Lecturer Rachel Church reveals how in the 18th and 19th centuries, jewels were used to send coded messages.
To understand jewellery, we need to read its secret language and messages, both hidden and open. Medieval lapidary books interpreted gemstones – each stone had a meaning and power. Gemstones in 18th and 19th century acrostic jewels spelled out secret messages. Romantic jewels used flowers, hands and hearts to send coded messages of affection and mourning jewels used a visual language of urns, broken pillars and veiled women to send a message of grief. Political jewels also send a silent message, whether through the colours of the Suffragettes or the hidden imagery of Stuart loyalists.
How to book this event:
Rachel Church
Rachel Church developed a love of history as a student in Cambridge. After a Masters in Museum Studies, she went on to work as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She became an expert in jewellery by cataloguing and researching the collection, and as part of the team which redisplayed the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery in 2011. Her books Rings (V&A / Thames and Hudson, 2011 and 2017) and Brooches and Badges (V&A / Thames and Hudson, 2019) look at the human stories behind some of our most beautiful jewels. She lectures on V&A courses, for the Goldsmiths company and many arts societies. Her website www.thelifeofjewels.com explores stories behind jewellery and its history.
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