Jewelry That Makes the Past Present

For the well-to-do 20-something traveling across Europe in the 19th century, a trip to Rome wasn’t complete without a stop at the Castellani jewelry shop.

This was the place to buy the ultimate souvenir—the definitive proof of traveling to Europe, an endeavor mostly reserved for the wealthy. The trinket to show off back home was a piece of jewelry inspired by ancient Rome. A brooch that said “Roma” in delicate filigree, perhaps, or a set of glittering gold earrings. These pieces looked authentic enough to have been plucked straight off a member of the ancient Roman elite, though real antique jewelry was available too. The shop was a place to gather and be seen, and a guest book logged a visit the way a shared selfie might today.

The Castellani family had tapped into the European and American obsession for all things ancient, helping to popularize jewelry inspired by unearthed treasures from the bygone world—a category now called revival jewelry. But this fascination with antiquity goes back centuries and continues today, say Susanne Gänsicke, senior conservator of antiquities at the Getty Museum, and Yvonne Markowitz, Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator Emerita of Jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The history of revival jewelry is one of many subjects they explore in their book Beyond Adornment: Jewelry and Identity in Art, published this spring by Getty Publications.

Antiquity mania

Our collective attraction to antiquity goes back to Europe’s Renaissance period of the 14th through 17th centuries, when an interest in ancient Greece and Rome flourished. Scholars and artists studied philosophy and art of the time, and excavations of ruins and tombs gave the first glimpses of what that historical world looked like. Curiosity about antiquity continued into the 19th century, after Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign to expand French influence in Egypt included efforts to document Egyptian monuments and decipher hieroglyphics, and into the 20th, with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.

The objects found in excavations made frontpage news, stimulating the public’s imagination and influencing furniture, jewelry, and clothing designs. And a rising new social class had the means to buy antiquity-themed treasures. Starting around the mid-19th century, industrialization created a fresh tier of wealth—a so-called new money class that had recently become rich through modern business endeavors like manufacturing and didn’t have royal titles, family crests, or jewels. These people were eager to embrace traditions such as the Grand Tour, a centuries-old custom among the wealthy to traverse Europe and learn about history, music, and art. They needed ways to show off their social standing and where they’d been.

“People who were in this new class might have been the first in their families to have the opportunity to experience the world, and they wanted people to know it. And one way to tell people who you were, from a status point of view, was your jewelry,” Markowitz says. “So in case anybody had any doubt, when you were at your next party, there you were with your new jewelry, indicating you were sophisticated and intelligent. You didn’t just make money, you were the inheritor of an incredible tradition of scholarly study of the world.”

Reviving ancient jewelry

Castellani was not the only establishment selling revival jewelry, but it was one of the most popular and influential. By the early 19th century, goldsmith Fortunato Pio Castellani and his sons Alessandro and Augusto were already successful dealers of antiquities and creators of classically inspired jewelry in Italy. “I think they noticed that ancient jewelry sold well. It’s also small and portable. You go in the shop, you buy it, you can easily take it home,” Markowitz says. “It’s a little different than a sarcophagus.”

In 1836, an excavation of Etruscan tombs in Italy yielded gold jewelry like nothing ever seen before. “Etruscan jewelry in particular is in a class of its own. It is so sophisticated, delicate, and rich,” Gänsicke says.

Papal authorities tasked the Castellanis with studying and restoring these Etruscan beauties. The family also began creating copies of specific pieces to sell in their shop, as well as original works influenced by antique styles, using ancient techniques. Their experiments with goldsmithing were particularly groundbreaking—for instance, they were the first to figure out Etruscan goldsmiths’ technique of fusing tiny gold balls to the jewelry’s surface using copper mineral compounds. They also developed a brand-new style called micromosaics, possibly inspired by the mosaic floors found in excavated ruins like Pompeii. The shop exploded in popularity, and new locations were opened in Naples, London, and Paris in the 1860s.

Around the turn of the 20th century, revival jewelry began to spread beyond the elites to stores selling less expensive items. Macy’s sold Egyptian revival jewelry. Costume jewelry makers created inexpensive silver or copper pieces that hinted at Greece or Rome. Tiffany & Co. even invited customers to bring in amulets they had bought in Egypt to add a mount adorned with snakes or beetles. American designers also liked to mix and match motifs from different cultures, like Native American styles combined with Egyptian ones.

Jewelry as identity

In writing their book, Gänsicke and Markowitz wanted to answer the question, Why would a modern person be interested in the world of ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome and wear that interest on their body? “These were exciting discoveries that were discussed, written about, and referenced in the pop culture of the day,” Markowitz explains. “Cigarette advertisements, makeup, costume jewelry, and a wide range of affordable decorative arts often sported Egyptian and classical motifs. Why? Perhaps to be part of the excitement, to be on the cutting edge of design, to be part of the ‘smart set.’”

Plus, there’s something about human nature that makes people want to find belonging through groups, Gänsicke points out. A piece of jewelry can show off the communities you want to be a part of; Castellani jewelry, for instance, may evoke a spiritual connection to Rome among wearers of Christian faith. It also served to reinforce burgeoning nationalism in Europe in the 19th century, as did archaeological revival jewelry in other countries.

“Revival jewelry identifies you as having a particular interest, intellect, and income,” Gänsicke says. “But it can also be imbued with deeper layers of meaning. It serves not only as a symbol of status and connoisseurship but also as a bridge to an illustrious past and sentiments of nostalgia.”