider audience. An entire chapter is devoted to ancient carved gemstones such as cameos and intaglios: not only were these made of stones that had powers themselves, but they contained ancient engravings that carried meaning, too, and might be at odds with Christianity – here, lapidaries show traces of redaction, and the author walks us through the wider world behind those religious convictions and the developing of other viewpoints regarding the powers assumed to be present in stones.

The third part sees the expansion of all this knowledge into the practical realm: how to get one’s hands on these precious, and often foreign stones? Travel books share insights in how difficult it was to obtain stones mined in faraway lands – or so they would have us believe. The author elaborates on the idea that precious stones in the Middle Ages were coveted because of their powers and magical properties: travel accounts relaying knowledge seen and heard in distant lands confirmed that information on the one hand, and on the other hand emphasized the many dangers one had to face to acquire such precious stones, which in turn was reflected in their price. Here again, we see how world history is incredibly important. These jewels and precious materials could only be imported into Europe from Asia when trade routes were secure: both during the early Middle Ages and the later Middle Ages those circumstances were provided, first by the stability of the young Islamic realm and later by the Mongol conquests. Tracing merchant routes and traders’ inventories, this chapter paints a vivid picture of the gem trade in the Middle Ages.

I enjoyed this book. The way the author combines stones with ideas about those and the economics behind them over a longer period of time is innovative, and based on a richness in sources that is as dazzling as the medieval artworks discussed themselves. In doing so, she departs from general art historian books (which are often limited to one period only), and instead follows the long lines of history through several centuries. It would have made for an even more interesting read if the long geographical lines were also followed, but I do understand that would have presented a massive scope. By looking at precious stones through the eyes of the Medieval person, that person and their world comes to life. It’s a world that I would very much like to see presented in a more easily accessible book for a larger audience, too: there is so much to see and learn in this gem-studded, medieval world of wonders!

This is a fascinating read for curators and medievalists, but certainly also for gemmologists and jewellery historians interested in the agency and life of jewels and bejeweled objects.

The Mineral and the Visual. Precious Stones in Medieval Secular Culture. Brigitte Buettner, 2022

Colour/B&W, 256 pages, in English. Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press

The book was received as review copy from the publisher.

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References

[1] Popper-Giveon, A., Abu Rabia, A. & J. Ventura, From White Stone to Blue Bead: materialized beliefs and sacred beads among the Bedouin in Israel, in: Material Religion 10-2, pp. 132-135

[2] See Starr, S.F. 2013. Lost Enlightenment. Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press

[2] As for example in Content, D. 2016. Ruby, Sapphire & Spinel: An Archaeological, Textual and Cultural Study. Part I. Text. Brepols, Turnhout

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Across Asia

Across Asia

by | Reviews

the walters art museum

Across Asia and the Islamic World

At the heart of human history is interconnectivity. People, and as a result their cultures, have always been in contact, and the result of those connections are visible in material culture. The Walters Art Museum is kicking off a new series of publications focusing on their collections, and the first volume Across Asia and the Islamic World illustrates the interconnectivity on the Asian continent.

Across Asia and the Islamic World

Across Asia and the Islamic World

Across Asia and the Islamic World accompanies the installation of the new gallery Arts of Asia and the Islamic World. In the new gallery, visitors can experience the many cultural expressions from this vast continent in one space, and more importantly, see how they are all interrelated. That interconnectivity is also the focus of the book. As it is expressed in the foreword: ‘Movement is an intrinsic part of the life of most art objects.’ (p. 6). This simple statement is such an incredibly important notion, yet it is one that is often overlooked. We are somehow used to objects being static, in their movement but also in their identity.

The first essay in the book explores that notion in fascinating detail, using objects from the collection. On the first page of that essay, we travel along with a Qur’an made in India, moving to Istanbul a century later, and now on display in Baltimore. In each of its locations, it held significance and had a role to play. A jade chime from China, used at the court to instill heavenly harmony on earth, also reflects conquest and colonization (p. 17-18), and in a similar manner, this essay presents a variety of objects that each hold several stories. This is an essay that gets you thinking on how there is so much more to ‘a teapot from China’ if we actively start considering its biography. I appreciated in particular that the essay ends with a note on how further research continues to shed light on these complex, often tangled layers of identity and history in a single object.

The second essay explores spiritual and social movement as expressed by objects. An example is a jar with a carp swimming in a lotus pond. (Fig. 8) Nothing remarkable at first sight if you’re (like me) not a connoisseur of Chinese art, but the carp swimming upstream reflects the impossibility in Chinese society for people to move up on the social ladder: the desire to ‘make it’ is so very relatable today. This particular vase has an even deeper meaning, but instead of bringing you more spoilers here, I recommend you read this book yourself! The essay continues to compare and analyze objects associated with spiritual movement: in a person, through meditation and prayer, but also in the visible act of processions and pilgrimage.

The third and last essay delves into movement across the continent: of people, goods and ideas. I really enjoyed the introduction to this chapter, presenting a Chinese statue of a camel (Fig. 18): the most important animal in caravans, but originally an ‘import’ to China itself. Portable objects, like jewellery or personal amulets, show the length and width of traveling ideas: a Buddhist locket in Japan, a tiny Qur’an from sub-Sahara Africa. Paper, a Chinese invention, was used for fans but also changed the world of book production forever, and I loved how the essay ends with a copy the famous Book of Navigation by Piri Reis. This 17th century map ties the entire book together: expansion and imperialism, travel and exploration, techniques and trade, forms and ideas permeate the history of Asia and the Islamic world in a continuous perpetuum mobile.

This may be a small book with its 64 pages, but it covers so much ground. The map on pages 8 and 9 allows you to take in the scale of the geographical region presented in the book. The many photographs are beautiful and a joy to see. And what these photos and essays leave you with is a new understanding of looking at historic objects: as material output of cultures continuously on the move. That is of course not a groundbreaking new insight itself, but the way this book has made it its central theme results in a presentation of the collection highlighting its cultural and historic interrelatedness, instead of segmenting it according to contemporary countries and their respective histories. I’m looking forward to the future publications in this series!

Across Asia and the Islamic World. Edited by Adriana Proser, 2023.

Full colour, 64 pages, in English. Published by GILES in association with The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

The book was received as review copy from the publisher.

More book recommendations on personal adornment and archaeology…? Click here to see my other picks for you!

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.

Cartier and Islamic Art

Cartier and Islamic Art

by | European jewellery, Reviews

in search of modernity

Cartier and Islamic Art

Jewellery exchange between the Islamic world and the Christian world has existed for millennia. Byzantine jewellery is at times indistinguishable from early Islamic jewellery, and cross-cultural influences still exist in the traditional jewellery worn around the Mediterranean. These are all evidence of a long, shared history. But what happens when a high-end European jeweller feels ‘stuck’ in his repertoire, and actively seeks inspiration in another culture? The book Cartier and Islamic Art is a lavish publication exploring how eastern designs formed a source of inspiration for the work of one of the most famous jewellery houses of the West.

This book accompanies the exhibition of the same name, that was held in Paris and will be on view in in the Dallas Museum of Art from May 14, 2022 to September 18, 2022. A point to note in advance is that this is a book about aesthetics and forms, not about cultural meaning or significance: it is an art historian exploration of the creations of Cartier. The terminology used reflects a Western point of view entirely, such as the definition of what ‘Islamic arts’ actually are. You will find not just pieces created by Islamic cultures, but also jewellery from the Hindu world, and the ‘arts’ themselves exclude for example calligraphy. Let me elaborate on that a little. As for example Charlotte Huygens explains in her essay ‘On the History of Art in the Islamic World’ in the 2018 publication Splendour & Bliss, the term Islamic Art was coined in the colonial era, when the Islamic world was viewed as a monolithic entity, the counterpart of the West – the era in which Cartier started out to look for inspiration. That world view shines through, amongst other things, in the imprecise way the Cartier archives label both their creations and its inspiration: ‘Persian’, ‘Arab’, ‘Oriental’ are regularly used interchangeably. Nowadays, the denominator ‘Islamic Art’ is still used, but with the connotation of its cultural pluriformity, and it is to be understood as such in this book as well. The many essays in this book however do much more than simply illustrate how Cartier jewellery was inspired by Islamic art. They show us how to what extent abstract Western arts, notably Art Déco, are indebted to the Islamic world, and that is a great deal.

The essay on ‘Islamic Art “revealed”: a path toward modern design’ is one of the most powerful contributions in this publication. I am usually wary of wording like ‘revealing’ in the context of the Islamic world, but the use of quotation marks here reflects the sentiment of the essay itself. Its authors unpick how the Islamic arts were introduced to a European audience: through wars, displacement and colonial greed (p. 40). The success of world exhibitions and the subsequent adaptations of Islamic art forms lead to new experiments in the design field, moving away from Orientalist interpretations (p. 46) to the first attempts at abstract expression. This historical context is pivotal for understanding the jewellery created. The private collection of Louis Cartier is central in the next essay, where stunning manuscripts and inlaid works were not just collected to satisfy a personal curiosity, but also to be shared and loaned to exhibitions that in turn furthered European interest in the Islamic arts.

The arts from the Islamic world and beyond did not just form design inspiration, but brought new techniques to Europe as well. The essays on India explore how wealthy clientele from India brought their jewellery and gemstones to Cartier in order to have them updated or set in new jewels. These latter however had to conform to Indian tastes, and so the technique of stone setting known as kundan found its way to the Cartier ateliers, along with other ways of looking at forms and types of jewellery. The essay on Cartier’s Lexicon of Forms, although it uses terms like ‘Arab’ and ‘Persian’ loosely, showcases how forms derived from Islamic art and architecture were translated into design elements: not as mere copies though, but adapted and transformed into a new visual language. Even the graphic arts of Cartier were transformed based on the structures and patterns learned: the influence of Islamic art is profound and stretches well beyond jewellery design.

As the timeframe in which the ‘Lexicon of Forms’ came into existence, with all its imprecise denominators as I pointed out above, was at the apex of colonialism, it will not come as a surprise that the origin of some designs is not always clearly identified. An example is the necklace featured on p. 218, designed in 1971. It is described as inspired by Berber (which we now would indicate as Amazigh, following the people’s wish to be named in their own language) fibulae from Kabylia in Algeria (p. 187). While that may certainly hold true for the necklace itself, the pendant seems to me to be based in Tuareg tereout tan idmarden pendants as worn in the Hoggar mountains of Algeria. I was pleasantly surprised to see jewellery of ordinary people (instead of the possessions of shahs and Mughal elite) serve as inspiration for these high-end creations as well, and wonder if other contemporary jewellery examples that form part of North Africa’s and Southwest Asia’s heritage might still go unidentified.

The design and photography of this book are simply fabulous. Both original pieces and Cartier creations are photographed in crisp clarity. The large format allows for endless comparing and admiring, and what I particularly loved are the blow-ups of tiny details at the beginning of each chapter and even the cover: the cover image is a detail of a cigarette case, only 8,7 cm in height! Short intermezzo’s, like a brief essay on the pen boxes of the shah, Mughal jewellery from India or book bindings, provide informative examples on how details traveled to other designs. Each chapter is well referenced: don’t skip the endnotes, they feature many more details and discussions!

Cartier and Islamic Art is a detailed journey into the creative process of this famed jewellery house, placed in the context of its time. From inspirational exhibitions, visits and experiences, via drawings and designs to the breathtaking jewellery creations, this book places western designs and its teachers from the Islamic world side by side. For me, this book was an eye-opener in how deeply rooted abstract jewellery of the early 20th century is in Islamic art: a development in the field of jewellery that has been explored in depth for the first time in this publication. It is a visual feast of stunning, elegant Cartier designs and a wealth of superb original artworks from Southwest Asia, North Africa and India, accompanied by in-depth essays: I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy both!

Cartier and Islamic Art. In Search of Modernity. by Heather Ecker et. al. (eds). Thames & Hudson, 2021

315 pages, full-colour, in English. Available with the publisher, in bookstores and online.

The book was received as review copy by the publisher.

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Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.