Having told you almost everything about green, red, violet, blue, white, pink, yellow and finally orangewe close our cycle with the darkest of colors.
Antique gold and jet earrings, pendant earrings, gold and jet
Black, really? If an article on the subject is immediately appealing, you'll soon discover that there's a lot to say. Including what interests us all in the first place: jewelry. And to prove it, here's a non-exhaustive list of the black gems most commonly used in jewelry: agate, coralcorozo (vegetable ivory), diamond hematite, marcasite, pyrite, obsidian, onyx, opal opal, pearl tourmaline Schorl, pleonaste (black spinel).
It is the preferred color of 10% of men and 10% of women. Unlike pinkwhich becomes more and more popular as we age, the more our hair turns white, the less we like black. Did you know? Beyond the fact that it betrays age more than other colors, it's mainly due to the fact that, depending on the generation, we don't put the same concept behind black. Broadly speaking, young people associate it with luxury, while older people associate it mainly with death.
So, is black a symbol of decay or the height of chic? Definitely both.
Cup [Detail], Theseus and the Minotaur,3rd quarter 6th B.C., Paris, Musée du Louvre.
The color is linked in the collective imagination to darkness, misfortune and death; instinctively, we tend to think of the negative aspects of black. An example from Greek mythology (our umpteenth passion at Galerie Pénélope) that illustrates this is the story of Theseus and Aegeus. I promise, we'll keep it short: Theseus, illegitimate son of Aegeus, King of Athens, decided one day to go and kill the Minotaur. Aegeus, deeming the undertaking kamikaze, asked his offspring to hoist a white sail in case of a victorious return. The Minotaur was a half-man, half-animal creature, the result of Pasiphae's love affair with a bull - another dark tale of revenge - locked in a labyrinth and regularly feeding on fresh Athenian flesh.
Theseus succeeded thanks to the ingenuity of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos (Aegeus' rival), who was not content to give him the sword to kill the Minotaur, but provided him with a ball of thread with which to escape the labyrinth. The deal was to marry the young woman, since she had betrayed her family for love. But marriage was of little interest to Theseus, who preferred to put Ariadne to sleep and leave her alone on an island on the way home.
And where does black fit in? We'll come to that: our hero (all things being equal) forgot his promise, and when Aegeus saw the fleet with a black sail, he thought his son was dead and threw himself into the sea that now bears his name. The end of the story (which has no moral).
How about a look at the other side of black: elegance? Let's delve into the history of fashion.
Did you know? Chic black is a legacy of the princely black of the Renaissance.
Quentin Metsys, Elizabeth Tudor, 1583, Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale.
Like the greenblack was a color that was difficult to manufacture, unstable and therefore expensive, and reserved for a certain elite. As we often say in our articles, the history of Art, Decorative Arts and Fashion is intimately linked to History with a capital H. This is also true of the taste for black during the Renaissance. This is also true of the taste for black during the Renaissance.
In those days, there was no Fashion Week: trends were dictated by the various Courts. And in the 16th century, the European Court that shone brightest was Charles V's Spanish empire, where people dressed in black clothes topped with a strawberry. A costume adopted by Queen Elizabeth I of England, as evidenced by the portrait by Quentin Metsys shown above. As if by magic, the fashion for black waned with the decline of the Spanish empire.
Memento mori
Gold, onyx, diamond and enamel religious medallion pendant
In clothing, black is also often synonymous with restraint. As early as the end of the 14th century, the Reformation condemned bright colors and "professed an ethic of the austere and sombre", to quote Michel Pastoureau in Les couleurs expliquées en images. In the history of costume, men gradually abandoned color in favor of dark, austere garments. Leaving women, not without misogyny, the frivolity of colorful finery (we've already talked about this in our article on pink).
The color of lawyers' robes, priests' robes and referees' robes, black is still a serious color today. Not eye-catching in the collective imagination, it refocuses attention on personality. Steve Jobs even made it part of his marketing strategy. TheApple co-founder tirelessly wore the same black funnel-neck top to public appearances. In essence, it kept his audience focused on the message, not the messenger. A garment designed by Issey Miyake: if you're going to wear a uniform, you might as well use a designer!
If black is thus associated with inner values, colors in contrast are linked to vanity. A theme of particular interest to 17th-century artists and craftsmen.
Adrian Van Utrecht, Still-life with a Bouquet and a Skull , circa 1642, Private collection.
During this period, political unrest, long wars and occasional plague epidemics did little to improve life expectancy. Vanitas in painting is an allegorical representation of the brevity of human life. But beware: contrary to what you might think, vanitas are not YOLO(You Only Live Once - or Carpe Diem for the Cercle des Poètes Disparus generation): in fact, the opposite is true. Their purpose is to represent the fatuity of what Man attaches himself to during his short life. An encouragement to cast off earthly pleasures and become more virtuous in order to earn one's place in Paradise. We recognize a vanitas by the elements that make up the still-life: often flowers and jewels representing ephemeral pleasures, as well as one or more markers of the passage of time, such as the hourglass, the coffin or, more commonly, the skull. These " memento mori" (literally, "remember that you're going to die") can be found on personal commemorative jewelry, such as the astonishing ring shown below in London's Victoria & Albert Museum.
Mourning ring, late 17th century, enamel, diamonds on gold and silver, London, V&A Museum.
But if there's one period in history that marks the apotheosis of mourning fashions, it's unquestionably the 19th century.
The total mourning look
A look at the history of costume shows that there have often been attempts to legislate clothing, and mourning clothes are no exception. While mourning clothes were already the color of ashes in Roman times, until the first half of the 20th century, strict conventions governed what a person could wear from the death of a loved one until the presumed exhaustion of their grief (for example, two years in the case of a spouse). Survivors were thus required to "wear mourning", i.e. dress exclusively in black, followed by half-mourning, during which gray and lavender were permitted.
Franz-Xaver Winterhalter, Portrait of Queen Marie-Christine de Bourbon, Queen of Spain, 1841, Rueil-Malmaison, Musée national de Malmaison [on loan from Musée de Versailles].
As far as mourning jewelry is concerned, we usually attribute its popularization to Queen Victoria who mourned her beloved Albert for 25 years from 1861. Of course, Victoria's influence on the jewelry industry of her time is undeniable. It is also undeniable in the case of mourning jewelry, since only jet was authorized at Court after Albert's death. However, it's worth noting that in England, as in France, the cult of mourning began in the early 19th century.
Antique gold medallion pendant, black enamel, fine pearl, diamonds
But if you've done your vacation homework, you already know! In our article on Peridotyou were advised to take Henri Vever's three-volume work, a veritable Bible of 19th-century jewelry, to the beach. In Volume 1, Vever explains that by the 1820s, following the assassination of the Duc de Berry and the death of Louis XVIII, mourning jewelry was already "quite fashionable":
"Black jewelry is a rage: jet, iron and all black compositions are used in all forms. Every one of our jewelers' stores seems to be dedicated to mourning. We see necklaces in black cameo, or chains crossed in all directions, or pearls pearls ten turns on the chest, followed by severs, pins, lorgnons, watch chains, bracelets braceletsbracelets combscombs ringseverything can be found.
Comb, circa 1820, London, Victoria & Albert Museum
The first half of the 19th century was also the heyday of Berlin iron jewelry. Do you know the story? The Fabrique Royale de Berlin opened in 1804. It was the first company to offer neoclassical and neo-Gothic-inspired iron jewelry, themes also found on gold coins of the same period. In 1806, Napoleon I, who had conquered the German capital, took over the molds and began producing iron jewelry in France.
Berlin" iron jewelry is most famous for the fact that around 1813-15, as Napoleon expanded his empire, Germany found itself in a delicate financial situation. The government asked its citizens to exchange their gold possessions for iron jewelry to help the war effort. A gesture synonymous with patriotism and loyalty rewarded by the words "I gave gold for iron" or "given for the salvation of the motherland" engraved on the jewelry. It would appear that as many as 160,000 rings were exchanged. The vogue for iron jewelry continued until the 1830s.
Gold vinaigrette, salt flask, corozo nuts
Let's face it: mourning jewelry was a veritable industry! Perhaps also because life expectancy in the 19th century was around forty, half that of today. The most popular piece of mourning jewelry is still the ringIn fact, in the second half of the 19th century, it was customary to leave a small provision in one's will for the manufacture of mourning rings to be distributed to family and close friends. Did you know?
Note the use of white enamel on mourning jewelry for children or unmarried people. Like, perhaps, our pendant charm below.
Antique heart charm in gold, enamel and diamonds
The latter has a compartment on the back for a lock of hair. On the borderline between mourning jewelry and sentimental jewelry, hair jewelry is another 19th-century jewelry essential. Often, the hair is enclosed in a crystal or glass compartment, but there are also examples where, with the exception of precious clasps, the braided hair is the material of the jewel. If the subject of organic jewelry we refer you to our journal.
In addition to jet and its substitutes, the gems of choice for mourning jewelry include pearls symbolizing the tears of the survivor, and turquoise shaped like forget-me-nots, which in the language of flowers means "don't forget me".
Antique turquoise and diamond flower ring
As far as the metal is concerned, the use of bright gold was sometimes considered inappropriate and abandoned in favor of non-precious alloys.non-precious alloys such as "similor" or gilding.
The First World War at the beginning of the 20th century definitively extinguished the taste for the display of mourning, which had by then become somewhat vulgar.
The little black dress
Nowadays, far from being mourning attire but still able to do the job in the event of a funeral, a "little black dress" can be found in almost every wardrobe. It is to women's wardrobes what the diamond is to jewelry: a timeless piece that goes with everything.
Did you know? In 1926, Gabrielle Chanel created the "Ford" dress, considered the first "little black dress". Its success was immediate.
Black gems, particularly onyx, were also highly prized during the Art Deco period for their color contrast with platinum settings and diamonds with which they were often associated. A theme already addressed in our article on History of Jewellery in the 20th century - part 1 and also has its own entry in our journal. It has to be said that Art Deco is one of the most retrospectively sexy movements in antique jewelry, and for good reason: its geometric lines continue to stand the test of time without really taking on a wrinkle. At the time sapphires from basalt rocks were also highly sought-after for the same reasons as black gems.
Art Deco Sapphire ring set with diamonds
But back to fashion: it wasn't until 1943 and the afternoon dress called "Petit Profit" by Pierre Balmain, then an employee of Lucien Lelong (Balmain would open his eponymous couture house in 1945), that the "little black dress" became a staple of women's wardrobes.
The "little black dress" has been constantly renewed over the years, but its heyday came in the 1960s, when it was worn by actresses from the French Nouvelle Vague (e.g. Jeanne Moreau) and Jackie Kennedy in the USA.
The dress and the symbolism of the color black share some of the characteristics of seriousness and austerity mentioned above... Well, not always! Are you familiar with the " revenge dress "? Yes, it's THE dress you wore one day to make your ex-boyfriend laugh.
Antique earrings in pink gold and faceted jet balls
A concept that seems to have originated with Diana Spencer. On June 29, 1994, a documentary dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Prince Charles' enthronement was broadcast on British television. In it, the current King of England confessed his adulterous relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Charles and Diana had been separated for two years, but the divorce had not yet been finalized. That same evening, the Princess of Wales had been invited to the Serpentine Gallery for a charity event organized by Vanity Fair. She arrived in a sheath gown revealing her shoulders and décolleté, and cut at mid-thigh. Not exactly to the taste of the British monarchy, I might add! The " revenge dress" was born.
What's more, the dark hue of the dress contrasted particularly well with the pearl choker. pearls with a clasp probably made of sapphire in pure Belle Époqueexactly as in the Boldini painting below.
Giovanni Boldini, Madame Pages in evening dress [Detail], 1912, Private collection.
Mythology, Princes and Princesses, Art History, Fashion History... If we haven't succeeded in making you love black gems, we've got two pieces of good news.
The first is that by reading our articles, you'll know all about the history of jewelry. And the second... is that absolutely all our antique jewelry perfectly match the little black dress in your dressing room! So, thanks to whom?