Art Retro

Retro Style is a recent designation for the period in the forties when large scale, stylized geometric forms, drapes, bows or ribbons were all the rage. The Retro style was strongly influenced by its predecessor: the Art Deco style. Using the same type and language of geometrical shapes but with bolder heavier lines, shapes and stones.

Typical for the Retro style is its imitation of three dimensional folds of fabric with the ribbon bow as its most popular motif, often highlighted in the center with a calibré cut ruby or sapphire knot (mostly lab-produced stones were used (see also Verneuil rubies and sapphires) and diamonds in various cuts as white accents.

That gold regained its popularity during the Retro period was due to the fact that platinum was not available to the goldsmiths and jewellers since this was being used for the war effort. This was the main reason that during the Retro period different colors of gold became popular - yellow gold was combined with rose gold and green gold in striking combinations. In France goldsmiths worked with no less then 27 shades of colors of gold.

Click the picture to see a close-up of this strong design retro brooch.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be




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Autumn in the Garden of Adin

Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas


In all we do, and hear, and see,
Is restless Toil, and Vanity.
While yet the rolling earth abides,
Fashion comes and goes like ocean tides;

And ere one style dies,
Another trend shall rise;
That, sinking soon into the grave,
Others succeed, like wave on wave;

part of the poem "Vanitas Vanitatum, Omnia Vanitas."
by Anne Brontë (1820-1849)
(freely rendered)

In the arts, vanitas is a type of symbolic still life painting especially associated with Northern European painters in Flanders and the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The word is Latin, meaning "emptiness" and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity.

By the 16th century flowers would appear (again) as symbols of the seasons. Starting in Roman times is the tradition of the use symbols of mortality, transience and earthly remains. These so called vanitas images have been re-interpreted through the last 400 years of art history, starting with Dutch painters around 1600. It is from these paintings that the Gardener took his inspiration for this Garden of Adin Vanitas Vanitatum.

Click the picture to see a close-up of this beautiful Dutch rose cut diamonds brooch.

Antiqualy yours,

The Adin team
www.adin.be


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We saw it through the grapevine

ANTWERP, August 30 (Reuters) – Rumours have reached us that the Gardener of Adin is offering the above pictured bar brooch at a reduced price to Adin's followers. When being confronted with this the Gardener confessed. He told us that the price of the brooch had been curtailed by €1,000 which is almost $1,500! In a later statement he testified that this was done in an attempt to lower the presence of crystallized carbon in the Garden of Adin to meet with the standards as set in the Kyoto protocol.

Click the picture to see a close-up of this magnificent bar brooch.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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Ad ogni uccello suo nido è bello

(With every bird its own nest is charming)

ANTWERP, August 16 (Reuters) – During the absence of the Gardener for his sabbatical leave this year it seems that some birds used the quietness in the Garden of Adin to procreate. A bird-spotter spotted a hatching pair of birds and had Adin's photographer called to make a snapshot of the little love couple. We wonder what their eggs will hatch.

Click the picture to see a close-up of these birds on their nest.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be

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Another mystery in The Garden of Adin

ANTWERP, June 21 (Reuters) – Botanists at Adin, Antwerp - Belgium, have discovered a till-now-unknown flower in their garden. They suspect the plant belongs to the family of the Pansy (Viola Tricolor Hortensis). Lead author and a researcher Elkan Wijnberg at Adin Antique Jewelry suggested to name this flower Viola Albino Diamantes. Soon an article will be published in the magazine of Adin's Association for the Advancement of Science (not to be confused with the American Association for the Advancement of Science - AAAS ). We'll keep you updated!

Click the picture to get to the descriptive page of this flower.

Antiqualy yours,
The Adin team
www.adin.be


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