19th century
JewelryWiki Editorial·1 source·Reviewed 2026-08-04
A century of industrial upheaval whose jewellery looked resolutely backwards — reviving ancient Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, sometimes in the same workshop.
Properties
| Property | Value | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Named for | The century; a chronological label, and the one the trade tends to replace with reign names. [1] | — |
| Defining traits | A period of huge industrial and social change in which jewellery design focused on the past. Classical styles were popular in the first decades, stimulated by fresh archaeological discoveries, alongside jewels inspired by the medieval and Renaissance periods. The eclecticism was such that jewellers like Castellani and Giuliano worked in archaeological and historical styles at the same time. Naturalistic jewellery of clearly recognisable flowers and fruit ran through much of the period. [1] | — |
| Characteristic stones and metals | Coloured gemstones matched to the colours of nature, and a "language of flowers" that spelt out messages. By the 1850s the delicate early designs had given way to more extravagant compositions of flowers and foliage. [1] | — |
| What to watch for | One social change is diagnostic: in contrast with earlier periods, the more elaborate jewellery of this century was worn almost exclusively by women. Note also that this is the century the trade sells as "Georgian" and "Victorian" — the V&A’s history of jewellery uses neither term. [1] | — |
Sources
- V&A — A history of jewellery — Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A, A history of jewellery)