Do you know the jewelry design with Chinese elements?

The influence of Chinese aesthetics on the West can be traced back to the 12th~13th century. After more than 500 years of evolution, it finally evolved into a mature "Chinese style" in the 17th~18th century, which made the European continent crazy, and even affected the formation of Rococo style, which played an important role in art history. It is a proof of China's historical and cultural influence, and also reflects the appearance of Chinese culture in the eyes of the West. "Chinese style" jewelry design became popular in the European continent after the 18th century, and jadeite also entered the vision of European jewelers with this influence.

For example, this bracelet was born in 1865. The main body of the bracelet is made of 18K gold and inlaid with rubies. The shape of the bracelet unit is similar to the traditional Chinese leaky window, and the ruby base is also decorated with the leaky window grid. The large bracelet unit is painted with traditional Chinese drama portraits using enamel painting technology. The edge of the bracelet unit is decorated with large lacquer and royal blue enamel. This bracelet is a very representative case of "Chinoiserie" jewelry, which vividly shows the Chinese culture understood by Europeans and how to handle Chinese elements with western design thinking. With the development of the times and the increase of exchanges between the East and the West, the "Chinese style" Chinoiserie is also changing constantly. On the one hand, with the increasing frequency of trade, western designers have gradually deepened their understanding of Chinese aesthetics; on the other hand, with the evolution of European design trends, designers have begun to combine Chinese elements with other design styles. The most common one is the combination of "Chinese style" and Art Deco, which has prevailed for a long time and even adversely affected people's understanding of "Chinese style.

The diamond enamel bracelet above, which was born in the 1920s, is a good proof. On both sides of this bracelet, two different colors of enamel, orange and green, are fired, and two different pictures are outlined with gold. The orange side is landscape, the green side is the pattern of plant flowers and leaves, and the circular pattern with diamonds embedded in the middle is similar to our traditional group life pattern, which is not outdated even 100 years later.

From 1920s to 1930s, "Chinese style" design was mostly geometric design of decorative art style. Gold, diamond, agate, fritillaria, lacquer, enamel and jadeite almost became the standard configuration of "Chinese style" design in that period. It is worth mentioning that the period from the 19th century to the early 20th century is also an important stage for the germination and development of many luxury brands. Therefore, this kind of "Chinese style" design of decorative art is also widely reflected in the well-known luxury jewelry brands. According to the information at hand, Chaumet is a modern luxury jewelry brand that was earlier influenced by "Chinese style". The first piece of "Chinese style" jewelry since the brand was recorded was made around 1918. This piece of jewelry is a tassel pendant, which is strung with natural pearls. The pendant is made of platinum, onyx and jade, and can be worn as a necklace. However, according to the popular wearing method at that time, it is worn on the back in reverse as a back chain. According to the description, it is similar to the style below (the pendant below was introduced in 1925).

In 1925, he also made a "Chinese style" brooch carved with a sailboat and a jewelry cosmetic box.

These jewelry design works above were all created under the influence of the trend of thought of the decorative art movement. After careful design and production, they were full of elegance and beauty. They were once popular in the upper class of Europe and the United States, and were highly sought after. No matter their material value or artistic value was very high, they could be regarded as excellent works designed with "Chinese elements". Of course, Chinoiserie is not only a way of expression combined with decorative art style, but also evolved with the development of the times.

For comparison, we can also look at the jewelry designed by Chaumet with Chinese elements. These two works are the expression of "Chinese style" in contemporary aesthetics, and the design language is more modern. In particular, the crane brooch is both lifelike and has abstract elements extracted and processed. It is full of decoration. This design is an excellent design case no matter what it comes from.