Jewels and Historical Costumes

The wearing of jewels, and their adaptation to various articles of costume, dates from the most ancient times. I can but briefly allude to some particular objects. The armilla, or bracelet, is mentioned in Gen. xxiv. 22. It has been throughout all ages the most universal of all ornaments of the person, and was worn either on the wrist or the arm. In the Assyrian bas-reliefs at Nineveh, the kings are represented with the arms encircled by armlets and bracelets, remarkable for the beauty of their form. The clasps were formed by the heads of animals, and the centre by stars and rosettes, probably (observes Layard) inlaid with precious stones.

"The Egyptians," says Sir G. Wilkinson, "wore ARMLETS and BRACELETS frequently inlaid with jewels; some were in the shape of snakes, and others, as single rings, worn by men as well as women. In the Leyden Museum is a gold bracelet bearing the name of the third Thotmes, which was doubtless once worn by that monarch, and without any great license of imagination we may suppose it to have been seen by Moses himself if Thotmes was the Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites."

It is singular that in our own country, among the Anglo-Saxons, the bracelets of the male sex were more costly than those allotted to the fair; they were of gold, silver, and ivory, enriched, sometimes, with precious stones.

In the poems of Beowulf we find, respecting a Danish queen:--

"Waltheow came forth

The Queen of Hrothgar,

Mindful of her descent,

Circled with gold.

She, the queen, circled with bracelets."

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries bracelets were very common, and were frequently adorned with jewels. They were worn as love-tokens by both sexes. In "Cupid's Revenge," by Beaumont and Fletcher, we read:--

"Given ear-rings we will wear

Bracelets of our lovers' hair,

Which they on our arms shall twist

With our names carv'd on our wrist."

In Barnfield's "Affectionate Shepherd" (1594):--

"I would put amber bracelets on thy wrist,

Crownets of pearls about thy naked arms."