| Jeweled Bugs and Butterflies
by Marilyn Nissenson and Susan Jonas
published by Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY. 2000
127 color photos. $29.95.
Reviewed by Ettagale Blauer.
 The
fascination with creepy crawlers is nearly as old as recorded civilization. As
far back as the Late Old Kingdom, circa 2575 B.C., the Egyptians were fascinated
with scarabs, leaving behind many scarabs made of a variety of beautiful materials
including lapis lazuli. Considering that the scarabs personal habits are somewhat
unappealing - it spends its days rolling a ball of dung around - it's amusing
and amazing that it became such a revered creature. For jewelry lovers, however,
the reality of the habits of the insect world bears little relation to their objects
of desire. Spiders, a group that includes some of the most deadly of the creepy
crawlers, have fascinated jewelers ranging from the ancient Egyptians to Rene
Lalique and Louis Comfort Tiffany.
While I personally find four pairs of legs to be excessive, spiders have other
qualities that are even more repugnant. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica,
“All spiders have venom glands, but the venom of only a few is harmful to
humans.”
In spite of this dubious and modest caveat, spiders and other bugs have become
some of the most sought-after pieces of jewelry. Spiders, dragonflies, bees, butterflies,
and many others have been captured by jewelers. Their efforts have been pinned
to the pages of the book Jeweled Bugs and Butterflies, published by Abrams. While
the small-format book is extremely sparse on text, its 120 pages are lavishly
covered with 127 full-color photos of the titled creatures. Many of these are
shown larger than life - that is, larger than either the actual insect or the
piece of jewelry. A gold spider pin set with moonstone, for example, measuring
just 1-1/8" x 3/4", marches across an entire page of the book. While this spider
doesn't deserve the space, a number of others do, including three beetle brooches
by John Paul Miller.
Because the authors are not jewelry experts, their terminology is sometimes
odd, sometimes wrong, and sometimes simply inadequate. In the John Paul Miller
pieces, the captions neglect to mention the granulation that covers vital parts
of the creatures and most effectively reproduces the eyes. The captions refer
to 24K gold as “pure gold,” which, while not wrong, is peculiar since
they do use correct karatage otherwise. The authors refer to one dragonfly brooch
as “set in gold and silvertop gold.” Silvertop gold sounds like the
reverse of vermeil, which is gold over sterling silver; there doesn't seem to
be much point to it. Such quibbles aside, they have amassed an amazing assortment
of winged and jeweled creatures ranging from the contemporary to the antique.
Since most of these pieces are described as being in “private collections,”
this is a rare chance to see some of the finest examples of the jeweler's art.
Chapter titles range from the descriptive, such as Scarabs; Butterflies and Mothers,
and Dragonflies, to the whimsical: Creepy Crawlers, Buzzers and Stingers, and
Winged Women, the latter covering the designs of the Art Nouveau period. Butterfly
wings, in particular, lend themselves to lavish design and decoration and more
than two dozen examples range from plique-ý-jour enamel to diamond pave. The wide
variety of pieces shown offers professional jewelers, collectors, and admirers
a chance to see how diverse creative talents and interpretation leads to brilliant
use of a range of materials.
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