Jade Beads

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many artists borrowed elements from other cultures to add notes of “exoticism” to their paintings. Artists often used Japanese kimonos and Chinese robes in paintings of women to introduce color and pattern and, at the same time, to showcase the cosmopolitan taste of the female subject. Many well-to-do women did, in fact, wear such clothing around the home as a fashionable—and comfortable—alternative to Victorian corseted attire. This woman also wears an equally exotic jade bracelet and necklace, the latter providing the painting’s title.

Guy Rose knew fashion. To supplement his income as a painter, he worked as an illustrator, producing fashion illustrations with his wife, Ethel. Ethel was, in fact, the fashion representative for Harper’s Bazar (now Bazaar), a position that enabled the couple to spend many years in France and purchase a cottage in Giverny.