Pride and Prejudice Jewellery Part VI – The Real Regency Period Jewellery

Diana Scarisbrick has written a number of books on jewellery. I have one of her books, “Jewellery in Britain, 1066-1837“, a heavy and serious-looking hardback which I confess I haven’t read from cover to cover but rather, dip into as and when the need arises. Such a need has now arisen as I was interested to see the comparison between the BBC interpretation and the research in this book.

Our interest lies in the Regency period, which I believe is the period in which all of Jane Austen’s novels were set, and lasted from 1811 to 1820. In the book this period falls under the chapters of “The social context of later Georgian jewellery 1790 – 1837″ and “The categories of later Georgian jewellery 1790 – 18372″.

Apparently it was a time of opulence and wealth, in 1817 an American ambassador was reportedly astonished by the lavish range of luxury goods including expensive gemstones. The prince regent, (appointed in 1811 and the reason for the naming of “The Regency Period”) led the way with very high expenditure on jewellery. Other foreign visitors remarked on the “gems and plumes and pearls and silks…”.

A contributing factor to the abundance of gems could be the fleeing émigrés of the French Revolution which finished just over a decade earlier.

Pearls were highly popular, but other materials were also used: amber, ivory, elk claw and bog oak!

Here are a few picture from the book, as you can see they all fit very well with the styles displayed in the BBC adaptation.

Incidentally, if you’re interested in the fashion of the era, then the Pemberley site has a wonderful collection of images.