Regalia de las Reinas de España
©2017 by Cynthia Rutledge
The Nuestra Señora de Atocha shipwreck in 1622 has been a fascination of mine for quite some time. So much so, that the Atocha's story and the treasure that was recovered has been the focus of my newest body of work for well over a year. The shipwreck was found 350 years after she sank in a hurricane off the coast of the Florida Keys and is a time capsule of life as it was in the early 1600's. The find gave all of us in the 21st century a window into the past.
The Atocha was a Spanish galleon that was heavily laden with gold and silver coins and ingots, religious gold jewelry, Peruvian emeralds, tobacco, indigo, silver plate as well as intriguing personal items. One item that really caught my eye was a series of gold links that looked like parts of a 14th to 16th century girdle (a long gold necklace of sorts that was worn around the waist or the shoulders). Girdles were status symbols of power and wealth and position. Usually made of gold, they were incrusted with gemstones and pearls. The regalia of Queens!
The pieces found at the Atocha wreck site seemed so familiar to me. These were not new; this was an antique even for 1622! So, my research began to find more documentation about girdles and more importantly who was painted wearing them, especially of Spanish descent.
Two paintings came to mind. The first is of the Spanish Queen consort; Isabel de Valois (1545-1568) by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (c. 1565) and the second was of her youngest daughter, Infanta Catalina Michaila de Austria (1567-1597) by Alonzo Sánchez Coello (c. 1585). Isabel was Queen consort to Phillip II of Spain and his third wife. Mother and daughter were both painted wearing dark gowns with light colored embroidered sleeves. Both were painting wearing pairs of aiglets (decorative ends to cording), similar hairstyles, great hair decorations, and more importantly, girdles that look almost exactly like the one found at the Atocha wreck site. What is unique and interesting is that different artists painted these paintings and they were 20 years apart.
Regalia de las Reinas de España was inspired by a combination of the two paintings of Isabel and Catalina and of the artifacts found on the Atocha. This design utilizes a unique peyote stitch way of bezeling CZ's to form square bezels, even though the CZ's are not square. Pearl embellishments, and tiny herringbone shapes cupping around single cups of cup-chain, add intriguing elements. Three different components come together to reflect a "girdle-like" look but in a delicate way. The components terminate into tubular peyote stitch tubes with little bead caps, ending with two beautiful buttons and a connector. Beautiful, elegant and fit for a Queen!
Skill level: Intermediate to advanced
Workshop length: This is a 1-day workshop
Necklace length: My samples are 18 inches long
Techniques:
Flat even count peyote stitch
Flat circular, even count peyote stitch with increasing Herringbone
Embellishing techniques