‘New’, ‘modern’ and ‘fake’. Embodying different standards of quality in ‘non-precious jewel’ manufacturing in Northern Italy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Abstract

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ornamental items destined for people, garments and clothing accessories underwent a great change in terms of taste and function in the European novelty market. The paper highlights the Italian answer to these changes during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, by analysing the language (words, adjectives) adopted to promote and describe ‘non-precious’ and ‘semi-precious’ jewels. The study identifies a series of items embodying different standards of quality with respect to those typical of local and traditional jewellery production and representing the first Italian attempt at reinterpreting fashionable accessories in the English and French style. The research also identifies new agents and operators involved in both the manufacture of jewels from alloys and their sale, as well as delineating the progressive, sometimes contested, gradual advance of a new cultural approach to ‘non-precious’ and ‘semi-precious’ jewels in Northern Italy.

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