Jet is a variety of lignite formed from buried tree wood subjected to intense pressure during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. This dark black mineraloid can be easily carved. Jet has been mined in various points on the Iberian Peninsula throughout centuries. However, without doubt, the most important jet globally is still found along the Cantabrian coast, especially in Villaviciosa. Asturian jet is known for its high quality and its association with the Camino de Santiago since the 12th century. The Asturian jet has traditionally been equated by quality and characteristics to the English jet. From prehistoric times to the present day, jet has always been included in burial goods, created for personal adornments with a protective and apotropaic charge, particularly linked to women and children. Among its properties, it can be highlighted that it repels snakes and demons, diagnoses epilepsy, determines virginity, is used as a divination tool, or serves as a remedy for toothaches if cooked in wine, and can also be used as an eye wash (Menéndez, 2020).
Artisans who created pieces with this material were aware of its characteristics and social and religious connotations. The first texts documenting the abundance, use, and exploitation of jet date back to the 3rd century AD in Britain. In the Iberian Peninsula, it was not until the 11th century that its presence began to be documented. From the Middle Ages onwards, the use of jet in the Iberian Peninsula, especially Asturian jet connected with the development of the Camino de Santiago, experienced significant growth.
Such was the importance of this raw material for the guild of jewelers in Santiago de Compostela, that in their ordinances from the 15th and 16th centuries, the guild attempted to monopolize the carving of this material, on one hand denouncing the unfair practices of different artisans, and insisting that no other jet enter Santiago except Asturian. However, there is documentation showing the exportation of materials from other points in the peninsula. In the case of English jet, like Spanish jet, it was linked to the ecclesiastical world as well as the production of crosses and rosaries, although less so than Spanish jet. The most popular piece of jet on the Iberian Peninsula, used as a protective amulet, is the figa, with the earliest dated from the 13th century. With the decline of the Camino de Santiago in the 16th century, new trade routes were promoted that would last until the 20th century. This new trade involved exporting jet materials such as figas, rosaries, and other pieces to America. The last great success of the jet industry, both in the Iberian Peninsula and England, came from the Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Victorian English fashion was linked to mourning following the death of Prince Albert in December 1861, leaving her a widow at age 42. She remained in mourning for the last forty years of her life. The queen's grief was both innovative and excessive, creating new types of material religiosity, wearing this type of mourning jewelry with her (King & Werner, 2019).
"When the queen rode in her open carriage through the park followed by her Highlanders, the nannies […] admired the jet ornaments that Victoria displayed on her small reclined head" (Strachey, 2008).
This led to the Spanish mining industry exporting tons of jet to the UK in just a few years. English craftsmen discredited the quality of Spanish jet, partly blaming it for the collapse of their local mining industry. However, much of the jet used in their famous Victorian pieces and now sold as "Whitby Jet" originated from Spain. The extraction of jet in Asturias was not professionalized and was carried out seasonally by farmers themselves, extracting material in narrow galleries with rudimentary tools and manual methods. The only attempt at modernization for this material's extraction was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century due to high demand from orders coming from the UK. English jet extraction, like Asturian jet, was collected from outcrops, cliffs with beaches... until mining began in the mid-19th century. The craft of a jet worker used simple tools, such as knives, barbers' razors, drills or bow lathes, followed by polishing each piece individually. The secrets of this trade were passed down orally from parents to children or apprentices. In England in the 19th century, there already existed large workshops that met the high demand of Victorian fashion using sophisticated and partially mechanized systems where several workers would group together for chain tasks, although there also existed modest workshops of individual craftsmen (Menéndez, 2020).
In the Victorian era, Queen Victoria's example spread and women followed strict rules of etiquette linked to mourning wear and behavior during mourning (Ortiz, 2019). During this period of mourning, the queen preferred Whitby jet, which boosted the local business in this coastal town of Yorkshire. The extraordinary increase in demand for jet jewelry mid-19th century raised the price of these pieces that could be combined with precious metals or semi-precious stones. Necklaces made from beads were the most popular type of jewelry during the 19th century among bereaved bourgeois women during full mourning accepted within their social class. These types of jet beads were faceted, smooth and carved. After Queen Victoria's death in 1901, the business of jet jewelry declined (Oliver, 2020).
Jet has been worked and used for centuries for jewelry and art thanks to the craftsmanship of jewelers and the transmission of their knowledge to subsequent generations. Jet jewelry was acquired by those who could afford it due to its high cost. From pilgrims buying jet souvenirs in Santiago de Compostela after completing the Camino, to the Queen of England adding jet pieces as a complement during mourning. Nonetheless, both in Spain and England, all jet mines officially closed between the late 19th century and early 20th century. Currently, the two main producers of jet are Whitby (Yorkshire) and Asturias. However, after the official closure of the mines a hundred years ago, the origin and authenticity of jet is not regulated internally or by guild figures, nor administratively (Menéndez, 2020).
Bibliography
Menéndez Menéndez, A. (2020). An Approach to the Past, Present and Future of the Jet Industry: a Cultural Heritage in Extinction. In J. Lerma García et al. (Eds.). I Annual Symposium on Natural and Cultural Heritage: ICOMOS Spain (pp. 480-484). Universitat Politècnica de València.
King, J. & Werner, W.J. (2019). Constructing Nineteenth-Century Religion: Literary, Historical and Religious Studies in Dialogue. Ohio State University Press.
Ortiz, J.A. (2019). Pain and Death in Spanish Clothing: Wearing Mourning at the End of the 19th Century. dObra[s]: revista da Associação Brasileira de Estudos de Pesquisas em Moda, 12(25).
Oliver, J. (2020). Hidden Jewellery Revealed: an Exploration of Social Status through the Rouse Hill House Jewelry Collection, 1801 to 1924. UNSW Sydney.
Strachey, L. (2008). The Queen Victoria. Lumen.
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