The portrait of Queen Bona of Poland-Lithuania, carved in sapphire by Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio, features the patron in profile, wearing a crown, chain, and other adornments. This sapphire, now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, is a rare testament to the jewel collections of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility. Ewa Letkiewicz’s extensive tome brings new attention to the creation and collecting of precious ornaments in this region in the late medieval and early modern periods. Recent scholarship on jewelry and personal ornaments often takes a cross-cultural and transtemporal view, such as Melanie Holcomb’s Jewelry: The Body Transformed (2018). Other texts offer surveys of private collections, including Sandra Hindman’s Take This Ring: Medieval and Renaissance Rings from the Griffin Collection (2015). The present book is a welcome study of a specific moment in the production, collection, and display of jewels, focusing on the Jagiellon and Vasa dynasties in Poland-Lithuania. The cost of the materials as well as the immense skill required for their formation made such adornments essential luxury objects and markers of status over the centuries; this book also helps to situate the social role of jewels within the two European dynasties. Letkiewicz seeks to reassemble the collections of precious materials--both those that survive and those that have been destroyed--that once belonged to the Jagiellon and Vasa dynasties; these vast accumulations of wealth were largely dispersed in the late seventeenth century at the end of the Vasa Dynasty under John Casimir (1609-1672). Considering a sweep of Polish-Lithuanian history from the turn of the sixteenth century until the late seventeenth century, with some reference to earlier periods, this text aims to highlight how aristocratic adornments were essential to forming political and familial relations and for broadcasting status of the nobility.
In her introduction, Letkiewicz presents the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania as a major site for goldsmithing in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, despite the lack of local ores. In addition to precious metals and gems, other rare materials such as narwhal tusks, bezoars, elk hooves, and more were sought-after luxuries. While few jewels survive from this period, the author turns to representations in printed and painted portraits as well as numerous written descriptions and inventories of churches and individuals to reconstruct the royal collections. The introduction offers a helpful review of the literature on the Jagiellon and Vasa jewels, almost all of which has been published only in Polish. Part of a recent increase in scholarship on eastern European jewelry, this book also seeks to place the collections in conversation with studies of western European ornaments, such as of Isabella d’Este, the Habsburgs, and the Netherlandish nobility. Ultimately, the text’s purpose is twofold: to delineate a typology of jewels produced in the region and to determine their function during the dynasties’ rule.
In chapter 1, the author surveys general categories and uses of jewels. The economic expansion of Poland-Lithuania in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries set the stage for lavish patronage. Increasingly, the nobility used collections to vaunt their prestige. Pendants with various iconographies, cameo portraits and carved gems all presented the status of the patron. Medals, which could be set in frames, helped to multiply the ruler’s likeness. These items were used in political negotiations as well as to represent political and intellectual beliefs, especially among the ruling Catholics. The royal monogram, heraldic insignia, and iconography of Christ helped to broadcast nobles’ identities. Gifts were an important means of circulating jewels, solidifying social relationships between kings and foreign visitors or during travel abroad. Weddings, the consummation of a marriage, and baptisms were all marked by gifts of jewels
Following this overview, chapter 2 examines the production of jewels, drawing from inventories cross referenced with portraits. While some forms of jewels could be found throughout Europe, such as earrings, rings, bracelets, chains and necklaces, other types were more specific to the region and can only be described in Polish terminology, some of which now eludes modern comprehension. For instance, the definition of a noszenie is now unclear, although it may be related to a pendant. Gold bows and feathers were especially popular among Polish-Lithuanian nobility. Pomanders, flasks, whistles, toothpicks, picks to remove ear wax, and tongue scrapers represent more unusual types of ornaments crafted in precious materials. In addition to being worn on the neck or wrist, jewels could be sewn directly to clothes in the form of buttons, hooks, and clasps.
The following two chapters are quite short, sketching out some brief historical context. Chapter 3 notes the sumptuary laws in place during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reminding readers that the moral implications about luxury informed larger ideas about wealth and power. Such laws enabled the wealthiest to distinguish themselves and maintain rigid class structures. Meanwhile, chapter 4 turns to the apotropaic and medicinal role played by jewelry. Recipes abounded for the use of natural materials such as unicorn horns, bezoars, crushed gems, or herbs in potions. Relics and religious jewelry could offer another form of protective power. While these chapters help to situate some of the ideas about the function of jewelry for the Jagiellon and Vasa rulers, their brevity prevents a more thorough examination of the two important topics.
The next two chapters constitute the majority of the book, focusing on the specific collecting practices of the two royal families. Chapter 5 studies the Jagiellon court, tracing the amassing of jewels from the family’s origins and growth over the course of the sixteenth century. Relying heavily on archival evidence, Letkiewicz analyzes the patronage of both kings and queens, such as Sigismund and his wives Barbara Zápolya and Bona Sforza. These rulers set the stage for the use of jewels as a display of their power and prestige. Meanwhile, the work of an Italian gem cutter like Caraglio and a French goldsmith like Daniel Mignot speak to the international milieu to which the Polish-Lithuanian monarchs were connected. Changing cuts of diamonds and chain types similarly testified to the circulation of ideas between western and eastern Europe.
The Vasa court, the subject of chapter 6, harnessed their jewels for propaganda, especially favoring the distribution of portrait medals. Portraiture is a key source of information about their collections, given that the jewels were mostly pawned off at the end of the familial line. Sigismund III Vasa, who also claimed the Swedish throne until 1599, treated his jewels more as private property than that of the state. His close connections to the Habsburg through his two wives are mirrored in his jewel patronage. The Vasa interest in using the image of the eagle to represent their power not only reiterated these links but also presented the continuing claim to the Swedish throne.
The book’s short conclusion reiterates the author’s claim that jewels were essential for the proclamation of Jagiellon and Vasa status and prestige. It also introduces some tentative new ideas, such as the role of printed jewel design books and miniature watches, which could be sources of further study. Ultimately this volume demonstrates that the courts of Poland-Lithuania were bedecked in rich jewels that proclaimed the might of the region and of its rulers. Much of that splendor has been lost, but the author has impressively reassembled evidence to suggest those riches. Focusing on collating documentation, the text resists theoretical approaches to the jewels of the Jagiellon and Vasa. Instead, evidence is often presented in sequence, listing the possessions of various rulers, wives, and children. While the exhaustive treatment is helpful in recreating the marvels of the treasuries, the chapters can be repetitive in their discussions. At times, the text tends towards an extensive rehearsal of inventories and descriptions. A condensing of chapters may have helped to clarify the author’s larger narrative threads about status and propaganda.
The history of art from eastern Europe is also often pushed to the margins of study, overshadowed by the field’s focus on Germany, France, and Italy. Yet, as recent scholarship has increasingly demonstrated, eastern and central Europe are vital to understanding the function of art works in the Middle Ages and early modern period. The author contributes to this significant effort. Ana Kijak has admirably translated the text into English, making this study accessible to a broader swath of audiences. That most of the author’s bibliography is in Polish signals how much her text can contribute in its translation. Comparisons throughout the volume to jewels that might be more familiar to readers, such as those belonging to Margaret of Austria, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, or Henry VIII, help to situate the treasuries of Poland-Lithuania in a broader landscape of luxury patronage. As a whole, this book reminds readers to see jewels not only as luxury adornments and markers of wealth but as important tools of political and social relationships.