The Jester
He romps. He flomps. He stomps and clomps. He somersaults in front of
the king. In medieval times…he was the professional merrymaker …he
was the court fool. So…shall we go back to the 1940’s…when our
Jester was created by the Parisian firm Chaumet…jewelers to royal
families around the world? Or shall we traipse yet a little farther
back…to the very beginnings of the custom of the Court Jester?
Oh…what the heck. Let’s go back to even before medieval times. Our
Jester is mentioned in that great Sanskrit epic poem I know you all
read to your children at bedtime instead of The Hat Upon The Cat Who
Always Wanted To Chat With Matt…that great Sanskrit epic…
Ramayana…penned by a poet somewhere around the 3rd Century BC.
1940’s. World War II is coming and comes to and end. Europe is
floundering under enormous economic pressure. There’s not enough
manpower. There isn’t enough materials. Folks are trying to rebuild
their lives. Yeah…well…maybe so. But that doesn’t mean you
shouldn’t go out and buy a piece of jewelry now…does it? Hey,
listen…it was folks like them that kept folks like us alive.
Jewelers had to live too. But it all had to be made affordable. And
so substitute materials were used. Costume jewelry abounded. The
surrealists came to the forefront and made dreams realities.
Did you know that Plutarch the Greek philosopher–who lived from c46
to c120 AD–mentions a Jester owned at the time by the King of
Persia? I know you all knew it…I’m just mentioning it. You want to
know who else employed Court Jesters? Well…let’s see. There was
Attila. And Montezuma. And Philip of Macedon. And last but not
least…the most famous of them all…a common name that lives daily
in the minds and on the tongues of
humankind…Harun-al-Raschid…whoever the heck he was.
Le Spectacle du Monde was the name given to our Jester by Chaumet. I
have little on our li’l fella. He was created in the
1940’s…as I mention above…and that’s the sum total of the
knowledge available to me. I like snippets of …but I
don’t like snippets of snippets. That’s cutting it a bit tight for
me. I will say this about our Jester. I do think he was made of gold.
During those time…gold was still bought by some. However…the key
in those times was to make a piece of jewelry…use as little gold as
possible…and still make the item look impressive. That is what our
little Jester does. I do not know what the face is made of. No one
bothers to say. Why should they? Who cares?..except for me and you
and the rest of the world? Oh well…at least he’s gorgeous.
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: Jester…where you will see a graphic of our
ancient entertainer.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all next
week. Benjamin Mark
TYLER-ADAM CORP.–Jewelry Manufacturers
Tel: 1-800-20-TYLER
E-Mail to: webmaster@tyler-adam.com