on’t just take my word for it. The definition of jewellery given in the dictionary reads as follows: “Jewellery or gems intended for adornment fulfil a primordial need to ornament the human body, serving both aesthetic and status signalling purposes…”
It goes on to explain that throughout history, jewellery has “supported hierarchical structures” (the most powerful possess the finest jewellery) “and differentiation (notably sexual) within a given social group.”
The flash of jewellery, “this radiant world of metal and of gems” as Baudelaire puts it in The Flowers of Evil, alerts us to the established hierarchy (my diamond necklace or, in a more masculine version, the expensive watch on my wrist both serve this purpose) while simultaneously “igniting” us, making us “light up with fierce desire or passion.”
In the same poem (The Jewels) Baudelaire elaborates further: “My darling was naked and, knowing my heart well, She wore only her sonorous jewels, Whose opulent display lent her a triumphant air (…)”
The wearing of jewellery signals a desire to “ignite” (through light, with its sparkle, and through its tinkling sound) and to seize power, and thus to seduce with its fire. Jewellery is a weapon of mass destruction in the service of seduction.
But jewellery can’t do everything. It ignites, but does it move sensitive souls like that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote, “If my heated blood demands women, my moved heart demands love even more”?
After all, true love doesn’t need jewellery; it cares little for hierarchies. It prefers the simple “bonding” jewel to ostentatious display.
Interestingly, the French word bijou comes from the Breton bizou, meaning “ring for the finger”. Joyau and “jewel” both derive from the Latin jocus, meaning “pastime, toy that causes joy” (see also “joke” in English).
After the seductive jewel that “causes joy” and ignites desire comes the simple and modest ring that expresses and seals the bond between two hearts. This is what makes gems and jewellery an eternal accompaniment to our essential humanity, both igniting desire and safeguarding love.
