Russian Art Nouveau at Shapiro & Co

One of the first stands that I visited at the Chelsea Antiques Fair was Shapiro & Co – who usually resides at our favourite Grays Antique Market in Mayfair.  They showed me the most exquisite pieces of antique jewellery:

Shapiro & Co, Russian Gold, Amethyst and Green Garnet Pendant 1908 – 17, £3750

Shapiro & Co, Russian Gold, Amethyst and Green Garnet Pendant 1908 – 17, £3750

We have previously found out that the finest amethysts were historically found in Russia: February Amethyst Allure.  This pendant comes from Russia’s  and was made sometime in between 1908-17, during the exciting Art Nouveau (“New Art”) period.  In Russia designers took inspiration from folk tales and history during the Art Nouveau era, and Moscow and St. Petersburg were the two centres for this “Stil’ Modern”.  The appearance of St. Petersburg today was very much shaped by the Art Nouveau movement and you will find whole suburbs built in the distinctive style (1).

Antique Citrine Cocktail Ring, Shapiro & Co

We also adore large cocktail rings here on the blog, so this stunning citrine ring simply had to be featured in the blog.  Ladies, how would you wear it?  As you know we have a similar ring in the Decades of Elegance collection and one of our models wore it with a blouse and pencil skirt when we took this photo a couple of summers ago:

Styling ideas for a citrine cocktail ring: a dressy blouse and a pencil skirt – and those perfectly painted nails!

You can visit Shapiro & Co at Grays Antique Market where they specialise in jewellery, silver, objects d’art, British arts and crafts and imperial Russian works of art, including Faberge pieces.  Shapiro & Co Stand 380, Gray’s Antiques Market, 58 Davies Street, London, W1K 5LP.

Sources:

(1) Art Nouveau Around the World

February Amethyst Allure

The January Garnet-post turned out to be so popular that I will be writing posts about all the twelve fabulous birthstones.  Today we are looking into the February Amethyst, which of course is my personal favourite since I am a February child!

Antique Swedish Amethyst and silver bracelet

The Gregorian calendar – that is our solar calendar which consists of 12 months – has poems that match each one of these months with their birthstones.  These poems were first published in a pamphlet in 1870 by our beloved Tiffany & Co.  Here is lovely February poem:

“The February born shall find
Sincerity and peace of mind,
Freedom from passion and from care,
If they, the amethyst will wear.”

Vintage Amethyst, Marcasite and Silver Cocktail Ring

Now let’s pop over to Greece to hear some fascinating stories about this beautiful gemstone:  the Greeks believed in a God of Wine called Bacchus, and because of the Amethyst’s wine-like colour, the gemstone was associated with him.  Subsequently people believed that wearing an Amethyst prevented drunkeness and they would refer to it as the sobriety stone (1)  (maybe something to keep in mind for the next cocktail evening with the girls!)

I was also delighted to find out that the Amethyst comes with a romantic yet heartbreaking legend of its own:

Dionysus, the God of Intoxication, was one day insulted by a mortal, which angered him so much, that he swore revenge on the next mortal that he encountered.  The unsuspecting, beautiful young maiden Amethyst crossed his path on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Diana, but Diana turned Amethyst into a statute of pure crystalline quartz to protect her from Dionysus’ fury.  When Dionysus saw the beautiful statue he wept tears of wine that stained the quartz purple and created the gem Amethyst.

1920’s Amethyst, Marcasite and Silver Cocktail Ring

The Amethyst has been popular in both religious and royal crown jewels for ages, and legend has that it used to be valued equal to rubies, emeralds and sapphires.  In recent times however it has lost its value because of extensive deposits found in Brazil.  It was also the most common gemstone found in Bishops’ rings – a piece of jewellery worn to show the Bishops’ position.  The dual meaning of drunkenness came about here, as wearing an Amethyst would remind the Bishop not to become “drunken with power”.

We are loving the soft combination of purple and light pink

And I don’t know about you, but my thoughts are automatically drawn to Russia when it comes to amethysts – although I couldn’t put my finger on why!  Well, as it turns out the finest amethyst were historically found in Russia and these fabulous pieces were then featured in a lot of royal European jewelry (2).  English regalia (e.g. crowns and other ornaments used at a coronation) in the Middle Ages were decorated with amethysts to symbolize royalty.

That is the beautiful Amethyst for us and the next in line will be the incredibly beautiful Aquamarine – for all you March Puppies that is!

Sources:

(1) GIA Edu

(2) The American Gem Society