The influence of traditional Chinese culture on the world's jewelry is extensive and far-reaching, carrying the historical heritage, cultural wisdom and aesthetic genes of a thousand-year-old civilization. In this era of blending the classical and the modern, jewelry designers have drawn inspiration from traditional Chinese culture to blend traditional aesthetic concepts with modern design. From ancient jade culture to classic and intricate ornamentation, from traditional craftsmanship to the spirit of landscape painting, jewelry making is not only an ornament, but also a tribute to oriental history, literature and philosophy. The deep cultural origin not only gives the jewelry a profound connotation, but also injects a unique artistic temperament into it, making each jewelry piece an artistic picture rich in stories and cultural heritage.
Natural jadeite with brilliant-coloured and diamond bracelets
When the art genre is attached to the traditional Chinese elements, it produces jewelry with oriental style in different periods that have changed due to the changing trend of the times. Among Sotheby's lots is an oriental-style bracelet made in Europe circa 1925 with jadeite and diamond as the center stone. The bracelet emphasizes the application of exotic materials such as jadeite, and takes the "square" and circle in the basic geometry as the frame, jadeite as the decoration and agate, so as to create a set of luxury and classical stability, and bring the aesthetic tension brought by the material and decoration across the Eastern and Western cultures.
In addition to the emphasis on exotic materials in Artdeco, the Chinoiserie style, which is deeply influenced by both traditional Chinese culture and French Rococo culture, is a kind of evolution and recreation of oriental aesthetics. Originating in the late 17th century and culminating in the mid-18th century, the chinoiserie is a reinterpretation of the Oriental elements of imported objects and missionary oral and documentary texts by European artists. In the middle of the last century, the best example of Chinoiserie's French Chinese style, which incorporated modern jewellery techniques, was the Chucui Palace, a high jewellery brand formerly known as a family of jewellers from Rome, Italy.
The shimmering crane brooch
His work "Shaimmering Crane" brooch is based on the classic totem "crane" in French Chinese style and traditional Chinese culture, based on the soft pink blue color derived from the Rococo style in French Chinese style, and draws on the dyeing method in ink painting, carefully selecting blue gemstones of different shades for paving, so as to present the rendering atmosphere in Chinese painting and the pure effect brought by monochrome. The work emphasizes the iconic curves and curved surface characteristics of the Rococo style, through the rounding of sharp corners, so that the work is more elegant, dynamic and affinity, and through the water wave decoration, the overall sense of the work is more blank artistic conception, visually lighter, very decorative. In terms of composition, the work pays attention to the asymmetrical composition in the French Chinese style, and through the layout of colors, lines and block surfaces, it seeks the visual balance between the elements and the composition in the asymmetry, which is a classic work of chinoiserie style that is well versed in French Chinese style and traditional Chinese culture.
Cartier carp brooch
In addition to stylistic influences, the influence of totems and ornaments on modern jewelry is more intuitive and far-reaching. Among Cartier's vintage brooches, there is a unique brooch with an emerald center stone, ** and diamonds. The work takes the "koi" in traditional Chinese culture as the totem, adopts the classic oriental asymmetrical composition, and engraves the Chinese seal script to highlight the oriental antiquity and mystery in the work. **Bringing auspicious meaning to the "golden koi", and the whole work presents the tension of beauty brought by the material, and pursues an elegant balance between the elegance and simplicity brought by the oriental-style jadeite and the eternal luxury of **.
A dragon-shaped bracelet by Cartier
In a bracelet created by Cartier in 1928, the "dragon" totem is abstractly simplified, rich in the three-dimensional geometry emphasized in the Art Deco style, inspired by the "double dragon playing with pearls" bracelet of the Qing Dynasty. The Chinese water ripples of the dragon's body bring the image of its swimming in the water, the work pays attention to symmetry, the color is rich, the dragon body, the dragon's green orb and the dragon's head of the vermilion form a sharp contrast, it combines fine craftsmanship with rich materials, highlighting luxury, exoticism.
In the creation of modern jewelry, traditional Chinese culture is like a long-standing artistic river, which not only irrigates the creative inspiration of designers, but also gives each piece of jewelry a deep connotation. These works are not only gorgeous ornaments, but also works of art that carry thousands of years of wisdom and historical heritage. Through the reinterpretation and innovation of traditional totems and ornaments, jewelry designers create a unique and charming oriental style in the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures. Every gemstone and every carving is like an ancient seal carving, outlining the imprint of time. In this world of jewelry, the traditional oriental culture, with its unique aesthetic concept and artistic expression, blooms with a unique light in the fit with modern design, becoming a picture of the intersection of the times and inheriting the glory of oriental civilization.