{"id":58347,"date":"2025-04-28T20:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T20:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/58347\/"},"modified":"2025-04-28T20:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T20:22:09","slug":"carol-wooltons-new-book-looks-at-the-history-and-mystery-of-jewelry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/58347\/","title":{"rendered":"Carol Woolton’s New Book Looks at the History and Mystery of Jewelry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLONDON<\/a> \u2014<\/strong> Fifteen years ago, before the podcast took hold, the BBC<\/a> and the British Museum<\/a> had radio audiences riveted with a daily show called \u201cA History of the World in 100 Objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe list took in the Rosetta Stone, the Sutton Hoo helmet from Anglo-Saxon Britain, and a Maya maize god statue dating to 3500 B.C., and each object was accompanied by a 14-minute story about its place in the arc of civilization.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her new book, \u201cIf Jewels Could Talk: Seven Secret Histories\u201d (Simon & Schuster), Carol Woolton takes a slightly different approach, gazing at human history through the lens of gold hoops and rings, glass beads, lucky charms and Coco Chanel\u2019s Verdura cuffs.<\/p>\n

\n\tWoolton, a jewelry<\/a> historian, writer and founder-host of the podcast \u201cIf Jewels Could Talk,\u201d looks at jewelry<\/a> from all angles, and sees symbols of love, weapons, shields and talismans. She also looks at historical figures, and how their lives were shaped \u2014 for better and worse \u2014 by rings, pendants and pomanders.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe cover of \u201cIf Jewels Could Talk: Seven Secret Histories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThere is Napoleon Bonaparte, giving his wife and great love, Jos\u00e9phine de Beauharnais, a ring with two stones, a blue sapphire and a white diamond that touch each other at the center. Engraved on the inside were the words \u201ctoi et moi toujours,\u201d which started a fashion for \u201cyou and me\u201d rings.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there is the great Carthaginian general Hannibal, who crossed the Alps with elephants in his bid to conquer the Romans, but who was ultimately killed by ingesting poison that was hidden inside a small ring.<\/p>\n

\n\tWoolton also tells a story about Queen Elizabeth I of England swinging her sweet-smelling, stench-busting pomander around, and deciphers the meaning behind Anne Boleyn\u2019s famous \u201cB\u201d pendant.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe pendant, which hangs from a pearl choker and drips with teardrop-shaped pearls, appears in a number of portraits, including the one by an unknown painter that hangs in London\u2019s National Portrait Gallery.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was a bold statement at the time,\u201d writes Woolton. \u201cShe was identifying herself as a Boleyn, declaring self-ownership at a time when women didn\u2019t have independence. It [was] a way to brand one\u2019s identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA cameo brooch with the profile of the ancient Greek hero Perseus, carved out of light pink sardonyx.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are whole sections dedicated to the mystical and protective properties of coral, and to the origins of eye amulets, and the Neapolitan \u201cmano cornuto\u201d charm. According to Woolton, the shape of the \u201cmano,\u201d with two fingers pointing downward like horns, came from \u201ca pre-Roman gesture\u201d that was (and still is) meant to keep evil vibes at bay.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther charms are more about self-expression. Woolton points to Elsa Schiaparelli\u2019s miniature leek, cauliflower and aubergine charms, and sees them as a reflection of the designer\u2019s surreal take on fashion.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe book is fun, but more than anything else it forces the reader to look at the jewelry they wear and to question why they\u2019re wearing it. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese very small objects tell very big stories \u2014 and they have a lot to say,\u201d said Woolton in an interview. \u201cThey give a glimpse into the lives and passions of people who owned them, or who wore or designed them. Jewelry, arguably, tells us more about people\u2019s lives than anything else because, in many cases, these are the only objects that survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWoolton believes that jewelry \u2014 from diamond rings and hoop earrings to prayer beads and protest badges \u2014 \u201care the cornerstone of pretty much everything \u2014 be it art, religion, fashion or politics. Little protectors, decorative frivolities, meaningful religious aids \u2014 we\u2019re all wearing the same things, and we\u2019re all connected\u201d to one another, to the past \u2014 and the future.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Brooch<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA Girandole brooch shaped like a candelabra, designed to sparkle in the candlelight.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum, L<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI do believe that people\u2019s avatars in the metaverse will wear these same objects,\u201d added Woolton, who\u2019s already at work on her next book, to be published by Assouline, about the history of \u201cpearling,\u201d or diving for natural pearls.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd for the \u201cIf Jewels Could Talk\u201d podcast, she\u2019s lined up Jennifer Tilly, Marisa Berenson and the curator Katherine Purcell to talk about all of those rocks, stones, metals and sparkling objects that humans can\u2019t seem to live without. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 Fifteen years ago, before the podcast took hold, the BBC and the British Museum had radio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77,9713,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-58347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jewelry","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114417457616881165","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}