Pendants in History

Pendants are a natural corollary to necklaces, and are known as objects of beauty. Pendants were worn from necklaces, and in late times fastened to clothing with pins. The earliest pendants were believed to possess magical powers, and were worn as charms against danger and disease. People used to wear rats ears as charms against the evil eye. People that had trouble sleeping would wear a bats head as a charm. Many of these amulets were also engraved with magic words or names of power. The swastika is engraved on gold or silver brought good luck.

Small pieces of pointed coral protected against the evil eye. In the early days pendants made by savages were perishable. Often times pieces of dry skin, parts of animals, claws, eggs, and other objects that would soon decay were used as pendants. For the savages the bigger the pendant the more significant it was. When gold was first discovered, savages probably pierced holes in gold nuggets and wore them as necklaces.

Pendants, necklaces, and jewelry in general were very big with the Egyptian people. Every pendant was made with and for a particular reason. Often times the pendants represented deities of the Egyptian Theocracy, and some were credited with various objects of direct good, or to ward off evil. Most of these amulets were made of gold with very fancy rock inlays. Usually the inlays consisted of lapis lazuli, carnelian, amethyst, garnet, jasper, and many others. Often times pendants were made to look like hieroglyphic characters, and other types of animals. Religious symbols were also very popular to make into pendants. The Ankh, which is the Egyptian cross is still worn and seen in jewelry today.

Egyptian pendants were made with the utmost skill, by the greatest of craftsman. Most of the pendants from Ancient Egypt are no longer in existence, they were made up of perishable things like berries, and shells. The pendants made of gold are of course still around, and still being discovered.

The glory of the pendant did not reach its highest point until the Renaissance. Italy, Spain, France, and England made pendants in large numbers of designer, and jewelers art. Italy and England made some of the finest specimens. The Flemish and German used enamel to create some of the most beautiful pendants ever.

The fifteenth century saw many simple pendants. Pendants during this time period were not done up in jewels and great designs. They were usually consisted of only one type of material, and they were not very brilliant or spectacular.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are marked with very splendid and beautiful pieces. During these two centuries beautiful and complex pendants were created consisting of several different material and lines, shaped like many different things. Most of the golden pendants were set with jewels and enamels molded into different animal shapes and religious symbols.

Queen Elizabeth was a great patron of the pendant in England. In almost every portrait ever painted of the queen she is wearing at least one. It is currently believed that there aren’t any pendants still in existence that were worn by the queen. Two pendants are still in existence that bear her portrait. One of them is made of turquoise and gold, with enamel and diamond, rubies, and pearls. It may have been a gift for the queen. The other pendant has the Queen’s portrait cut in cameo on a fine oval nicolo onyx. It is set in a border of gold with a drop of pearl, and a stone in the middle either a ruby or diamond. This piece is said to have been made by William Barbour in commemoration of his deliverance from the stake by the death of Queen Mary. In the seventeenth century the style of pendants drastically changed. They began to look more like gloried lockets than pendants. Lockets had not yet been developed, but the new pendants may have been a stepping stone toward their development.

Diadems

Of all objects of a jeweler’s art the diamdem is that which has the longest had most consecutive history. Diadems probably began with the ancient man. A primitive man probably stuck a feather in his hair to signify leadership, it later developed into the chief Indian headdress that we are used to seeing today. Throughout the years diadems have always been well decorated. Gold, precious jewels, and other fine materials are usually used to ornament them.

The Trojans were great workers in fine chains, and the diadems discovered there were different from any other found elsewhere. Some of the diadems discovered there were made completely out of flexible chains. The chains were built so that they would fit around a persons head, just like a hat. From the hat part some of them had chains fifteen inches long or more dangling from them with charms on the ends. Many of the diadems from the ancient times are kept today in treasuries and vaults, and can only be viewed by very few. Royal crowns can be the best example of diadems. One of the oldest crowns still around is from 1662.