Lisbon Lace

Eleven years ago, when the American dollar was strong and the Portuguese escudo was one of Western Europe’s weakest currencies, I bought my first piece of handcrafted gold jewelry from one of Lisbon’s myriad ourivesarias, or gold shops. It was a small pin in the shape of a bow, fashioned from a fine gold mesh and brightened by a row of tiny turquoise beads.

The pin cost what my husband and I then considered a small fortune, around $250, but I was charmed by it and we were feeling flush because our travel dollar was extending our buying power beyond all expectations. This reckless abandon with our escudos persisted to the end with a last-minute purchase of a pair of gold hoop earrings at the H. Stern Jewelry shop at the airport. My mother-in-law, who was traveling with us, did not approve.

“They’re not much,” she sniffed, although she was not referring to the price, which was, as I recall, about $40.

The trip was over as far as she was concerned, and any expenditure at this point was frivolous. But those little 19 1/4-karat gold hoops, rather plain indeed, have been my traveling companions for a decade, so versatile, comfortable and secure that they are often the only pair of earrings I bother to take along.

While the past decade has witnessed a small reversal of fortune for the dollar and escudo, due in part to Portugal’s entry into the European Community. (In 1985 we received 172 escudos per dollar; in January of this year we got only 150.) Portuguese jewelry has, to my mind at least, remained a fine value. Adding several pieces over the years, I have come to recognize some of their traditional design elements and appreciate the craftsmanship manifest in Portuguese jewelry--both gold and silver. While my purchases are dictated by an admittedly modest budget (I spend my discretionary funds on airline tickets), I have never been disappointed. There has always been a pair of earrings, or a filigree pendant or a beaded bracelet, that I could afford.

In Lisbon this January, I reserved time to make the rounds of the ourivesarias, first to window browse and note prices (often conveniently visible), then, almost reluctantly, to purchase. I say reluctantly because window-gazing gives me great pleasure whereas decision-making causes me (momentary) pain. With so many window displays to study, and so many unusual and lovely pieces to choose from, who would not have difficulty selecting just the right souvenir? Perhaps, I still hear my dear late mother-in-law’s voice cautioning me against excess.

As usual, I was drawn to those ubiquitous pieces that for me comprise a typical Portuguese “look,” especially the bracelets and necklaces imaginatively combining semiprecious stones, gold beads and filigreed links. Often displayed dangling by the dozen in shop windows, these rainbows of gold, coral, lapis, jade and shimmering pearl brighten the often drab, traffic-clogged streets of Lisbon’s downtown commercial district. Such bracelets (pulseiras in Portuguese) are worn by plump, matronly, black-haired Lisboans and sleek, fashionable beauties alike, women who board buses and subway cars and who stroll the boulevards wearing them two or three to a wrist. But I have not the nerve nor the language skills to ask where they were bought, how much they cost, whether they are tokens of love or merely investment strategies.

Desiring to learn more about the jewelry I love to look at, its designs and its history, I paid a visit to Lisbon’s National Museum of Ancient Art (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga), to wander through a collection of jewelry that spans five centuries and various epochs. Much of the collection was formerly in the possession of churches and convents. It was traditional for families to offer the church a “dowry,” a portion of which frequently was gems or jewelry. Because it was stashed away in the safekeeping of the nuns, sometimes for centuries, this jewelry survived intact and untouched, a rich and relatively rare source of period designs. So much fine jewelry undergoes modification from one generation to the next--in accordance with changes in fashion, materials and techniques--that historians must sometimes rely on written documents or portrait art rather than on existing artifacts for information.

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Although gold shops and jewelry stores (joalharias) are plentiful throughout Lisbon, I generally like to explore by taking walking tours to three areas in which they are concentrated. All lie within the precinct of Baixa, downtown Lisbon, whose center is the Praca Dom Pedro IV, better known as Rossio, and its adjoining square, the Praca da Figueira. No visitor to the city should miss these bustling squares with their fountains, shops and coffeehouses.

We begin, appropriately, in a section of the Rua Aurea, usually noted on maps as Rua do Ouro, Gold Street, the name reflecting the street’s historical function as home to Lisbon’s goldsmiths. Beginning at the south end of Rossio Square, Rua Aurea runs eight blocks due south to the Praca do Comercio. On my last visit, I counted 24 joalharias in the first three blocks alone.

Some of Lisbon’s oldest and finest jewelers are located on Rua Aurea. For seekers of luxury goods and students of jewelry history, a visit to the jeweler Sarmento is essential.

Sarmento has the somewhat intimidating look and ambience of a private museum; its vaulted ceilings in particular recall the building’s 18th century origins. Burnished wood and glass display cases are laden not only with exquisite and costly new and antique jewelry, but also with silver tea services and decorative pieces, such as the Portuguese caravelas (explorers’ ships) constructed of filigree.

Filigree work, as even the most casual window-shopper cannot fail to note, forms a significant part of the canon of Portuguese jewelry. Wisps of gold or silver wire are intricately constructed into chain links, earrings or brooches resembling butterflies, feathers, roses and sunflowers.

Alfredo Ferreira, a member of Sarmento’s sales staff and a gentleman of typical Portuguese courtesy and reserve, told me that nearly all the filigree work on display in Lisbon shops comes from the north of Portugal, from workshops in and around the city of Porto. Price, he said, is determined by the quality of craftsmanship, not simply by the weight of the materials used. An experienced jeweler can easily distinguish between the work of a master goldsmith and an apprentice. Handwork such as filigree is costly because it is labor intensive, although I was surprised to learn that a simple brooch, say a feather design, could be crafted in about one day.

Filigree pins typically range from $200 to $300, depending on size and complexity of design. A two-inch leaf design will cost less than a more intricately designed butterfly or sunflower, for example.

Ferreira went on to explain that filigree, and indeed all Portuguese gold jewelry, is 19 1/4 karats, the legal standard in the country for more than a century. Fourteen karat gold, so common in the United States, literally pales by comparison.

A shop that rivals Sarmento in its luxury items, catering to high-end customers (many of whom these days are Japanese and American, Ferreira told me), is ourivesaria Diadema Joalheiros. In business for 30 years, Diadema too draws upon the artisans of northern Portugal for its filigree work, but also employs its own designers and goldsmiths to develop its contemporary lines.

While I was mainly interested in perusing the typically Portuguese beaded bracelets and the filigree pieces, the courtly, impeccable salesman, who introduced himself as Mr. Alevezo, proudly showed me examples of Diadema’s Collection 1996--sophisticated jewelry out of my price range and not much to my taste. Many of the items make up sets: gold and gemstone necklaces with earrings to match, or the popular combination of earrings and ring.

Along the Rua Aurea, grand jewelry stores such as Diadema and Sarmento are juxtposed with smaller, sometimes tiny, ourivesarias, and these are the shops I prefer. I look for their displays of Portuguese-made jewelry, not imports such as Cartier or the Swiss watches that clutter the windows of the luxury establishments. And I like the shops in which I see Portuguese women huddled over the counters inspecting goods. I trust these women--whose wrists and fingers and necklines I discreetly study in restaurants and cafes, on the buses and in the subways--to lead me to where they buy their beautiful bracelets and chains. I trust them too to lead me to good value.

One such shop is Antonio Joalheiros. Sparkling clean, although small, Antonio has a good deal of its stock in the window and offers as much silver as gold jewelry. I was struck not only by its colorful display of beaded bracelets in onyx, turquoise, amber, lapis and coral, costing as little as $100 or as much as $500, depending on weight and types of stones. I found a good selection, however, in the $150 to $250 range.

Stepping into this shop, I placed myself in the able hands of a saleswoman named Linda, whose warmth and genuine friendliness contrasted with the rather stiff formality of the salespeople at Sarmento and Diadema.

I wanted to know, for instance, about the heart motif I had been seeing in many shops and pointed to a pendant as an example. Linda told me that the design originated in Viana do Castelo, a small town in the north of Portugal. The Viana heart, whether worked in filigree or solid metal, has a poignant teardrop shape, a ubiquitous design used in many contexts: pendants, charms, bracelets and necklaces.

Viana, Linda said, is a jewelry-making center that maintains strong folk traditions, each year hosting a festival of folk music and dance (this year Aug. 20-22). She showed me other examples of Viana jewelry, the most typical of which makes ample use of gold beads with small circular ridges spanning their circumference. These charming little balls are fashioned into necklaces, bracelets and earrings, alone or in combination with other stones and gold links. I had seen them many times before, but knew nothing of their history.

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A leisurely stroll down the Rua Aurea, popping in and out of shops or merely stopping to admire the window displays, can easily occupy an hour or two--or more. There is more than enough selection to satisfy the most discriminating collector or the occasional splurge shopper, but it is only the beginning of this short tour.

Continuing south until reaching the Praca do Comercio, we turn left and walk through the arcades, and turn left again onto the Rua da Prata, or Silver Street, historically the center of Lisbon’s silver trade. Running parallel to Rua Aurea, Rua da Prata resembles its sister street, although not quite so glittery, with only a dozen and a half or so joalharias to browse among.

Barbosa, Esteves is a large, rather old-fashioned family-run establishment founded in 1926. Lots of silver work is on display here: serving platters, pitchers, decorative boxes, as well as elaborate tea and coffee services. The elderly male staff is attentive, but I had a bit of trouble communicating with them in English.

Both Joalharia David and ourivesaria Moitinho display an impressive array of the Viana jewelry, filigree work and dozens of gold chains. Handmade gold chains range widely in price, but typically run from $280 to $1,500, although we occasionally found modest pieces for as little as $135.

Moitinho has a whimsical assortment of charms, many of which are Portuguese in theme: tiny lutes, local landmarks such as the Santa Junta elevator, and the famous Barcelos rooster, a familiar Portuguese icon and a kind of national symbol. Charms are perhaps the least expensive form of Portuguese gold jewelry, make wonderful gifts and are versatile, since they can be worn on chains as well as attached to bracelets.

Strolling down the Rua da Prata toward the Praca da Figueira, I found a branch of Rua Aurea’s Antonio Joalheiros, as well as many other smaller establishments along the way. Rua da Prata’s heavy traffic and the resulting noise and fumes prove wearing, and I was happy to cross into the plaza toward the remaining cluster of gold shops on our short tour.

Walking through the Praca da Figueira to the Largo Sao Domingo, we turn right onto a tiny street, Rua de Barros Queiros, where six jewelry shops sit in a neat little row, very convenient for comparing prices, most of which are plain to see.

By this time, even the novice shopper will recognize the familiar designs. The emphasis in these shops is on traditional jewelry, including lots of filigree. I spotted, for example, a lovely two-inch lily of the valley filigree brooch nestled among the more typical bows and daisies, the only one of this design I saw this visit. At about $240, I was sorely tempted.

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I had not meant to, honestly, but our flight out of Lisbon’s International Airport was delayed, and there was the H. Stern shop beckoning me for one last look. I was surprised, frankly, that its prices were in line with those I found in the city, for I never assume airport retailers of any sort offer true value. Under the enthusiastic guidance of Maria da Fe Lourenco, we found a dear, and irresistible, 1 1/2-inch filigree pendant in the shape of a pear. My husband insisted I should have it and so, we flirted once more with dangerous frivolity.

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GUIDEBOOK

Finding Gold

Lisbon gold shops: Antonio Joalheiros: Rua Aurea 176, local tel. 342-6395.

Barbosa, Esteves: Rua da Prata 293-297, tel. 342-1728.

Diadema Joalheiros: Rua Aurea 166, tel. 342-1362.

H. Stern: Lisbon Airport, tel. 840-2117.

Joalharia David, Rua da Prata 281, tel. 346-0446.

Moitinho: Rua da Prata 67, tel. 342-3244.

Sarmento: Rua Aurea 251, tel. 342-6774.

Hours: Retail hours of most Lisbon shops are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. Some shops keep a half-day schedule on Saturday, closing for the weekend at 1 p.m.

Museums: National Museum of Ancient Art (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga), Rua Janelas Verdes 9, Lisbon; tel. 396-4151.

For more information: Portuguese National Tourist Office, 590 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10036; tel. (800) 767-8842, (212) 345-4403; fax (212) 764-6137.