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Rothschilds, rubies and rogues: the ‘Renaissance’ jewels of Waddesdon Manor

2016; Oxford University Press; Volume: 29; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/jhc/fhv043

1477-8564

Phillippa Plock,

Crafts, Textile, and Design

Ferdinand de Rothschild’s Renaissance collection has recently received much attention through the re-display of the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum. This article studies some of the jewels omitted from the bequest in the context of other Rothschild pendants now at Waddesdon Manor. In combination with new evidence about Ferdinand’s relationship with some of the fraudulent dealers and manufacturers of ‘Renaissance’ style jewellery, study of related pieces collected by his father, sisters and aunt provides insight into a pan-European web of connections between makers, dealers and collectors. Based on a re-attribution of these ‘Renaissance’ jewels to a range of nineteenth-century makers, particularly Alfred André, this article considers how and why different members of the Rothschild family acquired ‘sixteenth-century’ jewels in relation with each other and their contemporaries, considering why jewels were thought to embody particular aspects of the Renaissance, as well as the intersection between collecting jewellery and sociability.