Rural jewels of 18th and 19th century France

French Regional Jewellery

Published on Jan 24, 2024

Apart from traditional jewellery from North Africa and the Middle East, I am also very interested in European traditional jewellery. And I love books! So when I came across Traditional French Jewellery in the bookshop of the MAD in Paris, it took me all of 2 seconds flipping through its pages to decide this was a must-have. Let me tell you why.

French regional jewellery: the website

This book does not appear out of thin air. The author, Michael Fieggen, set out to research traditional jewellery from all regions of France almost 30 years ago. Those decades of research were aimed at providing a reliable reference work on French jewellery. A reference work is obviously useless when you can’t refer to it, so Michael created a wonderful website back in 2010. You’ll find it here.

This is one of the things I absolutely love: sharing one’s knowledge with whomever wants to learn. It’s all there, sorted regionally and thematically, with an abundance of jewellery examples.

But even more wonderful, at least in my view, is that collectors of jewellery wanted to have an actual, tangible book [p. 5]. It makes me so happy that books are not dead, and that there are people who actually want to read them! Especially when it is a book as lavish as this one.

French regional jewellery: the book

The main body of this book is composed of chapters devoted to the regions of France and their jewellery. And wow, what stunning jewellery this is!

Each region is represented by numerous pieces of jewellery, and I really appreciate seeing various executions within one single type. There are jewels in silver and gold, but also glass, beads, ivory, fabrics, enameling, early celluloid…The range of jewellery is huge: you’ll find earrings, necklaces, pendants, rings and bracelets, but also clasps, hooks, pins, buttons, belt hooks, and much more.

The research behind it is extensive. Just one example is on p. 103, where a postcard image of a young woman wearing a Narbonne cross in a particular fashion is shown. The caption calls out attention the fact that it is not known if this was indeed how it was supposed to be worn, or that this is staged by the publisher issuing the postcard.

This level of source criticism is seen throughout the book. It makes one read the information presented with confidence. And that is enhanced by the references throughout. The reference numbers indicate the corresponding number in the bibliography (so there is no separate section with notes – but this works well, too).

French regional jewellery: the details

This book has been painstakingly compiled, with a lot of attention to details. For example, all the images in the book are at their actual size, except rings: those have been enlarged to 150 to 200% [p. 11]. That is incredibly useful, eliminates the guessing game of how large something actually is, and makes for stunning illustrations throughout.

Those photographs are simply gorgeous. They are crisp, clear, and every single piece has been cut out and placed against the white of the page. Enlargements of jewels bleeding off the page make for a playful touch every now and then. Where possible, enlargements of the hallmarks have been added in small insets next to a jewel.

Besides jewellery images, you will find plenty of other reference material. Old photos, paintings and drawings of people wearing jewellery, old illustrations from jewellery catalogues, a poem from 1887…there is so much information strewn across these pages.

French regional jewellery: and there is more!

But that’s not all! The book also contains a detailed overview of French hallmarks (seriously, it’s clear to see this is 3 decades of work right here), and every single illustration is included in a detailed list of illustrations. That list gives you details of each piece of jewellery such as its dimensions (to complement the image itself, which is already true to size, as I mentioned), weight and hallmark (if any), but also its provenance.

There is an extensive bibliography, a glossary (just in case you are a little rusty in French, as I am – this is a fantastic overview of terms), and my favourite: a rapid guide for identifying regional crosses. France being France, there are a lot of different types of crosses, and these are all sorted for you in this chapter.

This is truly an amazing reference book for French regional jewellery. It also sets a high standard for future reference works: its clarity of illustration and level of detail and variety is super helpful. It will make you fall in love with French rural jewellery, as this book absolutely presents it as the treasure it is.

And there is more to come…! The author wrote me and mentioned he’s currently writing the second volume of traditional French jewellery that is not regional in origin (honestly, I cannot wait). This will explore the jewellery associated with life transitions and events such as baptism, marriage etc. And….there’s a complete book on French hallmarks scheduled to appear very, very soon!

Long story short: if you are collecting European regional jewellery or working with European regional jewellery in any capacity, you really will want to own this book.

More about Traditional French Jewellery

Traditional French Jewellery. Volume 1. Regional jewellery: treasured witnesses of rural life in the 18^th and 19^th century. By Michael C.W. Fieggen (2021). 304 pages, full-colour, available in French and English. Published by Michael Fieggen

Available with the author via this link, where you will also find details on his upcoming book on hallmarks

I purchased the book in the museum shop of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

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