The plan of the book is arranged on a geographical basis, but owing to the lack of any marking system for jewellery, determination of origin in most cases must rely on comparison first with surviving designs, whether published as prints or in original drawings and secondly with jewels depicted in portraits of the day. There are more definite clues to nationality when historical descent is clear (although gifts from another country than the recipient's must always be allowed for) or the inherent of the piece, as for instance votive jewellery, is recognisable, but it must be admitted that the borderlines between different countries are often very uncertain and influences cross-fertilised. Within the national boundaries the distinction of local schools of the art is an interesting challenge, and the author has some intriguing suggestions such as the Luneburg origin of a small group, if perhaps this is only slightly supported by the evidence she adduces. On occasions she is the victim of her own change of mind. This is revealed by the double appearance of the same piece, a toothpick which is illustrated first under the Southern German chapter as being in the style of Erasmus Hornick, by whom she shows an engraving of just such a piece. But the attentive reader will experience a sense of déjà vu, when he finds in the Spanish chapter the same item keeping company with the mermaid and harpy baroque pearl pendants...surely the Hornick comparison is the valid one.

The author writes perceptively on the marine influences behind the Netherlands creations of the Spanish domination period, though whether Antwerp jewellers could have had many chances to see Mexican gold work brought back by the conquistadores is not certain. It is a stimulating suggestion. There can be no doubt, however, that this work is a most praiseworthy effort to provide the student with as large a corpus of illustrative material as will probably ever be assembled in a book. But excellent as this is, the very size of the work and the long period of production have unfortunately tended, in some degree, to a somewhat disjointed result. In the first place the colour plates, which are in the main of excellent quality considering the diversity of sources, are arranged in one group prior to the geographical chapters, although they are all repeated in the half-tone blocks in juxtaposition to the text. What is an irritation is that the captions for the half-tone blocks are not always contiguous to the respective items. Miss Hackenbroch's essay on this country's productions is a lively picture of the personal taste of our monarchs. Her style throughout is stimulating if at time a little journalistic....Quibbles perhaps, but an indication of the interest aroused in this great achievement for at least one reader.

Sotheby Park Bernet, £55

Antique Collector, October 1980