Bridesmaid Jewelry

Bedazzled: 5000 Years of Jewelry--The Walters Art Museum - This exquisitely illustrated book presents a wonderful selection of jewelry dating from the 2nd millennium B.C. to the turn of the twentieth century.

Fifty key items of jewelry are presented, each illustrated in color, many with color details. Each object is accompanied by information on date, maker (where known) and region. Specific terminology, when used, is always explained.

The jewelry selected shows an enormous range of periods, regions, artistic and stylist development, and materials. Signature items featured in this volume include a magnificent pair of gold bracelets encrusted with precious stones and multicolor enamel inlay discovered inside a tomb in Olbia, Ukraine, and dating to the 1st century B.C.; a gold iris corsage ornament by Tiffany & Co., decorated with sapphires, garnets, topaz and diamonds, which was grand prize winner at the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle; and a wonderful corsage ornament of pansy blossoms executed in a combination of cast glass and plique-à-jour enamel by René Lalique, dating from 1904.

The latter piece is especially significant because it marks one of the first instances of Lalique’s use of cast glass. A Glossary provides information on terms. Sabine Albersmeier is Assistant Curator for Ancient Art at the Walters Art Museum, where she is responsible for the Greek and Roman collection.

Dr. Albersmeier is currently working on two upcoming exhibitions for the Walters Art Museum: the touring exhibition Bedazzled: 4,500 Years of Jewelry opening in 2006, and Reviving Ancient Glass: Imitations, Innovations, Interpretations.

Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present (World of Art) - From the simple shell beads worn by Palaeolithic hunters to the splendour of Renaissance goldwork and the sumptuousness of Art Nouveau enamels, here is a guide to the evolution of Western jewelry, concluding with the radical and experimental developments of the last three decades.

Offering a survey of the entire field, the book is organized into chronological sections starting with the ancient world and progressing through the Middle Ages and the Baroque to the Belle Epoque and Art Deco eras, finally reaching the present day.

The author, Clare Phillips, analyzes jewelry's changing fashions, explores its social context, and examines how it has been worn by both men and women. She shows how jewellers have responded to new sources of gems, whether emeralds from the New World or diamonds from South Africa, and to the discovery of metals such as platinum and aluminium.

Masterworks by unknown craftsmen and pieces designed by individual artists such as Holbein, Pugin and Calder, are illustrated alongside the glittering products of the major jewelry houses - Cartier, Fouquet and Faberge among others.

7000 Years of Jewelry: An International History and Illustrated Survey from the Collections of the British Museum - A mind-boggling feat... 7000 years of glittering memorabilia of lost empires, royal egos, superstition and sentiment. (New York Times Book Review )

Historical, inspiring and beautiful, my copy [has taken] up permanent residence on my nightstand. (Barb Switzer Simply Beads )

Description

The most comprehensive and beautifully illustrated history of jewelry.

The previous edition of this exhaustive survey was published to critical acclaim by the British Museum Press. Since publication, the museum has expanded its collection, with major acquisitions of pieces from Europe and Asia. The new edition includes a complete revision of the section on Europe after 1700, plus revisions to the sections on Celtic Europe, Roman Britain, cameos and finger rings.

The book explores the varied styles, techniques and materials used to make jewelry in many civilizations throughout the world and across the millenia. Egyptian necklaces, Celtic torcs, South American gold masks, Renaissance pendants and Art Nouveau buckles are examples of the range of the masterpieces described and illustrated with 400 superb photographs.

7000 Years of Jewelry takes readers on an impressive tour that includes, among other times and places:

• The Middle East: 5000-2000 BC
• Egypt: 1500-900 BC
• Phoenician, Greek, Etruscan and Persian Lands: 850-325 BC
• China, Celtic Europe, Mexico and Peru: 600 BC-AD 600
• The Mediterranean, India, Egypt, Roman Britain and Byzantium: 325 BC-AD 600
• Europe, China, Korea and Japan: 300-1000
• Mayan Central America: 600-1000
• Central and South America: 500-1500
• Europe, Islam, China, Korea and Java: 1000-1500
• China, India, Tibet and Mongolia: 1500-1850
• West Africa: 1500-1800
• Europe: 1500-1950.

More comprehensive than before, this reference remains the finest and most beautifully illustrated history of jewelry ever published.