A parure () is a set of various items of matching

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

, which rose to popularity in early 19th-century Europe.

Terminology

A parure typically consists of a combination of a matching necklace,

earrings An earring is a piece of jewelry attached to the ear via a piercing in the earlobe or another external part of the ear (except in the case of clip earrings, which clip onto the lobe). Earrings have been worn by people in different civilizations ...

brooch A brooch (, also ) is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with g ...

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, suc ...

and often a

diadem A diadem is a type of crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty. Overview The word derives from the Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", from διαδέω ''diadéō'', " ...

tiara A tiara (from la, tiara, from grc, τιάρα) is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women ...

. A variation is the ''demiparure'' which consists of as few as two matching pieces, such as earrings and a necklace or brooch.

Design

A parure is not a static piece of jewelry but rather, is modular and can be reconfigured to remain fashionable and suit different occasions. Members of court and higher social ranks vied for the best jewelers to create the most imaginative and elaborate collections that would increase their status. Some necklaces could be worn intact or temporarily disassembled into bracelets, pendants, hair ornaments or brooches with interchangeable components and locking systems. Cases for storing parures were also often highly decorative.

History

Artisans under

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

were credited with some of the first parure inventions in the 18th century. Diamonds, often paired with silver, were popular at that time. A famous example was created for Mademoiselle d’Aubigné's wedding, which included: earrings, two pendants, loops and clasps for the sleeves, 32 buttons, and a large bowknot. There is a tendency for paste parures from the period to survive to the present, as the low value of the component parts made them less likely to be broken up for reuse.

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

was fond of lavishing these gem suites on his first wife, Joséphine, to wear at state functions. Later, he gave similar sets to his second wife, Marie-Louise, including a set made from cut steel. From the mid-19th century, parures made up of

hair jewellery Hairwork, or jewelry or artwork made of human hair, has appeared throughout the history of craft work, particularly to be used for private worship or mourning. From the Middle Ages through the early twentieth century, memorial hair jewelry remaine ...

or jet pieces were made as mourning wear.

Gallery

File:Joséphine de Beauharnais by François Gérard 3.png, Joséphine, Empress of the French wearing an emerald and pearls parure, c. 1807. Detail from a portrait by

François Gérard François Pascal Simon Gérard (, 4 May 1770 – 11 January 1837), titled as Baron Gérard in 1809, was a prominent French painter. He was born in Rome, where his father occupied a post in the house of the French ambassador, and his mother was It ...

File:Amélie de Leuchtenberg - Impératrice du Brésil.png, Empress Amélie of Brazil, granddaughter of Empress Joséphine, wearing an emerald tiara, earrings and necklace File:Louis Hersent - Marie-Amélie de Bourbon, princesse des Deux-Siciles, reine des Français.jpg, Queen Maria Amalia of France wearing elements of her sapphire parure, 1836 File:Elizabeth II Southern Cross.png, Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Brazilian Aquamarine Parure in 2006 File:Royal Wedding Stockholm 2010-Lejonbacken-012 (cropped).jpg,

Queen Silvia of Sweden Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

wearing the Pink Topaz Demi-Parure paired with a diamond tiara, 2010

References

{{wikt, parure Jewellery History of clothing (Western fashion)