JEWELRY. The word jewel is usually em ployed to denote a gem which has been cut and mounted for wear or a personal ornament made of a precious metal. Jewelry, in the modern sense, is the collective term for such articles or their imitations. The manufacture of jewels has in all times been a test of the artistic skill and taste of it nation; the genius of the jeweler being directed to the production of the largest amount of beauty in the most, limited space. The use of jewelry is as old as knowledge of he precious metals: and in the earliest of ancient civiliza tions. the Egyptian, the jeweler's art. had al ready attained high development. There is an essential difference between the jewelry of ancient and of modern Ones. Goldsmiths depend very much upon the processes of casting, drawing, stamping, and other metallurgical operations, and produce thereby great accuracy of outline and high finish. The ancients wrought by ham mering. chasing. and repousse', depending entirely upon the taste and skill of the artist. instead of the perfection of his tools and meehanieal ar rangements; consequently, their works bear the stamp of artistic productions. whereas modern works, however beautiful, are usually character ized by mechanical precision rather than artis tic taste: and what they gain in nicety of tinisli is more than counterbalanced by what is lost in richness of effect.
The jewelry of the ancient Greeks shows per fection of form and purity of ornament. The jewelry of the Romans was at once more mag nificent and less refined. The most beautiful metal-work of ancient times, however, was pro duced by the Etruscans. The Etruscan jewelers produced a Hell, granulated surface on their gold, never successfully imitated by modern gold smiths. Among the great jewelers of the Renais sance period were Benvennto Cellini, Albrecht Diirer, and the two Jamnitzers. :Nina of the most beautiful jewelry of those days was ornamented with colored enamel. (See ENAMEL.) Diamonds and other gems were set flat with a backing of metal, and an inlaid effect was sought in jew elry as well as in furniture. Later, with the in troduction of the rose diamond in the sixteenth century. a lighter and more graceful manner of mounting gems and of modeling jewelry came into vogue. See DIAMONDS : LAPIDARY-WORK.
For many years the finest jewelry was made in London and Paris, and diamonds were chiefly cut in Holland, but now American jewelers receive European eommendation for their work, which rivals that of the older workers. Large amounts of cheap jewelry are produced in both France and Germany, and also at Birmingham, England. Garnet jewelry is made chiefly at Prague: the so called rococo-work at Vienna; filigree at Flor and mosaic at Rome. Jet and mourning jewelry comes from Whitby, England. Gold and silver filigree i; made in large quantities in Ven ice, Malta, and in the cities of Mexico. Tortoise shell jewelry conies from the Italian cities, chiefly Florence, Rome, and Naples.
In America. probably the very first factory was the glass-factory built at Jamestown. Va., in 1007, to make glass heads to sell to the Indians.
The wearing of jewelry was earnestly dis countenanced in the New England Colonies as a practice savoring of worldly pride and ostenta tion. and therefore hardly compatible with piety. This form of asceticism, though it had its root in religious feeling, was no doubt stimulated by the poverty of the times. Gold beads appear to have been exempt frolic the prevalent proscrip tion, being cherisbed as heirlooms, and transmit ted with pride from mother to daughter; and as the Colonies became prosperous, it became more usual for the fortunate possessors of gold coins to hand them over to the goldsmith to be east into rings or chains. In the Colonies south of New England the religious objection to wearing jewelry was not so much experienced, but the demand for it was limited, and most of that which was worn was imported. The jewelers of the period sometimes made plain rings and chains, but the manufacture of jewelry as a busi ness was unknown in this country until sonic time after the War of Independence. It is be lieved to have been first introduced into Newark, I' , .1., somewhere between 1790 and 1795, by Epaphras llunsdale, who (lied in 1810. and was succeeded by Taylor, one of his workmen, who greatly enlarged the business and invented ieew machines for the prosecution of the work.