Garnet bracelet

26 June 2020
2 reviews

Unique jewelry and accessories are found in museums, antique stores, artists' paintings, and literature. Sometimes, a writer describes jewelry so vividly that you are already trying on an imaginary ring or earrings and sparkling in them in the theater.

Garnet bracelet

An excellent example of such descriptions is in the story “The Garnet Bracelet” by Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, written in 1910. It features three pieces of jewelry. It is starring the bracelet from the title of the story. The jewelry described in every detail excites the imagination, and the bracelet comes to life before your eyes.


 

The scene where the heroine of the story, Princess Vera, receives a gift is described in detail:

«…Dasha placed a small square object on the table, neatly wrapped in white paper and carefully tied with a pink ribbon.

“By God, it’s not my fault, Your Excellency,” she babbled, flushing with offense. - He came and said...

- Who is he?

– Red Hat, your Excellency... messenger...

- And what?

– I came to the kitchen and put this on the table. “Tell it to your lady,” he says. But only, he says, in their own hands.” I ask: from whom? And he says: “Everything is marked here.” And with those words, he ran away.

- Go and catch up with him.

– There’s no way you’ll catch up, your Excellency. He came in the middle of lunch; I didn’t dare bother you, Your Excellency. There will be half an hour.

- “Okay, go ahead...”

Then Princess Vera immediately unwraps the gift:


 

«…She cut the tape with scissors and threw it into the basket along with the paper on which her address was written. Under the paper was a small red plush jewelry case, apparently just from the store. Vera lifted the lid, lined with pale blue silk, and saw an oval gold bracelet squeezed into black velvet, and inside it, a note carefully folded into a beautiful octagon. She quickly unfolded the piece of paper. The handwriting seemed familiar to her, but, like a real woman, she immediately put the note aside to look at the bracelet.

It was gold, low-grade, very thick, but blown and wholly covered with small, old, poorly polished garnets on the outside. But in the middle of the bracelet towered, surrounding some strange small green stone, five beautiful cabochon garnets, each the size of a pea. When Vera, with a random movement, successfully turned the bracelet in front of the fire of an electric light bulb, then in them, deep under their smooth egg-shaped surface, lovely, rich red living lights suddenly lit up.

“Definitely blood!” – Vera thought with unexpected anxiety..."

The heroine took a good look at the gift, and only after that did she read the letter: “...This bracelet belonged to my great-grandmother, and the latter, in time, was worn by my late mother. You will see one green one in the middle between the large stones. This is a very rare variety of pomegranate called the green pomegranate. According to an ancient legend that has been preserved in our family, it has the ability to impart the gift of foresight to women who wear it and drive away heavy thoughts from them while it protects men from violent death.

All the stones were accurately transferred here from an old silver bracelet, and you can be sure that no one has ever worn this bracelet before you...”


 

This was not a “cheap” blown bracelet made of low-grade gold but a family heirloom that had been kept for several generations. Green garnet, or demantoid, is a very rare mineral. It is valued much more than pyrope garnets or almandines. Demantoid was first discovered in the mid-19th century in the Urals and immediately became a popular stone among the nobility. Diamond shine, rich color, and golden sparkles made it the main exported mineral of this period.

Such a gift to Princess Vera can be considered an old European tradition when a man gives his chosen one an heirloom from his family. This tradition still thrives in the UK. For example, an engagement ring is passed down from generation to generation. The girl receives an authentic relic - gold with diamonds, usually of an old cut. The ring is pre-adjusted to size, which brings a lot of trouble to the groom.

Pearl earrings

Besides the bracelet, this was not the only gift to the princess that day. The princess celebrated her name day, so her husband also gave her the gift.

“... Her husband, leaving in the morning on urgent business in the city, put a case with beautiful earrings made of pear-shaped pearls on her night table, and this gift amused her even more...”


 

Pear-shaped pearl earrings are a timeless classic. Ladies have always desired such jewelry for centuries. The streamlined teardrop shape perfectly emphasizes the oval of the face, and the pearls highlight the skin color. The true rarity and value of such earrings is that finding a pair of natural pearls with identical shapes and sizes is complicated. It often took jewelers years to complete, which was considered a great success. The cost of such earrings has always been very high.

Jan Vermeer’s painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring " depicts one of these earrings.” The picture is also called the “Northern Mona Lisa”. The novel by American writer Tracy Chevalier tells one of the versions of the appearance of this painting. There is also a film of the same name by Peter Webber starring Scarlett Johansson. Such earrings are very common in pictures. Pearls have always been expensive, so noble ladies often chose them for ceremonial portraits.


 

Mysterious Carnet or notebook in French

The story contains a description of another thing given to Princess Vera by her sister. The gift is a unique notebook, converted from an old prayer book: “... “I don’t care, I love everything,” answered Anna. “And most of all, I love my sister, my prudent Verenka.” There are only two of us in the world.

She hugged her older sister and pressed herself against her, cheek to cheek. And suddenly I realized it.

- No, how stupid I am! You and I, as if in a novel, are sitting and talking about nature, and I completely forgot about my gift. Look at this. I'm just afraid, will you like it?

She took from her handbag a small notebook in a fantastic binding: on the old, worn, and grayed blue velvet, curled a dull gold filigree pattern of rare complexity, subtlety, and beauty, apparently the labor of love of the hands of a skillful and patient artist. The book was attached to a gold chain as thin as a thread; ivory tablets replaced the leaves in the middle.

– What a wonderful thing! Lovely! – Vera said and kissed her sister. - Thank you. Where did you get such a treasure?

– In an antique shop. You know my weakness for rummaging through old trash. So, I came across this prayer book. Look, you see how the ornament here creates the shape of a cross. I found only one binding; I had to invent everything else—leaves, clasps, a pencil. But Mollinet did not want to understand me, no matter how I interpreted it to him. The fasteners had to be in the same style as the whole pattern, matte, old gold, fine carving, and God knows what he did. But the chain is real Venetian, very ancient.

Vera affectionately stroked the beautiful binding.

– What a deep antiquity!.. How old can this book be? she asked.

– I’m afraid to determine precisely. Approximately the end of the seventeenth century, mid-eighteenth...

“How strange,” Vera said with a thoughtful smile. “Here I am holding in my hands a thing that, perhaps, was touched by the hands of the Marquise Pompadour or Queen Antoinette herself... But you know, Anna, only you could have come up with the crazy idea of ​​turning a prayer book into a ladies' carnet *. However, let’s still go and see what’s going on there...”

By the way, the “handbag” from which Anna takes out the gift is that same lady’s item called a reticule. But that's an entirely different story...

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