The Jewelry Vibe Is Decidedly Victorian
After years of Art Deco dominance, pieces with symbols such as flowers, insects, swallows, serpents and crescent moons have come into favor.
Original article written for The New York Times
Bill Rau, the third-generation owner of M.S. Rau, an antiques dealership founded in 1912 in New Orleans, echoed that sentiment. “Victorian jewelry is the very first period of great jewelry,” he said.
“It was the first period that put the gems, the workmanship and the Industrial Revolution together,” he continued. “For the first time there was a substantial middle class that could afford a wonderful piece of jewelry. And because of that, it required the Victorians to be more innovative.”
Mr. Rau said there were many distinguishing elements of Victorian jewelry, chief among them delicate gold work such as filigree and repoussé and the use of seed pearls, enamel and a wide variety of colored stones.
