Piqué jewellery.
Piqué jewellery is a
style and type of jewellery all unto itself.
Made most popular
during the Victorian era, it can be found as far back as the 18th
Century.
Piqué (pronounced “pee-kay”)
is gold or silver – or sometimes a combination of both, inlayed into another
material.
Quite often the
material was tortoiseshell (from the Hawksbill tortoise which was also used for
the making of other tortoiseshell material such as boxes etc) and sometimes
even from elephant ivory.
The tortoiseshell
seemed to be the most popular, probably because of its light weight and being
easy to “mould” into other shapes.
Tortoiseshell is a
natural thermoplastic , meaning that it is quite malleable when heated/warmed.
Very fine gold or silver would be fashioned into either fine “rods” or “leaf”
designs and the pressed into the already warmed tortoiseshell.
After the gold and
silver was set, the shell was left to cool down which would then contract to
hold the metal in place.
Prior to 1870, the
metals were cut by hand allowing for very fine and intricate detail then after
1870, machines started to do the work resulting in more straight and angular
designs.
Piqué jewellery can most
commonly be found in earrings and pendants, and the designs and colouring are
amazing to admire.
This form of
jewellery making is now a lost art as both the elephant and Hawksbill turtle
are protected species, meaning that piqué jewellery will become harder and
harder to find as the years go by.