[Tidbits] Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe

Well…not really folks. But there is a connection to jewelry. In the
memorable words of that great man…believe it or not. The writer of
Ivanhoe…and the father of the historical novel…Sir Walter
Scott…also had the honor of having a gold bracelet created in the
historical spirit of his works.

In circa 1840 chivalry was not dead. Rather…it was embraced…and
idealized…and represented in art form. And so we come to our gold
bracelet. Gold…with pearls…with aquamarine…with rubies…and
with enamel. It has as part of its design Gothic-style niches with
knights in shining armor inside standing guard over the center aqua
…and it has military trophies. It is delicate in its creation…it
is accurate in its allegiance to its times.

It was nostalgia for a time long past that prompted the creation of
our little bracelet. Jewelry at that time borrowed motifs from the
Middle Ages. There was…however…never accurate representation
then. No replicas of authentic pieces. Rather…jewelry creations
were offsprings of genetically different parents. Mutts of the art
world…so to speak. Mongrel mixtures of themes of the past. A piece
of this…a piece of that…and you’ve got a new creation…not
dissimilar in concept as that of the Griffin…or the Sphinx.

The conundrum now is: How much can you say about a bracelet after
you’ve said as much as you can say? Alas…not very much. And so… if
I may borrow from Cyrano…and paraphrase…I end my refrain… and
thrust to the end…whatever that means. As a quick aside… Hemingway
once said something to the effect that if you fall in love with what
you’ve written…throw it away…it’s probably no good. I will defy
his advice…and keep that little business about the refrain anyway.
Who knows…Hemingway might have been wrong. So…for those of you who
are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I direct you to my home
page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will scroll down the table menu
till you get to the box that says Tidbits…and inside the box where
it says Tidbit Graphics…click on the link that says:
Ivanhoe…where you will see a rendering in gold of our adorable
little bracelet.

And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark

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    The conundrum now is: How much can you say about a bracelet
after you've said as much as you can say? Alas...not very much. And
so... if I may borrow from Cyrano...and paraphrase...I end my
refrain... and thrust to the end...whatever that means. 

Cyrano was a great fencer. . . a warrior. At that time it was the
practice of fencing to work their movements to poetry, making rhymes
to keep up with whatever series of parries, ripostes, counter attacks,
etc. that they were working on. So to say that he will ‘thrust to the
end’ says that he will kill his opponent at the end of his verse.

Ben Silver