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Various cultures around the world have a great deal of influence on my work. La Boîte à Bijoux Chinoise or The Chinese Jewel Box is one where the intersection of 2 cultures gave birth to this happy creation.

 

During my recent sojourn to the beautiful Loire Valley of France, I had the great fortune to stay at the beautifully restored neoclassical Château du Grand-Lucé. At the Château there is a beautiful room called the Salon Chinois or the Chinese Salon with beautiful paintings by Jean-Baptiste Pillement. Pillement was a highly regarded muralist of the 18^th century who counted among his patrons Louis XV, Mdm de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette. The murals in the  Salon Chinois is one of only 3 completely intact remaining today. Chinoiserie was absolutely de rigueur during the period and this beautiful room had it in abundance.

 

The beautiful Chinese pavilions depicted in the murals with their curved hip roofs (庑殿顶 or wǔdiàndǐng) and resting hill roofs (歇山顶 or xiēshāndǐng) immediately leapt out to me and La Boîte à Bijoux Chinoise was born. The body of this small but intricate jewellery box is my interpretation of these Chinese style roofs with its elegant and seemingly interwoven curves. Embellished with nothing more than delicious magatamas or drop beads, the box is totally self-supporting and is woven completely in peyote. The lid is topped with a beautiful Czech gold foiled cabochon to create a precious “roof” for the jewellery box. The box sits on “legs” made of delightful Baroque cabochons. The number 8 is also extremely important to the Chinese as it is associated with wealth, prosperity and fortune. As such, La Boîte à Bijoux Chinoise is woven with 8 distinct repeats and sits on 8 “legs” to ensure that the owner of the box will be imbued with the power of the number 8.

 

A happy confluence of Chinese inspired architecture found in a French chateau.

 

To purchase additional gold foiled cabochons please click here.

The Chatelaine is the mistress of a castle or a large and elegant household. It would not be surprising that she would have among her possessions many beautiful jewels and trinkets befitting her station in life. Passed from generations to generations these trinkets would be valuable heirlooms. The Chatelaine’s Heirloom is a self-supporting hollow 3D vessel. Little beads woven into a series of little cubes that form the core supporting spokes. These spokes hide a second colour embellishment on the inside giving it its exquisite jewel tones. An embellished “waist” of crystals further gives the vessel a sense of luxury and its jewel appearance. More crystals embellish both the top and end points of the vessel. The vessel is further suspended from a richly embellished rope echoing the same jewel tones. In lieu of a bail, the rope terminates with a crystal orb at each end. The ends are then attached to the vessel itself to become another accent to the whole.