For the jewelry of the early Middle Ages we have to depend largely upon the treatise by the monk Theophilus (or Rugerus) called ula Diversarum Artium,) written about 1000 A.D., in which are quite fully described the technical processes of the goldsmiths and jewel ers of the time. It evidently records the prac tices of Byzantine workers. Of Merovingian ornaments one of the most valuable finds was that made accidently at Tournai in 1653, when the regalia of Chilperic I (d. 481), the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, were brought to light. These included a bracelet, clasps, buckles and the royal signet of gold, engraved with the bust of the king; there were also some 300 golden bees, which had served for the adorn ment of a mantle. Each piece of the treasure is inlaid with thin slices of garnet, or red glass, held between gold partitions. From the succeeding Carolingian period fewer examples of jewelry have been preserved, because Charle magne (742-814) discouraged the practice of burying jewels with the bodies of their late owners, lest by this means too great a quantity of the precious metals should he withdrawn from use. Nevertheless, many of Charlemagne's own treasures were placed with his body in his tomb at Aix-la-Chapelle. His pendent, gold reliquary, set with a large cabochon-cut sap phire in front, and a square-cut sapphire at the hack, between which was inserted a small cross made from wood of the True Cross sent him by Haroun al-Raschid, was found when his tomb was opened in 1169. In 1804 Napoleon directed the custodians of the treasure in the cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle to present this reliquary to Josephine on the occasion of a visit she made to Charlemagne's tomb. It passed into the hands of Hortense, Josephine's daughter, who gave it to her son, Napoleon III. What has become of it since his downfall and death is rather doubtful, but it is said to be in a private French collection.
With the Renaissance begins the revival of the jeweler's art in sympathy with that of all the other fine arts, and, as in most of these, it was Italy that moved in the vanguard, the Italian goldsmiths and jewelers leading the way here also. While the larger part of the early works has disappeared in the course of cen turies, we are fortunate in having many exact representations of them in contemporary por traits, which are often very trustworthy wit nesses, since a number of the 15th century painters began their careers as goldsmiths and jewelers, as, for example, Tommaso de Fimi guerra, Antonio Pollaiuolo, Botticelli, Domenico Guirlandajo and Francia. To these must be added, as great jewelers of the 15th and 16th centuries, Ambrogio Foppa (Caradosso) and Michelangelo di \ iviano, the former of whom worked in Milan and Naples, and the latter in Florence, patronized by Lorenzo and Giuliano dei Medici. All these workers were, however, surpassed by the great master of the craft, Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71).
Among the innovations introduced in Euro pean jewelry by the Renaissance artists was a pendent jewel worn on the forehead, which may remind us of the favorite Hindu custom of wearing such an ornament, although this latter is often a jeweled disc, suspended from the large veil worn over the head and shoulders.
The Renaissance ornament was known in France as the ferroniere, from the famous Louvre portrait Ferroniere,) presumably by Leonardo da Vinci and formerly reputed to be that of one of the latest flames of Francois I, the beautiful wife of an ironmonger. The face depicited is however, in all probability that of Lucrezia Crivelli, a mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Moro,'" Duke of Milan.
As might be inferred from a contemplation of the paintings of the period, the jewelers in dulged in a rich use of color, both in precious stones and in enameling, and these colors were so artistically blended and so wonderfully com bined with the most delicately beautiful gold work that the result was an object in which the value of the materials was exceeded by the art exercised in its production. It is note worthy that the diamond, so greatly favored in later times, was at this period less prized than the emerald and the ruby. This appears in the scale of values for the four precious stones given by Cellini in 1568, although he places the sapphire far down the scale. On faultless, one carat stones he sets these prices: ruby, 800 gold crowns; emerald, 400; diamond, 100, and sap phire but 10 crowns. The stones were usually table-cut, and in many cases the elaborate enameling of the jewel almost hid the gold substratum, except where it was left free to figure some details of the decoration.
French jewelry of the 16th century is illus trated by a large number of designs of the highest artistic merit. Among the foremost of those designers whose ideas are skilfully worked out, either by themselves or by highly trained goldsmiths, may be mentioned Jacques Androuet Ducereau (c. 1510-c. 1585), Etienne Delaune (1518-95) and Pierre Woeriot of Lor raine (1532-aft. 1589). Of course their art owed much to the stimulus given by Cellini's activity in France under Francois I, and the fondness for jewels increased greatly under the last Valois kings, the contemporary chroniclers giving graphic descriptions of many costly ones possessing extraordinary beauty. In Spain great favor was bestowed upon elaborate reliquaries, and a characteristically Spanish decoration of these was with painted glass, termed in French of a later time verre eglomise, perhaps after a certain clever 18th century jeweler named Glomy. In this process the underside of a plate of glass, or of rock crystal, was covered with gold leaf ; on this was traced the design, so that the part of the gold leaf to be left untouched was defined. Where it was removed, pigments were applied to bring out the design, and the proper degree of light and shade was attained,by the applica cation of varnishes of various thicknesses. Pendants were favorite ornaments in Spain, as were also bow-shaped jewels for breast orna ments. For the settings emeralds were very often used, a great variety of these stones, of various degrees of excellence, having been brought to Spain from Peru after the Spanish Conquest. The mines whence they came have not been traced, and they were perhaps already exhausted when the Spaniards invaded the land.