Exhibitions Archive - by use

Constituents

Beads

5,000 Years of Beads

The national archaeological museum of the Netherlands will show a small but densely packed exhibition on excavated beads, that range from the first prehistoric beads through Roman jewellery until the large-scale production of beads in Venice and Amsterdam in the 17th century.
There is an abundance of strings of beads from the early-medieval period, the heyday of beads, but prayer beads from the Later Middle Ages feature heavily as well. Most objects come from the extensive stores of the Museum and have never been shown before. These are complemented by favourite strings of beads from private individuals, that include a 16th-century rosary made of skull beads, plus a spectacular medieval manuscript from the University Library of the Free University of Amsterdam (only on show for the first months) and equally spectacular modern bead art by world champion Floor Kaspers.

23/01/2022 – 7/05/2023

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Rapenburg 28, 2311 EW Leiden, Netherlands

Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy in New France

Shell beads from North America known as wampum are more than just a raw material transformed into beads. Polished, strung and woven, exchanged and gifted, coveted and imitated, they are a valuable witness to a chapter in the history of former colonised territory New France in the 17th and 18th centuries. Through a display of some 50 pieces, the exhibition examines this raw material and its importance in the creation of objects as well as the role it played in politics and diplomacy involving Native Americans, the French and the English at the time of New France in the 17th and 18th centuries.

8/02/2022 - 15/05/2022

Musée du quai Branly, 37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris, France

Get a Bead On: Jewelry and Small Objects

One of the primary definitions of a bead emphasizes its use in adornment or an ornamental capacity. Contemporary artists who work with beads sometimes adhere to these parameters and sometimes challenge them. This exhibition, comprised of works from RAM’s collection, reveals the expansive potential of beads for structure as well as decoration in contemporary art jewelry and small-scale objects.
Drawn together by a common form, the works included in this exhibition reflect a variety of perspectives on materials, techniques, and wearability. In addition to addressing these formal qualities, the artists also explore a range of social and cultural themes including perceptions of race, material consumption, and excess.

21/07/2021 - 22/01/2022

Racine Art Museum (RAM), 441 Main Street, Racine, WI 53403, USA

Beadwork Adorns the World

Extraordinary how a small glass bead from the island of Murano (Venice, Italy) or the mountains of Bohemia (Czech Republic) can travel around the world, entering into the cultural life of people far distant. Glass beads are the ultimate migrants. Where they start out is seldom where they end up. No matter where they originate, the locale that uses them makes them into something specific to their own world view. This exhibition is about what happens to these beads when they arrive at their final destination, whether it be the African continent (Botswana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa), to Borneo, to Burma, to India, Native North America to Latin America (Mexico, Bolivia to Ecuador). However, this exhibition is not actually about beads, rather it is about the working beads resulting in Beadwork, and what a collective of beads in a garment or an object reveals about the intentions of its makers or users.

22/04/2018 - 3/02/2019

Museum of International Folk Art, 706 Camino Lejo, on Museum Hill, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505, USA

Perlkunst aus Afrika
Bead Art from Africa. The Mottas Collection

The exhibition on the aesthetic and meaning of beadwork focuses for the first time on women as artists. Whether in the shape of fine ornaments, impressive masks, or royal stools – bead art from southern, eastern and western Africa is admired for the delicacy of its workmanship and the diversity of styles. Manufactured in Europe for the African market from the 17th century on, glass beads are indicative of the early stages of globalization. However, glass beads never merely served decorative or ornamental purposes; the colours and designs also convey intricate messages about age, gender, and identity of the persons wearing the pieces. With the Mottas collection, an undisclosed treasure trove has found its way to the Museum Rietberg which both adds to and enhances the existing Africa collection. In the exhibition old beadworks are juxtaposed with contemporary positions from South Africa. To this day, this significant cultural heritage remains a source of inspiration for artists and fashion designers.

7/06/2018 – 21/10/2018

Museum Rietberg, Gablerstrasse 15, CH-8002 Zürich, Switzerland

Beads: A Universe of Meaning

This exhibition traces the history of imported glass beads as a medium of exchange, artistic expression, and identity for indigenous peoples throughout North America. It features garments, articles of adornment, and works of art dating from circa 1850 to the present, and examines the ways in which makers of beadwork have simultaneously sustained tradition, engaged with popular culture, and developed a uniquely native art form.

14/05/2017 - 15/04/2018

The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, 704 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe NM 87505, USA

Strung Together - Beads, People, and History

'Strung Together' celebrates beads and beadwork from around the world, spanning thousands of years and six continents. Blending items from our anthropological collections with works by contemporary artists, 'Strung Together' invites you to discover a world of stories behind the beauty of beads.

8/04/2016 – 5/02/2017

The Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH), 1680 E. 15th Ave., Eugene, OR 97403-1224, USA

Life on a String: 35 Centuries of the Glass Bead

Symbolizing power, enabling ornamentation, and facilitating trade, glass beads are miniature masterpieces that have played significant roles throughout time and across cultures. This major exhibition explores glass beads and beaded objects made by various cultures, representing 3,500 years of human history. and will showcase, for the first time, many important works from the large historical glass bead collection of The Corning Museum of Glass as well as objects on loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Eliot Elisofon Photo Archives at the National Museum of African Art, Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Fenimore Art Museum, Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, and Longyear Anthropology Museum at Colgate University. Highlights of the exhibition include early Venetian chevron and millefiori beads, Roman mosaic beads, West Africa bodom beads, Egyptian eye beads, Chinese horned eye beads, Japanese magatama beads, Bohemian beads imitating precious stones, North American beadworked garments, and contemporary beaded objects by Joyce Scott and David Chatt.

18/05/2013 – 5/01/2014

The Corning Museum of Glass, One Museum Way - Corning, NY 14830, USA

La via delle perle. Sulle rotte dei velieri da Venezia al Mondo
The way of the beads. On the sailing routes from Venice to the world

A homage to the extraordinary art and colour of Venetian glass beads, and their voyages throughout the world, from the streets of the island of Murano to the tribes and exotic landscapes of Africa and America. In these continents, transfigured into symbols and powerful talismans, the glass beads are mounted in majestic jewels made to adorn and protect not only the people but also their sacred objects and animist fetishes.

23/03/2013 – 12/05/2013

Museo del Bijou, Via Azzo Porzio, 9 - 26041 - Casalmaggiore (CR), Italy

Perlen aus Glas. Farbige Geschichten
Glass beads. Colourful stories

This exhibition invites visitors into a treasure chamber of glass beads from around the world. It tells the surprising stories of the use and significance of glass beads in different cultures: tales of Viking beads which travelled from Tashkent in the Caucasus, to the Viking Aros, Aarhus today, of elegant Venetian beads from the 19th Century, of beads of the rain forest of Borneo, to beads that adorn the Greenland national costume and were brought there by European fishermen. The exhibition represents substantial parts of the collection of the Danish curator Torben Sode. He is an expert in the field of historical beads and has published several studies on this topic. His collection includes objects from antiquity to the present day and has already received several international awards. A catalogue of the exhibition is available from the museum

4/11/2011 – 25/03/2012

LWL-Industriemuseum. Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Industriekultur, Petershagen-Ovenstädt, Germany

The Eloquent Silver Curve: The Jewelry of Flora Book

Flora Book has combined her passion for elegant jewelry with her love of silver and life-long study of textiles. Unlike many other Northwest jewelry artists who favor narrative content and use found objects, Book has focused almost exclusively on the expressive possibilities offered by meticulous strands of slender silver beads.
Throughout her career, she has focused on constructing refined compositions that evoke the traditional functions of jewelry but also drape and flow with the wearer’s movements. Book describes her work as an effort to transform the hard metal beads into something soft and flexible, like a piece of fabric. Through her techniques, Book realized her vision to create jewelry that both shimmers like water and drapes like fabric—most eloquently seen in a work such as Cascade, on view in this gallery.
For most of the last decade, Book’s work has evolved into other textile processes such as knitting and machine stitching. These works continue her exploration of the contrast between soft and hard while embracing an aesthetic that is more relaxed and expressive. Her use of reclaimed Mylar from potato chip bags or knitted silver chain allows the forms to be less rigid than her earlier works. Yet, even with these less structured forms, Book cultivates her signature elegant style through the eloquent silver curve.

30/07/2011 to 5/02/2012

Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA 98402, USA

Ercole Moretti. Un secolo di perle veneziane
Ercole Moretti. A century of Venetian beads

A century of Venetian beads and precious handmade glass works by one of the most famous and ancient Murano Glass factories, the Ercoli Moretti & Bros, celebrating this year the one hundredth anniversary of activity. Among the works on display are the 'Rosetta' bead, famous all over the world, the Mosaic bead, the Millefiori and the well known Murrina, on display together with many other glass works, on the first floor of the Murano Glass Museum.

9/10/2011 – 6/01/2012

Museo del vetro di Murano, Venice, Italy

Perles de liberté - Bijoux afro-brésiliens
Pearls of freedom - Afro-Brazilian jewellery

Among the twenty exhibitions of Europalia Brazil that trace the fascinating history of Brazilian art, Grand Hornu Images offers a unique perspective on Afro-Brazilian jewels, both historic and contemporary. Created and worn by slaves as a sign of recognition and empowerment, or inspired by the gods of the home, Afro-Brazilian jewellery combines symbolic and emotional symbolism with a strong and flamboyant aesthetic. All the jewellery shown is from public and private collections.

23/10/2011 - 26/02/2012

Grand-Hornu Images, B-7301 Hornu, Belgiun

Glass Beads of Ghana

Southern Ghana is home to sub-Saharan Africa's most dynamic and enduring glass bead-making tradition. For over 400 years, Ghanaian bead artists have been producing powder-glass beads from recycled glass to meet local demands of fashion and customary practice. Glass Beads of Ghana, the first exhibition to look closely at this distinctive art form, is drawn largely from The Newark Museum's own extensive collection, one of the few such collections in the world.

Until 21/03/2010

Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, USA

The power of masks and royal symbols - Beadwork jewellery from Cameroon.

For centuries, glass beads and cowries served as common means of payment in Africa. Embodying the owner's wealth, influence and international connections, objects embroidered with beads or precious glass bead jewellery were, however, a luxury reserved for only the high dignitaries. The exhibition displays objects from the Klaus Paysan collection, collected over 45 years.

13/11/09 – 07/02/10

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Germany

Engraved gems

Making an Impression. The Art and Craft of Ancient Engraved Gemstones

This exhibition draws on the museum’s collection of Greek and Roman gems, the majority of which have never been displayed publicly. Carved from semi-precious stones with miniature images of various subjects, including gods, emperors, animals, and characters from myth, engraved gems in the Greek and Roman worlds were used as signets, amulets, and personal ornaments, typically mounted in rings. They were admired as luxury artworks, treasured as antiques and heirlooms, and worn as statements of status, wealth, sophistication, and learning. The stones themselves were also believed to have magical and medicinal properties.
Exploring the material, production, and function of these small but significant ancient artworks, the exhibition considers how engraved gems were constructed, protected, and promoted the identity of their wearer, and draws attention to the people who interacted with them — from the enslaved miners who quarried the stones, to the engravers who carved them, to the individuals who wore them, and the viewers impressed by their lustre. This is the first exhibition of ancient gems in the southeastern United States.

27/08/2022 – 27/11/2022

Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, 571 South Kilgo Circle, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

Cameos, intaglios and rings from the Guy Ladrière Collection

This exhibition will present the story of the art of engraved gems from antiquity to the 19th century. It brings together Greek and neoclassical intaglios, antique and mediaeval cameos, small sculptures from the imperial period, Merovingian signet rings, and episcopal rings to explore every facet of the long history of glyptic art.
Through the study of the magnificent Guy Ladrière private collection, the public can embark on an introduction to the history of glyptic art at L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts in Paris. Approximately two hundred pieces will be on display, ranging from Greek Antiquity to the 19th century, thereby providing a panorama of techniques and styles.

12/05/2022 - 1/10/2022

L'École des Arts Joailliers, 31 rue Danielle Casanova, 75001 Paris, France

Magnificent and Meticulous - Highlights from the collection of cut stones

This exhibition brings together the most beautiful and remarkable cut stones from the collection of the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. You will see over a hundred examples of these colourful and often precious gems with engraved images. They come from the ancient Near East, Egypt and classical antiquity. Some are no larger than a fingertip. The stones display images of gods, animals, symbols, emperors and magic spells. The exhibition introduces you to the extraordinary craftsmanship of the artists who cut stones in antiquity and the centuries that followed. You will discover the symbolism behind varieties of stone and the enormously diverse engraved images. Enormous enlargements of some of these minute scenes are projected around the room. In addition, you will get to know the owners and admirers of the stones and the many ways they used them over the centuries. To complement the stones and their images, the exhibition also contains antique chests of drawers that were used by 19th-century collectors.

9/02/2020 – 4/09/2022

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Rapenburg 28, 2311 EW Leiden, Netherlands

Multum in Parvo: A Collection of Engraved Gems

The first exhibition in Wartski's new premises situated at 60 St James’s Street in London will showcase a carefully curated collection of engraved gems assembled by the firm over several years. Entitled ‘Multum in Parvo’ (a Latin motto which translates as much in little), the exhibition will display over 80 intricate carvings in miniature, engraved into beautifully coloured and figured precious and semi-precious stones. Works of art by some of the most notable gem engravers of the 18th and 19th centuries will be represented, as well as examples dating from the Renaissance and Classical Antiquity.

1/10/2019 - 7/10/2019

Wartski, 60 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1LE, UK

Preziose Antichità. Il Museo Profano al tempo di Pio VI
Precious Antiquities. The Profane Museum at the time of Pius VI

For the first time in over two hundred years, an exhibition will bring back to life in the Vatican the charm of the eighteenth-century collections of the Profane Museums at the time of Pius VI, before the Napoleonic requisitions. The original nucleus of the collections of profane antiquities in the future complex of the Vatican Museums, was created by Clement XIII (Rezzonico, 1758-1769) and enriched with further collections and furnishings under Pius VI (Braschi, 1775-1799). The conclusion of this demanding restoration project, which involved the entire collection and its context, is an opportunity to imagine a momentary "homecoming" of a nucleus of antique gems and cameos, mounted in elaborate Neoclassical settings at the end of the eighteenth century, and a valuable numismatic collection of Greek, Etruscan and Roman exemplars. Involved in the dramatic wartime events of the Napoleonic period, these works were transported to France as a war indemnity following the assassination of General Mathurin-Léonard Duphot in Rome in 1798. These works are accompanied by the beautiful copper plate engravings illustrating the collection of the Profane Museum, produced in the eighteenth century and held at the National Institute of Graphic Design

2/10/2013 – 4/01/2014

Vatican Museums, Room of the Aldobrandini Wedding, Palazzo Sciarra, Via Marco Minghetti, 22 – 00187 Roma, Italy

Engraved Gems and the Classical Tradition

Although gems are modest in size, gem engraving was a major art in antiquity. From the Renaissance on, Greek and Roman intaglios and cameos were collected, observed and copied. Scholars could learn about the appearance of gem subjects through publications, often initiated by their almost obsessive collectors, but also through the expanding production of impressions and casts of gems in a variety of materials. This exhibition will give examples of a wide range of these, from sealing wax to glass paste. It will also show a number of original gems. Books on engraved gems of the 17th to 19th centuries from the Christ Church Library are illustrated with impressions, electrotypes and casts from Oxford’s Beazley Archive, and intaglios and cameos from private collections. The exhibition is curated by Dr Claudia Wagner, assisted by Dr Sanne Rishoj Christensen and Dr Cristina Neagu; with the collaboration of the Beazley Archive in Oxford’s Classical Art Research Centre and the Oxford Conservation Consortium.

16/01/2013 – 3/05/2013

Christ Church Upper Library, Christ Church, Oxford, OX1 1DP, UK

Precious and Beautiful. Cameos and intaglios of the Medici

Gem collecting was one of the most fascinating aspects of the rediscovery of antiquity which characterised the Renaissance. As of the first half of the XV century, cameos and intaglios were much sought after by popes, princes and cardinals, on several occasions indeed giving rise to harsh disputes between admirers who were even ready to spend large sums to secure themselves the desired piece. Presenting a select number of pieces of exceptional quality from the most important Italian and foreign museums, the exhibition will illustrate the complex history of this treasure, starting from its formation by Cosimo, Piero and, especially, Lorenzo de’ Medici who reserved a special place to cameos and intaglios in his art collections.

25/03/2010 – 27/06/2010

Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy

Antique gems and pastes

A remarkable collection of gems and glass pastes which numbers about 2300 specimens that reproduce a variety of subjects. Most of these jewels belonged to Jacopo Verità, a noble of Verona, from whom the City bought the archaeological collection in 1842. The exhibition celebrates the publication of the first volume of the catalogue that illustrates, through a careful study, more than a thousand pieces (about half of the gem collection of the Art Museum).

20/01/2010 – 30/05/2010

Museo Archeologico al Teatro Romano, Verona, Italy

The biggest cameos in the world

For more than a year, Andreas and Dieter Roth, experienced and reputable engravers with decades of experience, have worked on two cameos, the "Birth of Venus" and "Triumph of Galatea". From a 95-pound block the 6-pound plate was cut with a diameter of 50 centimeters. With 3 pounds and a size of 49 to 36 centimeters the "Venus" is the largest cameo in the world.

23/10/2009 - 31/03/2010

Museum Idar-Oberstein, Germany

Carvers and Collectors: The Lasting Allure of Ancient Gems

Carved gemstones have captivated connoiseurs of every age, from antiquity to the modern period. The exhibition Carvers and Collectors: The Lasting Allure of Ancient Gems brings together remarkable intaglios and cameos carved by ancient master engravers along with some of the outstanding works by modern carvers that they have inspired. The gems will be displayed together with material from later periods that evinces their importance through the ages--illuminated manuscripts, rare engravings from early catalogues, cabinets designed to house collections of gems, and other works of art in diverse media to illustrate the lasting allure of these masterpieces in miniature.

19/03/2009 - 7/09/2009

The Getty Villa, Malibu, Los Angeles CA, USA

The Gonzaga cameos. Precious works at the court at Mantua.

Pieces from the famous collection of the Gonzagas, originating in the 15th century and including many pieces purchased from the sale of Charles I's collection.

12/10/2008 – 11/01/2009

Museo Diocesano Francesco Gonzaga, Mantua, Italy

Other

Haarige Angelegenheiten
Everything about hair

Exhibition of everything connected to hair, including hair jewellery, hair pieces, hair curls, wigs and all the headdress has to offer. Hair has always been regarded as a sign of strength, virtue, seduction, power, and jewellery. From the existing collections of the Museum, 'hairy' relationships with various areas of life such as crafts and trade, business, cooking, cloakroom, bathroom and bedroom, children and education up to religious cults are highlighted.

18/05/2013 – 31/10/2013

Museo di cultura popolare/Museum für Alltagskultur, via Andreas Hofer, 50, Egna/Neumarkt, South Tyrol, Italy

Magnificent Views? Landscapes in Jewellery

Landscapes first had to be discovered as an autonomous theme – not only in the field of painting, but also for jewellery. Starting from symbolic hints in medieval depictions of saints to the idyllic backgrounds of antique scenes painted in the Baroque period, landscapes served merely as a backdrop for a long time. The 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, when landscapes rich in details gradually evolved as the themes of paintings such as vedute, also marked the heyday of exquisite miniature enamel paintings and ivory carvings on brooches, lockets, pocket watch cases and dials. As revealed by some examples of contemporary art jewellery, even a drab industrial landscape can pique an artist’s interest. In general, the featured motifs such as mountain ranges, plant life or architecture serve as metaphors for a certain place or mood. Reflected upon as an autonomous aesthetic experience, landscapes bring forth a new design vocabulary while at the same time testifying to the artists’ multifaceted ways of exploring the theme of nature and the environment in view of the changes they undergo in the industrial era.

22/07/2013 – 13/10/2013

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Jahnstrasse 42, D-75173, Pforzheim, Germany

A Return to the Grand Tour: Micromosaic Jewels from the Collection of Elizabeth Locke

Diminutive forms of ancient Roman, Greek, and Byzantine mosaics, “micromosaics” — a term coined in the 1970s by collector Sir Arthur Gilbert — are made using a painstaking technique that involves tesserae, small pieces of opaque enamel glass. The tiny mosaics were first developed with regularity in the second half of the 18th century by the Vatican Mosaic Workshop. By the 19th century, numerous independent studios devoted to the production of these small keepsakes were established to meet travellers’ demands and to capitalise on the increasing popularity of micromosaics as symbols of status, sophistication, and social polish. For an English traveller to Rome, Venice, or Milan, for example, a micromosaic of an Italian Renaissance painting or ancient architectural monument captured the journey and today reflects that era’s fascination with the classics and societal requisite travel to the “cradle of western civilization.” The works of art on view in this exhibition, which are predominantly stunning pieces of jewellery, are dazzling in their exquisite detail and craftsmanship. In addition to the tiny enamelled glass that forms the mosaic, eye-catching designs include gold, precious stones, and diamonds. VMFA is pleased to present this decorative arts exhibition and to share these fine works of art from the Elizabeth Locke Collection of Micromosaics.

29/01/2019 - 27/05/2019

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23220-4007, USA

17/01/2020 – 10/01/2021

the Gibbes Museum of Art, 135 Meeting St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA

Ricordi in micromosaico. Vedute e paesaggi per i viaggiatori del Grand Tour
Micromosaic souvenirs. Views and landscapes of the Grand Tour

This exhibition, curated by Chiara Stefani, will show about 40 different types of objects (pictures, snuff boxes, plaques, jewellery), all made of micro-mosaics. Between the second half of the 18th and early 19th century, this technique, became an irreplaceable vector in the spread of the most famous views sought by foreign travelers along the route of the Grand Tour. The works on display, mostly unpublished, come from private Italian and foreign collections, from the Napoleonic Museum and the Vatican Museums, as well as documenting the spread of these particular views of the peninsula, reveal the enduring influence, in the 18th and 19th centuries, of the 17th-century landscape tradition of classical and romantic aspects. Views, first with ruins, and then with picturesque and romantic scenery, therfore became the subjects most frequently treated by Roman mosaics. Their flourishing production contributed to the transposition of views from the public domain to a private function.

16/12/2011 - 10/06/2012

Casa Museo Mario Praz, Rome, Italy

29/06/2012 - 16/09/2012

MAR - Museo d'Arte della Città di Ravenna, via di Roma, 13 Ravenna, Italy

Function

Accessories

Netsuke: Miniature Masterpieces from Japan

For the first time, 75 netsuke from Bristol’s collection will go on display in the Eastern Art Gallery.
These finely carved miniature sculptures were Japan’s solution to a lack of pockets in men’s kimono and other clothing.
Each one is unique and they depict a huge range of subjects from Japanese popular culture – animals, mythical creatures and people as well legendary gods and heroes. Marvel at the breathtaking carving skills and the huge range of stories they tell.
During the Edo Period (1603-1868), men would hang small personal items on woven silk cords and tuck them into their sashes at the waist. Netsuke acted as toggles to stop the suspended objects from slipping.
When western clothing with pockets became increasingly fashionable in the Meiji Period (1868-1912), there was a declining demand for them. Carvers turned their skills toward intricate ornamental carvings called okimono. As purely decorative items, okimono usually have more delicate parts and are slightly larger than netsuke.
Both netsuke and okimono offer a fascinating glimpse into popular Japanese culture.

18/05/2021 - 31/07/2022

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Rd, Bristol BS8 1RL, UK

Bags: Inside Out

From rucksacks to despatch boxes, Birkin bags to Louis Vuitton luggage, Bags: Inside Out will explore the style, function, design and craftsmanship of the ultimate accessory. Bags project bold statements to the outside world whilst concealing our most treasured belongings. Featuring around 300 objects, varying in scale from tiny purses held on a fingertip to luxurious travel trunks, the exhibition explores the function, status and craftsmanship of these highly covetable objects from the 16th century to today.

20/12/2020 - 16/01/2022

Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL UK

"The Other Treasure": The Cases for the Dauphin's Treasure

Visitors to the Museum have the chance to appreciate the exceptional group of 101 cases which, together with the 23 on display in the Dauphin’s Treasure gallery, comprise one of the most complete holdings of its kind in the world, with examples from the 16th to the 18th centuries. These cases were designed to protect the valuable and unique objects in the Treasure, for which reason each one has a different shape. They have wooden cores and are lined with different materials. Most of the cases are covered on the outside with fine leather decorated with dry stamping and gilt tooling of primarily heraldic motifs, particularly the emblems of the Grand Dauphin. Other cases are covered in costly fabrics such as velvet.

10/03/2020 - 28/02/2021

Museo Nacional del Prado, Calle Ruiz de Alarcón 23. Madrid 28014, Spain

East Meets West — Exquisite Treasures from the Aga Khan Collection

Since classical antiquity, the mutual fascination between the Orient and the Occident has repeatedly brought about new art forms. In the Art Deco period, for example, exotic ornamental designs and calligraphies from China, Japan or the Middle East lent themselves perfectly to fulfilling people’s desire for decorative and unusual luxury. Also, the 1920s were characterized by technological progress and rapid societal changes, both of which were reflected in the jewellery and the arts of that era in the shape of exuberantly exotic ornamentation and colours, wedded to clearcut shapes and austere materials. The vanity and cigarette cases, clocks and watches, plus the pieces of jewellery, from the Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection bear eloquent witness to this. The collection originated when, one Christmas, the Prince gave his wife a superbly ornamented case by Cartier as a gift. This was the beginning of what evolved into a comprehensive collection comprising creations by Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Boucheron, Lacloche Frères and the selfsame Cartier company, all of which evoke associations with glamorous dinner parties in exotically decorated apartments or smoky night clubs.

5/05/2018 - 6/01/2019

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim, Germany

L'éventail, matières d'excellence

Paris, capital of fashion and elegant women, vibrates with the genious of its craftsmen. The fan, at the same time both a work of art and a fashion accessory, belongs to this tradition. In the boutiques of the Opera district, women marvel at the beauty of the paintings and are seduced by the elegance of pearl carvings, ivory or tortoiseshell. In their hands they hold the virtuosity of the craftsmen of the Oise. For the most part remaining in the shadows, the craftsmen of the Méru region contributed to the spread of French decorative arts. While best known for making the buttons and dominoes that made their reputation, history has neglected their talent for fans. Their ingenuity and expertise magnify rare and precious materials from distant countries, Africa, India and the Pacific islands. For nearly three centuries this was the main centre for tabletterie in France, Europe, and certainly the world. This new exhibition pays tribute to the expertise of these artisans. Nearly a hundred fans from the early eighteenth century to the present day highlight their mastery and creativity.

13/09/2015 - 17/04/2016

Le Musée de la Nacre et de la Tabletterie, 51, rue Roger Salengro - 60110 Méru, France

Brüechli

The Brüechli of the Innerrhoder women's costumes is a highly decorative item, smothered in silver jewellery. This specific part of the costume emerged at the beginning of the 19th century. when it took over the function of shoulder and neck-cloths. Looking back at the 200-year history of costume, one finds that in the 19th Century the individual costume pieces and thus the Brüechli developed with fashion. So until about 1865 Brüechli were of fashionable white linen or muslin , often supplemented with a pleated collar. Parallel to this were single colour silks, rarely patterned Brüechli with fine tucks and colourful inserts of strands and smocking. As the fashion colour black prevailed in 1880, women wore Brüechli costumes made of fine black silk taffeta and damask. At the same time the embroidery was embellished with fashionable beads, sequins and gold thread. The coloured and richly embroidered Brüechli which is still worn today originated in 1900 and has since changed little. This exhibition shows a rich variety of Brüechli. In addition, there are selected oil paintings, engravings, postcards and photos about Brüechli.

14/07/2012 – 31/08/2013

Appenzell Museum, Hauptgasse 4, CH-9050 Appenzell, Switzerland

From hair pin to shoe buckle. Gold and silver accessories

The focus of this exhibition is on silver and gold costume accessories, made in Europe from the 14th to the 20th century. Special attention is paid to the Southern Netherlands and the non-European influence on European fashion. There is a high range of accessories with a true function that will be on display: hairpins, hair combs en hatpins, jewels combined with a toothpick and earspoon or with a perfume bottle, all kinds of pairs of glasses and lorgnettes, accessories with closing functions like ring brooches, cape clasp and buttons, girdles, belt buckles, tie pins and sleeve links, accessories hold in the hand like rosaries with pomander, posy holders, fans, walking sticks and umbrellas, accessories put on the waist like chatelaines with watch, fork and knife in a case, pomanders, needle cases, skirt holder etc., purses and their contents, knee and shoe buckles.

22/03/2011 - 12/06/2011

Zilvermuseum Sterckshof, Antwerp, Netherlands

Inro – Gürtelschmuck aus Japan
Inro - Japanese Belt Ornaments. The Anna and Christian Trumpf Collection

Inrō are sets of small cases nested within one another, and were predominantly used to carry official seals and medicine. Inrō were attached to a sash by a toggle (netsuke). These cases first came into fashion in the 16th century and remained a striking accessory of Japanese men's fashion up until the end of the 1800s. Rich in symbolism and not uncommonly incorporating narrative elements, these objects allow for valuable insights into Japanese culture. Meticulously detailed and lovingly crafted, inro were mostly finished in lacquer. These elegant cases remain to this day beloved by collectors. This small-scale exhibition presents a selection of the Linden Museum's extensive inrō collection in the East Asia Department, and pairs these inrō with a large assortment of netsuke.

19/03/2016 - 29/01/2017

Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Hegelplatz 1, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany

Sequins - accessories - compacts. Fashion drawings and objects of the Twenties

The fashion of the 1920s is the focus of this special exhibition of the Costume Lipperheide library. The focus of the exhibition is on the one hand fashion drawings from Berlin, Paris and Vienna from the unique holdings of the Collection Fashion Image - Costume Lipperheide library. The second focus is the powder boxes and cosmetic accessories of a Berlin private collector presented for the first time. The approximately 200 exhibits in this collection illustrate the high quality, design and form of this rare variety of beauty items.

07/05/09 – 09/08/09

Kunstbibliothek, Berlin, Germany

Precious Art Deco Objects

This exhibition presents a selection of art objects from a remarkable collection of the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan. The precious boxes making up that collection were amassed for his wife, the Princess Catherine Aleya Beriketti, and represent incredible masterpieces of inventiveness, creativity, fantasy, skills and technical prowess. These precious objects, whose craftsmanship was as important as their function, were specially designed for the first wave of ‘liberated’ women in the 1920s: women who smoked, enjoyed going out, applied make-up in public, and kept track of their numerous social engagements with a watch or a clock. Cigarette cases, nécessaires (vanity cases), powder compacts and other precious objects in gold enriched in ornamental or precious stones, adorned with mother-of-pearl, lacquer or translucent enamel, sometimes enhanced with miniatures of Asian or Western inspiration, were presented for the first time in New York at the Cooper Hewitt Museum on the occasion of the exhibition “The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s”.

11/11/2019 - 9/02/2020

L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts

Unit 510A, 5F, K11 MUSEA, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

Daily 12:00 – 19:00

Free admission on every hour.

Jeweled Splendors of the art deco era: The Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan collection

Installed in the Carnegie Mansion’s Teak Room, more than 100 extraordinary examples of cigarette and vanity cases, compacts, clocks, and other luxury objects from the premier jewellery houses of Europe and America.

7/04/2017 - 27/08/2017

Cooper Hewitt, 2 East 91st Street, New York, New York 10128. USA

Galante begleiter: vom metalltäschlein bis zur garnkugel

Accessories from the 19th century to the 1920s

21/6/08 – 24/8/08

Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim, Germany

The Gratest Nutmeg Collection

This year Grey-Harris & Co will be exhibiting well over 500 nutmeg graters from around the world, substantially in silver, gold, enamel and treen, with the addition of the illustrated reference book, 'Nutmeg. Graters, Pomanders and Spice Boxes', by Dr John Reckless. Containing over 4,000 photographs and associated information on the history of the nutmeg grater, it will be available for reference during the exhibition. The book, over 10 years in the writing, follows the author's quarter of a century of collecting.
This is a rare opportunity for the public to view such an important collection of graters, pomanders and ephemera drawn from private collections, many not previously exhibited. It's especially interesting as the nutmeg and the grater have such a fascinating history. Once, nutmeg was worth its weight in gold. For much of human history, the tiny Banda Islands in the deep oceans of eastern Indonesia were the only source of this esteemed spice. During the 16th century apothecaries used it extensively as a basis for many remedies. By the 17th century its use as a spice in drinks and food became fashionable. Nutmeg was often carried in pocket-sized silver containers, equipped with a grater so it could be added to punch.

7/10/2022 - 22/10/2022

Grey-Harris & Co, 12 Princess Victoria St, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4BP, UK

Amulets

Spellbound: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft

Explore the history of magic over eight centuries in this immersive and thought-provoking exhibition. The intriguing objects on display show how our ancestors used magical thinking to cope with the unpredictable world around them. They range from the fantastical and macabre (a unicorn’s horn, a human heart encased in lead), the beautiful and mysterious (exquisitely engraved rings to bind a lover and medieval books of ritual magic), to the deeply moving confessions of women accused of witchcraft. The exhibition asks us to examine our own beliefs and rituals, and aims to show how, even in this sceptical age, we still use magical thinking and why we might need a bit of magic in our lives. To illuminate the links between past and present, specially commissioned works by contemporary artists provide dramatic responses to the themes of the show, conjuring demons, flames and the scuttling of malignant spirits.

31/08/2018 - 6/01/2019

Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont St, Oxford OX1 2PH, UK

Magic in the Ancient World

Protective amulets, incantation bowls, curse tablets, powerful rings, magical stones, and anatomical votives — these objects and more, once used by ancient peoples seeking to fulfill desires through supernatural means, are featured in this exhibition. Deeply entwined with science and religion, magic was a real and everyday part of life for many ancient peoples around the world. Ancient magic addressed many of the dreams, hopes, and passions humans grapple with today: desire for health and wellbeing, protection from evil, even revenge. The exhibition, featuring 81 artifacts from the Penn Museum’s collections, explores some of the magical objects, words, and rituals used in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome.

16/04/2016 - 4/09/2017

Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Baculum

The baculum (Os penis or Os priapi) is the penile bone possessed by all mammals except human beings. It is thought that the purpose of the baculum is connected to reproductive strategies and the preservation of species. The bone makes it possible for extended periods of mating. Even human-like chimpanzees have penile bones. The bone is a mythical object that holds magical significance. In Finno-Ugrian folkloric traditions, the penile bones of bears were worshipped. When a piece of jewellery is worn as an amulet on the body, it’s significance changes again. This exhibition shows pieces of jewellery made by Helena Lehtinen, Eija Mustonen, Karen Pontoppidan, Miro Sazdic, Nelli Tanner and Tarja Tuupanen presenting new significances for baculum by exploring general meanings or inventing totally new interpretations.

11/03/2012 - 1/06/2012

Deutsches Jagd- und Fischereimuseum, München, Germany

Felicity Powell - Charmed Life: The solace of objects

This exhibition is the result of the artist Felicity Powell’s engagement with a collection of 1400 amulets assembled by the Edwardian amateur folklorist Edward Lovett. One of the few people to have had access to this curious collection of ‘charms’, once carried in the pockets of Londoners for luck or protection, Powell was intrigued by the silent witness they bore to countless personal narratives. Amulets have appeared throughout history and across many cultures in an infinite variety of forms. Each has been invested with the hope or belief that it could somehow mediate on behalf of its owner. Reflecting on the potency – sometimes alluring, sometimes repellent – of these much-touched objects, Powell found parallels with her own artistic practice.

6/10/2011 – 26/02/2012

Wellcome Collection, London NW1 2BE, UK

Talisman

Talismans are found in many cultures throughout the world. In this exhibition twelve contemporary New Zealand jewellery artists have made new work responding to the enduring power of the talisman. The inclusion of twelve rare and important historic talismans from Canterbury Museum's Oceanic collection highlights an exchange across times and cultures, and reinforces not only the connections between jewellery and the body, science, magic and nature, but also the idea that jewellery accrues meaning through use.

5/12/2009 - 14/02/2010

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, Christchurch, New Zealand

Past and Present. Animal-themed amulets from Asia and Africa

An exhibition of jewellery, ornaments, amulets and talismans and everyday utensils from Africa and Asia on the theme of the symbolic animal.

15/05/09 – 15/11/09

Musée des Beaux-Arts Salies, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France

Jewels and ritual. Treasures from the Perusini collection.

27/6/2008 – 30/11/2008

Il Museo Etnografico del Friuli, Friuli, Italy

Bags and cases

Taschen und Schmuck - "Elegante Begleiter der Damen"
Bags and Jewellery - "The Elegant Companion for a Lady' "

Ornate works of cut-steel and glass beads.

Ends 29/11/2018

Deutsches Fächer Museum, Barisch Stiftung (German Fan Museum), Am Bach 19, 33602 Bielefeld' Germany

Court and Craft. A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq

Discover the story behind one of the most extraordinary objects in The Courtauld's collection: a bag made in Northern Iraq around 1300. No other object of this kind is known. Inlaid with gold and silver and decorated with a courtly scene showing an enthroned couple as well as musicians, hunters and revellers, it ranks as one of the finest pieces of Islamic metalwork in existence. The bag was made for a lady in the courtly circles of the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty, established in west Asia by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulagu. This exhibition considers this luxury craft tradition before and after the Mongol invasion. This exhibition explores the origin and cultural context of this extraordinary object, alongside displays of illustrated manuscripts, ceramics and other luxury crafts.

20/02/2014 – 18/05/2014

The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 0RN, UK

Taschen. Eine europäische Kulturgeschichte vom 16. bis 21. Jahrhundert

Bags. A European Cultural History from the 16th to the 21st century.

The Bavarian National Museum presents a special exhibition of about 300 bags from the 16th to 21st Century. The range includes early purses, hunting bags, hand bags, luggage and so-called Pompadour, to modern ladies' handbags that since the late 19th Century are an indispensable part of the female wardrobe. See different types of bags as well as paintings, sculptures and graphic works that convey the context of support and function. From money bags to Kelly bags the variety of shapes and materials of these multi-faceted yet functional accessories are brought before us - a European cultural history in your pocket.

11/04/2013 - 25/08/2013

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Prinzregentenstraße 3, 80538 München, Germany

Ultra Vanities. Bejewelled make-up boxes from the age of glamour

With early, minimal and elegant pieces from the 1920s shown alongside extravagantly adorned examples from the 1950s and later, Ultra Vanities provides a window on a glamorous world of luxury and elegance and reflects the social and design history of the times. Aside from being stunning objets d’art the boxes were miracles of miniature engineering featuring tiny components all contained in a very small space. The exhibition will be staged in the principal first floor rooms of Goldsmiths’ Hall which will be transformed, for the occasion, into an elegant Parisian salon of the 1930s and dressed with historic touches and references back to an age of glamour.

31/05/2013 – 20/07/2013

Goldsmiths' Hall, Foster Lane, London EC2V 6BN, London

Bracelets

Shackles of Beauty. Bracelets Through the Ages

The bracelets on exhibit include ancient treasures, the work of 20th century artists (Adamson-Eric, Mari Rääk etc.), and pieces by contemporary jewellery artists.

19/11/2011 - 7/04/2012

Adamson-Eric Museum, Lühike jalg 3, 10130 Tallinn, Estonia

Brooches

Imprint — Vintage Costume Jewelry of the 20th Century

The "vintage brooch" here refers to the brooches as costume jewellery that were crafted from 1930s to 1980s， which is the most distinctive and typical vintage costume jewellery of the 20th century. It was achieved through a fundamental change in material, technique, styles and concept. Different from “fine jewellery” that was crafted by precious metals and natural gemstones, costume jewellery was manufactured from non-precious metals such as alloy, sterling silver and brass, as well as synthetic materials and imitation gems such as rhinestone, glass and lucite. Costume jewellery is a kind of fashion jewellery that includes a range of ornamentation to enhance the daily look.
This exhibition, with a display of 938 pieces （143 sets), as well as 51 posters, design drafts and a patent certificate, achieves in a frame of social, cultural and historical context through vintage brooches to reveal the great advancements in vintage costume jewellery of the 20th century.

8/11/2022 – 3/05/2023

Tsinghua University Art Museum, NO. 1, Tsinghua University Campus, Hai Dian District, Beijing, China

The Brooch Unpinned: The Goldsmiths’ Company Collection 1961–2021

‘This exhibition celebrates the art of the brooch and the dynamic relationships it creates – between maker and wearer and between wearer and viewer. It explores a selection of British brooches from the Goldsmiths’ Company’s unique jewellery collection, tracing the evolution of contemporary design in this most wearable and revealing of accessories. From ancient times, a brooch could be an emblem of authority, wealth and power. Before buttons or hooks, a brooch was the only way to fix textile to the body. That relationship with the body, and with textiles, underlines the role of micro-engineering in making a brooch work. Brooches are versatile, can be worn to convey a message, or to spark a conversation. Brooches were at the heart of post-War jewellery design. Wendy Ramshaw referred to the brooch as ‘a portable artform’, and, as exemplified by our latest acquisitions for the Goldsmiths’ Company collection, they continue to fascinate and challenge contemporary makers.

12/04/2021 - 20/08/2021

The Goldsmiths' Centre, 42 Britton Street, London, EC1M 5AD, UK

Anziehend — von der Fibel zur Brosche
Fitting and Befitting — Fibulae and Brooches

The development of clothing entailed the question of how to fasten or artfully gather garments, something which evolved into a theme that challenged jewellery makers in various epochs. As garment fasteners, fibulae served both a practical and an ornamental purpose. Their triumphant advance began in the Bronze Age, when people learned how to artistically work metal. Serving both as fasteners and status symbols, fibulae remained indispensable accessories well into the High Middle Ages. Along with the advent of buttons, they evolved into brooches that »merely« satisfied people’s need for adorning themselves. In the Baroque period, a bodice or a man’s hat without a magnificent brooch would have been unthinkable. In modern times, brooches have attained a status as autonomous works of art. As »art to wear«, these sculptures worn on the body offer a multitude of options for artistic expression. Pforzheim’s Jewellery Museum houses an exquisite collection of this jewellery type from all epochs and eras. A selection of 100 superlative specimens will be illustrating the wide spectrum of a theme that is far from having been exhausted.

20/11/2015 - 21/02/2016

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim, Germany

Fibulae

This is a small exhibition about the clothing accessories that turn up most frequently in archaeologists’ finds: brooches known as fibulae. These brooches were used to fasten items of clothing, especially cloaks. Nearly four hundred fibulae are on view in the display cases. They were skilfully made and many are splendid objects. They tell us a great deal about life and fashion in antiquity and the Middle Ages.

28/01/2017 – 3/06/2018

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Rapenburg 28, 2311 EW Leiden, Netherlands

Brooching the Subject: One-of-a-Kind

This exhibition will include one-of-a-kind, wearable brooches from 22 artists. Each artist has a Southern connection, based on where they choose to live, work or teach. "Studio art jewelry is different from fine jewelry because the materials involved may include found objects, plastics, toys, wool, enamel, glass, semiprecious stones, paper,” said Katz, a former jewelry designer, and curator of the Center for Southern Craft and Design at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. “It’s not prized for the weight of the stones or the value of the metals. It’s prized for the sculptural or narrative quality, or just its beauty."

22/04/2010 - 15/07/2010

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Center for Southern Craft and Design, New Orleans, LA, USA

Buttons

Knopf dran! Eine Kulturgeschichte der Knöpfe
Button it up! A cultural history of buttons

Buttons are constant companions in our everyday life, but they are hardly noticed. Only when they are missing do we notice the little helpers. The history of buttons began about 6,000 years ago. Round objects made of stone with geometric patterns are known from the Neolithic era, but initially served as jewellery and not least as a symbol of prosperity. It was not until the late Middle Ages that locking technology came to Europe from the Orient. The Europeans did not find out how practical it is to close clothing with the round panes that are sewn on and then pushed through a slot in the clothing material. The rapid triumph of the button, however, underlined the ingenuity of the simple and practical locking technology. The button not only had a major impact on fashion, it also spawned new professions. This special exhibition "Button it up!" shows different areas of application of buttons, but also beautiful, decorative "jewellery" pieces that give clothing a special touch. Whether buttons are made of mother-of-pearl, rosewood, deer horn or with a fabric cover - the variety of materials from which buttons are made is also taken into account. Part of the button exhibition is dedicated to the button industry that was once located here. One chapter illuminates the history of the "Chnopfi", the Raymond company in Lörrach, whose beginnings go back to the manufacture of snap fasteners. Numerous objects show the development and the historical product range of the Lörrach company.

Exhibition extended to 17/01/2021

Museum Weiler Textilgeschichte, Am Kesselhaus 23, 79576 Weil am Rhein-Friedlingen, Germany

Gilding the Lily. Buttons and other Ornaments

Buttons are small, functional, everyday objects—yet their design and material may signify changes in fashion as well as testify to one's economic and social status. Making the small button the “hero” of an exhibition is a somewhat subversive act, seeking to grant it unusual attention. Collecting buttons is an act of passion, almost an obsession. The exhibition presents thousands of buttons from private collections as well as other tiny ornaments.

14/02/2017 - 10/06/2017

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Agnes and Beny Steinmetz Wing for Architecture and Design, Galleries 1 & 2 Herta and Paul Amir Building, 27 Shaul Hamelech Blvd, POB 33288, Tel Aviv, Israel

Déboutonner la mode
Unbuttoning fashion

This exhibition is the first opportunity to unveil a unique collection of over 3,000 buttons, accompanied by a selection of more than 100 male and female fashion costumes and accessories chosen from the most iconic designers such as Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier and Patrick Kelly. Acquired in 2012, this collection was awarded the status of a major work of heritage interest by the Advisory Committee for National Treasures. Dating from the 18th to the 20th century, these objects, small in size, are true works of art due to the quality of the materials and techniques used in their manufacture. This collection, assembled by Loïc Allio, is exemplary for its variety, richness and eclecticism. Among the exceptional pieces are a woman's portrait in the style of Fragonard, a trio of buttons inspired by La Fontaine's fables of the goldsmith Falize Lucien, a set of eight birds painted on porcelain by Camille Naudot and finally a series of 792 pieces by the sculptor Henri Hamm. The 'paruriers' Jean Clement and Francois Hugo and artists Jean Arp and Alberto Giacometti worked for the famous fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, like Maurice de Vlaminck with the fashion designer Paul Poiret. The fashion houses Dior, Balenciaga, Madame Grès, Givenchy, Balmain and Yves Saint Laurent, in turn, favoured the work of the jewellers Francis Winter and Roger Jean-Pierre. We also discover creations by Sonia Delaunay and Line Vautrin.

10/02/2015 - 19/07/2015

Musée des Arts décoratifs - Mode et textile, 107, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France

Buttons, Artistic, historical and cultural phenomena

The historical centerpiece to the exhibition will be more than 1,500 precious pieces from the Loic Allio Collection, considered to be one of the finest in the world. The collection holds many unique surprises, from a rare 2,500 year old Chinese button to buttons worn by the nobility at Versailles and in the gardens of the Palais-Royal, as well as buttons worn by the revolutionaries who stormed the Bastille prison. It will also introduce the public to exciting new works by a number of contemporary artists who use buttons as their medium, including: Clare Graham, Lisa Kokin, Lauren Levy, Amalia Amaki and Penelope Leaver Green

4/06/2009 – 14/08/2010

Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, France

Clasps

Gürtelschließen aus dem Balkan, Asien und Nordafrika
Belt Buckles from the Balkans, Asia and North Africa

As with all articles of clothing, belts and their fastenings are governed by fashion. Not only do they keep skirts and trousers in the desired position and hold open garments closed but they can also express wealth, social status, and regional origin. Many belts and belt fasteners additionally serve as jewellery. A further aspect is much more difficult for the observer to interpret – their magical or symbolic meaning. This exhibition displays around 150 examples from 30 countries belonging to an extensive private collection. The exhibition pieces demonstrate an immense diversity of design elements such as elaborate ornamental patterns, landscape views, botanical motifs, and human forms. A wide spectrum of different techniques, design inceptions, motifs, and artistic details is represented.

17/05/2015 - 27/09/2015

Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau, Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e. V., Altstädter Markt 6, 63450 Hanau, Germany

Crosses and other religious objects

Les Reliquaires de A à Z
Reliquaries from A to Z

A as in "Agnus Dei", B as in "Bras" (arms), C as in "Custos", D as in "Dent" (tooth), E as in "Épine" (thorn) ... The major themes related to Christian practices and belief are presented via 26 letters in the exhibition "Reliquaries from A to Z": a mystical alphabet assembled from the collections of the Mucem. In 2002, the Mucem acquired from a private individual a unique collection of some 500 reliquaries. This very rich set testifies brilliantly to the variety of forms, techniques and uses of reliquaries in the European Christian world, mainly over a period from the 17th century to the first third of the 20th century. The term "relic", from Latin reliquiae (literally "remains"), refers to the human remains of holy persons (often bone fragments) or objects that belonged to them or had been in contact with their bodies. In the Christian religion, if the relics were first placed within the altar of churches, the development of their cult is accompanied by the production of a wide variety of containers used to preserve and glorify them: reliquaries, monstrances, paintings, chests, statues, custos, rosaries, medallions, etc. In the 17th century, reliquaries also enter into domestic spaces to protect the home. They are then found on the threshold of houses, on chimneys, or even suspended above beds. Their trade intensifies, and with it, the will of the Church to frame the practice and to guarantee the origin of the relics. Certificates of authenticity, meticulous inventories, showcasing, a desire to present the "rest" in its best light ... Practices around relics are not dissimilar to the conservation and exhibition work carried out by museums.

10/04/2019 - 2/09/2019

Le Mucem, Fort Saint-Jean, 201 quai du Port, Marseille, France

In the Shade of the Cross. Western-European Crosses and Crucifixes of the 8th - 19th Centuries. From a private collection, Milan

23/09/2011 – 29/01/2012

State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Head ornaments

Kopfschmuck, Tracht und Identität – Europa, Asien, Afrika
Headdress, costume and identity - Europe, Asia, Africa

Historical headgear from the Lake Constance area and over 35 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa can be seen for the first time in a new concept. The more than 300 objects date from the 18th to the 21st century. Across the world, headdresses indicate social status and origin. The variety of textile and metal head ornaments includes bonnets, shackles, hair ornaments and other rare forms. A special focus is on wheel and gold bonnets from Liechtenstein and Austria, including individual items from the archive of the Liechtenstein Traditional Costume Association. Numerous complete costumes from Europe with their headdresses give an impression of the variety of regional clothing styles. The face of the costume comes to life in costume biographies. One focus is on the individual wearing of traditional costumes in historical use.

25/06/2022 – 30/10/2022

Liechtenstein National Museum, Städtle 43, Postfach 1216, 9490 Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Power & Image: Royal & Aristocratic Tiaras

Representing a rare and historic gathering of fine jewels, this exhibition draws together over 40 outstanding tiaras including examples with British and European royal provenance. Most of the assembled exemplars have been handed down through families for generations and seldom loaned for public display. Their range reflects successive design evolutions in the format, prompted by monarchic taste, societal shifts and the influence from other art forms, through to contemporary jewellers redefining tiaras today.

28/05/2022 - 28/06/2022

Sotheby’s London, 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1A 2AA, UK

Le monde en tête
Headdresses from around the World

For more than 20 years, Antoine de Galbert built a collection of more than 500 headdresses from outside Europe. Given to the Musée des Confluences in 2017, these objects are windows onto an amazing cultural diversity. In the museum's largest room, the exhibition invites you to freely explore, like a stroll through a garden, around 20 or so tables that group the headdresses together by theme, such as feathers of the Amazon, wedding headdresses and symbols of power, in order to understand their uses.

6/06/2019 - 15/03/2020

Musée des Confluences, 86 quai Perrache, 69002 Lyon, France

Erhobenen Hauptes — Kopfschmuck aus aller Welt
With their heads held high - headgear from all over the world

Headgear ranks among the insignia of self-elevation. Crafted from precious materials, usually of imposing size, and worn on the head, they convey the wearers’ status and position in the hierarchy of the society concerned. The exhibition will be show-casing a wide variety of headgear ranging from diadems and crowns, bonnets, hoods and hats to funeral wreaths and turbans, including their multifaceted variants in terms of shapes and colours. The exhibits will cover the whole gamut from specimens worn at court in the occidental world to folkloristic and ethnographic examples. Pforzheim’s Art Association will be staging a concurrent show on the same theme.

15/11/2014 – 8/02/2015

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Jahnstrasse 42, D-75173, Pforzheim, Germany

Crowns of the Vajra Masters: Ritual Art of Nepal

The single most potent symbol of Buddhist ritual as performed in Nepal is the Vajracarya priest's crown. Five examples presented in this exhibition will create a cosmic field into which viewers will enter, encircled by paintings of ritual performance. The exhibition is occasioned by the recent acquisition of a superb early Vajracarya crown dating to the 13th or early 14th century; this will be joined by an 18th-century crown already in the collection and two others recently discovered in the Department of Arms and Armor. Bronze and wooden ritual utensils, Nepalese cloth paintings, and archival photographs of ritual enactment will complete the exhibition.

16/12/2017 - 16/12/2018

The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, USA

Jewellery of power: crowns and tiaras

The aim of the exhibition is to be an excursus among crowns and tiaras of the past and present, focusing attention on what they are and what they have been. An authentic leap into the tastes and styles of different eras through the works of great artists. A world of creative interest, a testing ground for contemporary goldsmiths and designers. On display, precious items, symbols of political, social, economic and emotional power and, at the same time, a sign of the excellence of gold art, “works that are present and still extremely current in jewellery production, true icons of style in the past and even now.” The exhibition therefore blends different times and contexts, presenting crowns and tiaras from high jewellery to fashion, confirming and enhancing the Museo del Gioiello’s pluralistic and inclusive spirit.

22/09/2018 – 17/03/2019

Museo del Gioiello

Piazza dei Signori, 36100 Vicenza, Italy

Crowning Glory

In its 250th anniversary year, Fairfax House presents a spectacular exhibition which draws together a glittering display of tiaras, coronets and jewellery to celebrate the great beauty, visual splendour and important stories of Yorkshire’s historic jewels and treasures. Passed from generation to generation, these jewels chart the long-established families whose history is intertwined with this county, the events connected with them and the succession of individuals who have worn and cherished these heirlooms.

8/02/2013 – 23/06/2013

Fairfax House, Castlegate, York YO1 9RN, UK

Tiaras: queen of jewellery, jewellery of queens

The exhibition will include pieces from the Royal collection, as well as modern pieces from Georg Jensen, Ole Lynggaard of Copenhagen and Bodil Binner.

13/03/09 – 11/08/09

The Amalienborg Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark

¡Y yo con estos pelos!
And me with this hair! Roman bone hair pins

Human beings have used bone since prehistory, as a raw material for the elaboration of different tools and decorative objects. In Roman times they also achieved a great success, as indicated by the abundant objects found in Rubina (Nanclares de la Oca, Iruña Oca), which surely were made there. It is worth noting that hair pins were essential to carry out the elaborate hairstyles that followed the fashion of the Empire and to show the wearer's social status.

1/03/2020 - 31/08/2020

Museo de Arqueología de Álava, Cuchillería, 54, 01001 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

Origins of the Afro Comb: 6,000 years of culture, politics and identity

The 6,000-year history of the Afro Comb, its extraordinary impact on cultures worldwide, and community stories relating to hair today are explored in this new exhibition. Material culture on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum includes hundreds of remarkable combs - from pre-dynastic Egypt to modern-day black fist combs referencing the Black Power Movement - as well as associated images and sculpture showing the wide variety of hair styles found in Africa and around the world. A digital interaction gallery features projections of personal stories about combs and African type hair and visitors are encouraged to share their own stories and photographs, which will become part of a new archive of material for future generations. At the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology experience three contemporary art installations that bring to life the ‘Cottage Salon’ in the home, The Barber Shop and The Hairdressing Salon; explaining black hair culture, styling and politics as we know it today.

2/07/2013 – 3/11/2013 (28/09/2013 at Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology)

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RB, UK

Necklaces

Torques et compagnie

Since the 19th century, the chalk of Champagne has delivered a considerable number of objects buried in Iron Age necropolises, that have helped successive generations of archaeologists to forge shared references to build and rebuild the image of the Gauls. This exhibition hoghlights the most characteristic of Gallic jewels, the torc.

8/03/2018 - 16/09/2018

Musée du Pays Châtillonnais, 14 rue de la libération, 21400 Châtillon-sur-Seine, France

Hanging Around: Necklaces from the MAD Collection

For at least forty thousand years, in virtually all cultures, humans have worn objects of symbolic, decorative, and amuletic value around their necks. Ranging in length from chokers to rope necklaces that hang below the waist, and in form from simple pendants to elaborate sculptural collars and breastplates, necklaces are strategically positioned beneath the face to draw attention to themselves, enhancing the wearer's allure, power, or status and showcasing the maker's artistic skills. The unique works on display in this exhibition are from the Museum of Arts and Design's jewelry collection. Dating from the 1960s to the present, these artistic creations encompass conceptual approaches ranging from the decorative to the provocatively political. Some of the necklaces on view feature precious metals and rare gemstones, but others derive their impact from materials as unconventional as pig intestines, gun triggers, mustard seeds, LED lighting, black coral, butterfly wings, phone directories, mirrors and lenses. The fabrication techniques employed by the artists are as different as traditional goldsmithing and cutting-edge digital prototyping.

24/01/2012 - 21/05/2012

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY 10019, USA

Unspoken Messages: The Art of the Necklace

There are many messages contained in jewelry beyond the simple desire for self-ornamentation. One of the most common is to communicate wealth and social position. A necklace can do this through precious materials, elaborate design, or refined elegance. Concepts of cosmopolitanism and worldview, as well as cultural and religious beliefs, are often encoded into jewelry. This exhibition is designed to inspire a different approach to thinking about necklaces. It also allows the public an opportunity to experience, in a new context, objects from the MIA's permanent collection. Necklaces for this exhibition are chosen from many world cultures and made of various materials, including ivory, hair, gold, jade, shell, coral, glass, metal and marble.

6/06/2009 - 13/09/2009

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

250 years of the goldsmiths 'Bury' - handmade chains from a Hanau chain maker

In 1759, an Alsace-trained goldsmith, Jean Jacques Bury, founded a jeweller's business in Hanau. The business is still in the hands of the Bury family today. This exhibition, which was designed by the bureau Katz Emperor of Darmstadt, will show selected exhibits of differently designed chains, samples and documents, including numerous jewellery designs which give an impressive insight into the company's history and its long tradition in Hanau.

06/09/2009 – 15/11/2009

Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus, Hanau, Germany

Orders and decorations

Goldsmiths' Hall Public Exhibitions - Summer 2023

The Goldsmiths' Company opens the doors of the Goldsmiths' Hall for a brief public view of four spectacular exhibitions: 'Dorothy Hogg', 'The Art of Fame: Art Medals in the Goldsmiths' Company Collection 1973-2023', 'Celebrating Platinum' and 'New to the Collection'

30/05/2023 - 3/06/2023

Goldsmiths' Hall, Foster Lane London EC2V 6BN, UK

Military awards of Russia. In Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Second World War

The exhibition is dedicated to military awards from the collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums – orders that were awarded for valour on the battlefields, for military leadership talent, for bravery and courage in battle. The orders and medals on display demonstrate the continuity of the award policy at different stages of Russian state development.

3/07/2020 – 2/12/2020

Anteroom of the Armoury Chamber, The Moscow Kremlin State Historical and Cultural Museum and Heritage Site, 103132 Russia, Moscow, Kremlin

Dame e Cavalieri. I Gioielli delle Onorificenze
Knights and Ladies. Jewels of Honour

Knightly insignia, decorations and medals that date back to the 11th century were originally honours bestowed purely on men who had distinguished themselves, a usage that was only extended to women in 1662. This exhibition celebrates and recalls the historic tradition of bestowing honours that has been handed down through the centuries and which is still very much alive on the Italian and global scene, in different forms and representations. It is arranged in two sections. The first will display about 40 honours and decorations of knightly orders selected from the most pre-eminent and rare collections around the world, and 10 significant items that pay homage to the Giovanni Giolitti collection, decorations given to the Italian statesman by the King and other European and international countries when he was the Italian Prime Minister. The second section dedicated to Ladies, includes ten or so items.

24/05/2017 – 17/09/2017

Il Museo del Gioiello, Basilica Palladiana, Piazza dei Signori, 36100 Vicenza, Italy

Celebrating Eighty: Art in the Hand

Art medals are a fresh challenging medium for artists, sculptures and medallists. They are not to be found on the chests of heroes or in athletes’ lockers, but are a contemporary expression of a much older tradition of medals as hand-sized works of art. This exhibition unites eighty contemporary art medals by students taking part in the British Art Medal Society’s 24th Student Medal Project. Each year over one hundred students from art colleges across the UK submit their finished works to be judged and selected for display.

23/03/2017 – 20/04/2017

The Goldsmiths’ Centre, 42 Britton Street, London EC1M 5AD, UK

Imperial orders. Diplomatic splendours of the Second Empire

All the decorations received by Napoleon III, the Prince Imperial and Empress Eugenie, miraculously saved from the burning of the Tuileries in 1871, are presented to the public for the first time in their entirety. Each piece tells a story, a friendship, a victory, an economic or political accord. The whole collection offers a unique journey into the world of the 19th century.

19/01/2011 – 29/05/2011

Musée national de la Légion d’honneur et des ordres de chevalerie, Paris, France

For honour and glory: jewellery from the Napoleonic era

2010 will see the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's visit to Antwerp with his second wife Marie-Louise. The Diamond Museum has taken advantage of this opportunity to mount an exhibition celebrating the splendour and ostentation of the jewellery and military decorations of the Napoleonic era.

30/09/2010 – 31/12/2010

Diamantmuseum Provincie Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium

Rings

Men's Rings, Collection Yves Gastou

This exhibition showcases an array of about 400 rings including rings of the 17th-century Venice doges, American biker rings of the 1970s as well as ancient Egyptian rings and 19th-century “memento mori” skull rings among others.
The selection of rings on display is representative of the five themes that define the collection and illustrate its diversity : neoclassical, Gothic revival, Christian mysticism, vanities and otherness. Each ring contains a story that links it to the collector and resembles him, to which he has identified himself, like so many small pieces of himself. The exhibition, like a secret lair where he reveals his work, aims precisely to tell an anecdote, the story of a life devoted to art and love of objects.
This collection, unprecedented because it is exclusively dedicated to men's rings, whereas it is rather popular and contemporary to associate the jewel with the feminine, has never been exposed to the public outside L’ÉCOLE.

14/01/2022 - 13/03/2022

21_21 Design Site Gallery 3, 9-7-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, 107-0052 Tokyo, Japan

Rings! 1968 – 2021

Rings! 1968 – 2021 features an incredible selection of wearable pieces that capture the avant-garde notions of contemporary jewellery and represent the limitless creative potential of the ring. Throughout time, rings have signified personal and cultural connections around the world, communicating marital status, membership, and belonging, as well as marking the end of an important transition or the beginning of a new reality. Showcasing experimental materials and approaches, in addition to traditional metalsmithing techniques, the rings on view in this exhibition offer an examination of the cultural, political, and personal meanings of this timeless and ubiquitous form.

22/01/2022 – 12/03/2022

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 4848 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002, USA

27/03/2022 – 12/06/2022

The Metal Museum, 374 Metal Museum Drive, Memphis, TN 38106, USA

Ring Redux: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection

This exhibition presents more than 100 avant-garde rings by artists who have reinvented the age-old and enduring jewellery form with a distinctively contemporary sensibility. The exhibition highlights exceptional acquisitions made across more than five decades by one of the most influential collectors of 20th- and 21st-century art jewellery. Reflecting Lewin’s openness to new artistic ideas, the collection reveals the pluralism of contemporary jewellery, resonating with aesthetic developments in art and design, craft and technology.
Placing the works into six distinctive groupings, the exhibition emphasises subtle differences in design, material, and workmanship that underlie each artist’s improvisations on the ring form. Rings based on strict geometry are juxtaposed with freer forms that extend the boundaries of the body. Rings that embrace a dense darkness are set against those exploring light and lightness or reveling in colour. Another grouping focuses on rings that engage the sense of touch with sensuous smooth surfaces or attract and repel with sharp edges and dangerous spikes. The largest grouping is devoted to works that communicate the complexity of human relationships, from the highly personal to the universal, or suggest grotesque or dream-like apparitions, embodying rich narratives crystallised in an intimate format. The exhibition includes a major gift of 50 rings to the SCAD Museum of Art Permanent Collection.

26/08/2021 - 30/01/2022

SCAD Museum of Art, 601 Turner Blvd. Savannah, Georgia, USA

Ringe der Macht
Rings of Power

Rings in the form of magic rings can not only have power themselves, they have always been and are important symbols for a wide variety of messages. The rediscovery and decoding of the mysterious, medieval inscription ring of Paussnitz offers the occasion to place these powerful rings in the centre of this new exhibition. Around 250 selected exhibits, from 30 lenders from Germany, Denmark, England, France, Hungary, Switzerland and the Czech Republic in 500 square meters of exhibition space, illustrate the cosmos of powerful rings since the Paleolithic Age. An impressive central installation visualises the ideas and beliefs of the Middle Ages based on the properties of the Paussnitz ring. The exhibition also unites Germany's most famous inscription rings with the famous Coventry Ring, a gold inscription ring from the late 15th century from the British Museum in London. These outstanding pieces illustrate the magic of the rings of the Middle Ages. Arm reliquaries from Halberstadt, Hochelten and Hildesheim invite you to immerse yourself in the world of belief of the ring bearers. The show presents a spectacular panorama of rings of power, from the oldest known finger rings from the Moravian Pavlov (approx. 35,000 to 24,000 before today) via the golden arm rings of the Bronze Age princes of Central Germany and the Torques of the Celts to the ONE RING from Tolkien's novels, who drew from a long tradition. Amulet rings and insignia illuminate spiritual and secular facets of power up to the ideal idea of ​​the ring as a pledge of love. A very special highlight of the exhibition is the approximately 3,500 year old, recently discovered bronze hand from Prêles (Canton of Bern). This oldest bronze sculpture of a human body part in Central Europe is presented for the first time outside Switzerland. Another highlight is the surprisingly large and almost 7 kilogram Celtic ring from Trichtingen (Baden-Württemberg). As well as the legendary finger ring of St. Elisabeth, which she received from her husband as a gift and whose stone is said to have cracked in two at the moment of his death.

15/11/2019 - 1/06/2020

Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Richard-Wagner-Straße 9, 06114 Halle (Saale), Germany

Bagues d’hommes. Collection Yves Gastou

Yves Gastou is a key figure in the life of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, a neighborhood where he has lived and worked as a renowned antique dealer for over thirty years. He created this collection of more than a thousand rings from varied origins and ages with accumulation, frenzy, relentlessness and risk-taking over the course of thirty years. For all its originality and personality, the collection carries with it the history of collecting which dates back several centuries. With antique rings from ancient Egypt, rings belonging to 17th-century doges or American bikers from the 1970s, the ensemble is as much a collection of ancient times as a modern collection. At the crossroads of old cabinets and modern collections, Yves Gastou’s collection of men's rings is a testament to the fact that curiosity has lost none of its timeliness or appeal. Male jewellery always echoes a social, political, economic and artistic reality. Much more than an element of adornment, the masculine jewel also represents an instrument of power assertion, a tool of communication and a fashion accessory. The function of male jewellery is necessarily affected by societal evolutions as is the relationship between men and coquetry.

5/10/2018 - 30/11/2018

L'École des Arts Joailliers, 31, rue Danielle Casanova, 75001 Paris, France

Treasures and Talismans. Rings from the Griffin Collection

Rings are one of the oldest and most familiar forms of bodily adornment. Worn by both women and men, they serve as declarations of status, markers of significant life events, expressions of identity, and protective talismans. They also have been a source of boundless invention for goldsmiths and their clients. The rings featured in this exhibition come from the Griffin Collection. While the collection includes finger rings from across the ages, our selection focuses specifically on objects made in the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance periods. Related works from the Metropolitan's collection highlight the connections between rings and other works of art, such as painting, metalwork, and manuscript illumination. Also discussed will be the connection of rings to religion, superstition, love, marriage, and identity.

1/05/2015 - 18/10/2015

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters, 99 Margaret Corbin Drive, Fort Tryon Park, New York, NY 10040, USA

Cycles of Life: Rings from the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection

This selling exhibition of over 40 exceptional museum-quality rings comes from the celebrated private collection of one of today’s world leading gem dealers, experts, and connoisseurs. Spanning from 3rd century A.D. through to the later part of the 19th century, the rings will be on public view together for the first time and for sale at Les Enluminures’ New York gallery from October 31 through December 6, 2014. Selected for their exceptional quality of stones, rarity, and level of artistry, the collection features many fine examples of the major types of rings created during the late Rome, Migration Era, Romanesque and Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Modern periods. All but a few exceptions have been on loan to the Walters Art Museum, MD, since 1985. Many boast sterling provenances dating back generations of Europe’s most prominent collecting families, including the de Clercqs, and the Rothschilds as well as from the celebrated jewelry collectors Dame Joan Evans, Ernest Guilhou, Ralph Harari, and Melvin Gutman.

31/10/2014 - 6/12/2014

Les Enluminures, 23 East 73rd Street, 7th Floor, Penthouse, New York, NY 10021, USA

The Rings from The Hashimoto Collection of The National Museum of Western Art

This exhibition commemorates the donation in 2012 of the Hashimoto Collection of more than 870 jewellery items, primarily rings, to the NMWA. This exhibition is the first public display of works from this collection. Hashimoto Kanshi (b. 1924) collected more than 760 rings across an extremely broad spectrum of eras and locales. This exhibition presents approximately 300 selected rings. We hope visitors to the exhibition will enjoy the richly individualistic nature of the Hashimoto Collection. This exhibition also allows visitors a chance to compare the miniature world of rings with the Museum’s collection of paintings and prints, indeed, it presents a fusion of the collection’s new and old aspects. We hope that this exhibition featuring the strengths of the NMWA collection will provide yet another means of understanding the fascination of Western culture.

8/07/2014 - 15/09/2014

The National Museum of Western Art, 7-7 Ueno-koen, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007, Japan

Small Size, Great Aesthetics – a Hundred and One Rings

Albeit small, rings are true works of art in their own right, displaying a multitude of shapes and designs and serving disparate purposes: as wedding bands or friendship rings, as a sign of mourning or a symbol of power and status. Some are primarily decorative, while others also have a more profound significance. In certain bygone times, they had to be worn by decree; today, they are often determined by the prevailing fashion. Marking various important occasions in life, a person’s rings can span the stages of an entire lifetime. Worn in all epochs and eras, rings alone suffice to tell the history of jewellery. Rings of love, for example, have been known as a symbol of close ties and affection for three thousand years. In the days of classical antiquity, a ring combined with a key bit signified a wife’s authority to represent her husband in matters related to the conjugal household, and in the Renaissance period, love and togetherness were symbolized by rings featuring entwined hands. The exhibition will give an impressive overview of the huge diversity of these small-format works of art.

8/03/2013 – 9/06/2013

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Jahnstrasse 42, D-75173, Pforzheim, Germany

"Treu und bestendig". Ringe – ein Versprechen
Trust and confidence. Rings - a promise

Rings promise especially love, friendship and loyalty. Not least because of the construction of the Gmünd church of St John from the vow of the Duchess Agnes, wife of the first Hohenstaufen duke Frederick: she promised to build a church on the spot where she found her lost wedding ring. Given this background, the exhibition presents rings from antiquity to the present. The objects shown are from the collection of the museum as well as from a private collection and loans from the collection recently enriched by a donation. Ursula Röhrs has examined in depth the theme of rings and the collection of the Gmünd museum, and has produced an extensive catalogue, available from the museum.

29/04/2012 – 14/10/2012

Silberwarenmuseum Ott-Pausersche Fabrik, Milchgässle 10, 73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany

Johanna Dahm. Rings

The Swiss-born Johanna Dahm active since the 1970s, has continually pursued new ways of defining what jewellery can be. Her work is characterized by an investigative and open approach, which has led her everywhere from quests for the integration of fabric and brooch, exploring light reflections on the body, to researching exotic jewellery techniques. Her work has explored many key practical and conceptual themes in jewellery. Dahm’s work is of the highest standard, and her intellectual understanding of both technique and creative process is one which she is able to articulate eloquently.

9/07/2011 - 16/10/2011

Design museum Gent, Ghent, Belgium

Sammlung Abeler - Geschichte und Symbolik des Ringes aus vier Jahrtausenden
The Abeler Collection - The History and Symbolism of Rings over Four Millenia

The ring goes back to prehistoric times and is found in all cultures. With its various tasks and functions, as a mark of disctintion, a signet, a watch, bishop's ring, friendship ring, commemorative ring, jewellery ring or wedding ring, the ring has always had a special meaning. This exhibition displays 275 rings from the extensive Abeler Collection, which was originally started by the goldsmith and jewellery designer Karl Brauburger (of Hanau / Wuppertal) and then continued over many decades, by Jürgen and Gudrun Abeler in Wuppertal.

9/06/2011 – 21/09/2011

Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus, Hanau, Germany

Bedazzled : 5,000 Years of Jewelry

This exhibition will provide examples, both in depth and range, of stunning jewelry from 3000 B.C.E. through the early 20th century. It will feature some of the Walters Art Museum’s greatest masterpieces as well as many hidden treasures on view for the first time. This selection of more than 150 pieces will not only present the evolution of techniques and materials, but also demonstrate the importance of jewelry as an expression of creativity and often wealth and position. In addition, a special exhibition section will be devoted to rings, the only type of jewelry worn continuously through the ages. Assembled primarily by one of the Walters Art Museum’s founders, Henry Walters, during the first three decades of the last century, this renowned collection contains superb examples of expert craftsmanship.

19/10/2008 - 4/01/2009

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, USA

28/03/2010 - 25/07/2010

El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA), El Paso, Texas, USA

Roman to Renaissance: A private collection of rings

An exhibition devoted to a private collection of thirty-five rings dating from 300 to 1600 AD, from the Paris gallery LES ENLUMINURES. The collection comprises fine examples of rings from the Merovingian, Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance periods including marriage rings, seal rings, stirrup rings, tart mould rings, iconographic rings, merchant rings and gemstone rings.

12/5/2009 – 22/5/2009

Wartski, London, UK

Rings of Dieter Roth. Wearable art of a universal artist

The renowned Swiss painter, graphic artist, sculptor, object artist, typographer and poet Dieter Roth (1930 - 1998) developed since 1959 over a period of twenty years for the goldsmith Hans Langenbacher a series of finger rings. On display are all (approximately 50) rings and ring attachments, plus prints, sketches, designs, drawings and correspondence between Roth and Langenbacher.

29/10/2009 - 10/01/2010

Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne, Germany

Once upon a time, there was a ring... Jewels by Gabi Dziuba presented by Christian Philipp Müller

Gabi Dziuba, a German artist who lives and works in Munich, here presents a selection of original works in gold, silver and precious stones, half of which created in collaboration with some of the most important artists on the contemporary German art scene including Martin Kippenberger, Heimo Zobernig, Hans-Jörg Mayer and Günther Förg. While it is not possible to pin down an artist like Dziuba to a specific current or movement, it may be stated that she has often created jewels that pre-empt styles and fashions that have gone on to form part of both the street style and the haute couture of jewellery making. The jewels on show in their own glass cases interact with the installation created by the artist Christian Philipp Müller, who also created the graphics of the exhibition catalogue.

1/02/2009 – 26/04/2009

Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy

RememberRing

Herinner-ring /Remember-Ring is a collaboration of 90 jewellery designers from around the world who have each made a hand-crafted ring based on the theme of ‘remembering’. Each ring depicts a personal memory for the individual artist whose recollection is given shape within the limited dimensions of a ring. Herinner-ring /Remember-Ring is on loan from Galerie Beeld and Aambeeld in Holland and the National Craft Gallery is the first location to receive the exhibition outside the Netherlands before it tours internationally. The 90 participating artists in Herinner-ring /Remember-Ring include Irish jewellery designers Melissa Curry, Angela O’Kelly, Sonja Landweer, Rachel McKnight and Céline Traynor.

14/02/09 – 26/04/09

Crafts Council of Ireland, Kilkenny, Ireland

Watches

Jewels of Time: Watches from the Proctor Collection

The aesthetic brilliance and exquisite craftsmanship of beautifully ornamented historical timepieces will featured in this exhibition. The exhibition will feature important examples of all the decorative techniques used in watchmaking. Gold and silver repoussé work, jewel-encrusted cases, and fine enamel paintings will be highlighted in Jewels of Time. The intricate scenes depicted on gold watchcases illustrate the height of European metalsmithing techniques. The exquisite enamel watches feature highly detailed miniature portraits and still lifes framed in pearls. Semi-precious stones were a favored ornamental element and examples in Jewels in Time range from diamond highlights on a bug-form watch to a jewel-encrusted watchcase and chatelaine. The collection also includes Renaissance-style watches with rock crystal cases, watches made for the Turkish and Chinese markets, and clever automatons with intricately moving figures. Novelty watches vary from an enameled mandolin to a tulip to a miniature silver skull with a watch enclosed within its jaw.

16/12/2017 - 29/04/2018

Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, 310 Genesee Street, Utica, New York 13502, USA

Gold! Watches and Jewellery collected by Sophia Lopez Suasso

Sophia Adriana de Bruijn, daughter of a merchant in Amsterdam, married Lord Augustus Pieter Lopez Suasso, scion of a Portuguese Jewish family, on 7 April 1860. In addition to the watches and jewellery they bought on their frequent travels around Europe, the couple also acquired bronze sculpture, medals and coins, books and costumes. After Augustus died in 1877, Sophia continued to collect. She remained a regular customer of jeweller H. Martens on Amsterdam’s Rokin. Sophia had a weakness for fabulous watches in the most fantastic forms, such as animals, flowers, fruit and musical instruments. Each has a hidden switch to reveal the actual watch. Almost all the watches and jewellery are made of gold, decorated with diamonds, gems and enamel. The show features watches from Switzerland, snuff boxes from France and carved cameos from Italy.

24/07/2017 - 31/3/2018

Cromhout Huis, Herengracht 366-368, 1016 CH Amsterdam, Netherlands

Mechanik en miniature — Armbanduhren der Luxusklasse
Miniaturised Mechanical Marvels — Luxury Wristwatches

Nowadays, wristwatches are being worn by women and men alike. Typically worn by women at first to express their status as emancipated working women, they also found their way to men’s wrists during the course of World War I. Always subject to changing fashions they became a genre of their own in the 1930s, when the number of wristwatches produced exceeded that of pocket watches. Starting in the 1960s, their appearance was revolutionized by the use of plastic, and cheap quartz movements further contributed to their degeneration into mass-produced commodities. The 1990s, however, witnessed the revival of mechanical luxury watches and their ascent to cult status, which they are still enjoying today. Brands like Glashütte, Patek Philippe or Longines have successfully been wedding mechanical precision to exclusivity. Such exquisite watches will be the focus of this exhibition, which will be ushering in the anniversary year of Pforzheim’s jewellery industry, whose history, after all, began with the production of watches.

25/11/2016 - 23/04/2017

Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, Jahnstraße 42, 75173 Pforzheim, Germany

The Time of Watches - Historic watches from private collections

Exhibition of historic watches, including many rare examples.

26/05/2012 - 25/11/2012

Mikkel Museum, A. Weizenbergi 28, Tallinn, Estonia

L'horlogerie à Genève. Magie des mêtiers, trésors d'or et d'émail

The collections of clocks and watches, enamel work, jewellery and miniatures of the Museum of Art and History form a body of 18'000 items, of which some 1'500 pieces are highlighted in this exhibition.

15/12/2011 – 29/04/2012

Musée Rath, Genève, Switzerland

Treasures of Vacheron Constantin - A legacy of watchmaking since 1755

This exhibition explores the heritage of Vacheron Constantin that spans more than 250 years and the brand’s cutting-edge technology, artistry as well as craftsmanship through a display of timepieces. These timepieces will express equilibrium of balance between technical prowess and aesthetic perfection, elaborate watch-making tools and specially produced audio-visual presentations. It is hoped that the watches displayed would be instructive in telling their part of the fascinating story of highly skilled artisans and their creations in the history of timekeeping.

24/06/11 - 26/08/11

National Museum of Singapore, Singapore

Montres et Merveilles; Watches and Wonders

A treasure trove of the heritage of Besançon, this exhibition presents 200 examples of mechanical watches that trace over time the evolution of this object from the sixteenth century to the early twentieth century. "This is to put the watch in its technical and aesthetic context" says Thomas Charenton, curator of the exhibition.

9/12/2010 – 29/05/2011

Musée du Temps, Besançon, France

The development of Beyer and the watch industry

Times have changed radically since the Beyer dynasty was founded. And with it, the instruments used to measure it. The Watch and Clock Museum Beyer is holding a varied exhibition presenting a foray though 250 years of watch-making history.

15/04/2010 - 15/10/2010

Clock and Watch Museum Beyer, Zurich, Switzerland

Other

Seals: Signs and Identity

This new temporary exhibition will run alongside the biennial display and be arranged into two sections: a historical-archaeological area with 20 wearable seals and seal-objects from the La Spezia Civic Museum seal collection, dating from the fourth millennium BC to the 1940s, and a creative-artistic one with 50 creations that include installations devised and created by Anna Fornari herself. The exhibition pays homage to the fascinating world of seals providing further information on the meaning of "signs" as representative of symbolic evolutions that have, over the millennia, shaped the structure of social relations. By combining Anna Fornari's jewellery with specimens from the Seal Museum's Capellini-Banfi collection, the exhibition binds and unites history, modern art and universal communication systems starting from learning about the birth of the seal matrix and its evolution as the maximum tool for affirming its owner's identity. The most ancient mechanisms of matrix and imprint, that game of empty and full relief work, light and dark, mirror and image, are re-processed in creations defined by the lack of a pre-established right and wrong side. It was this double value of identifying and identification that led to the idea of retrieving the meaning of the seal.

20/01/2017 – 7/05/2017

Museo del Gioiello, Piazza dei Signori, 36100 Vicenza, Italy

Fate, Hope & Charity

Tokens, small everyday objects, were left by mothers with their babies at the Foundling Hospital, which continues today as children’s charity Coram, between c.1741-1760. These tokens, which include coins, jewellery, buttons, poems, playing cards and a simple nut, were a means of identification should the mother ever return to reclaim her child. Hundreds of these small items were removed from the Foundling Hospital’s admission records in the 1860s, severing links with their history – until now. Now, over 250 years later, Fate, Hope & Charity reunites the tokens with the foundlings to whom they belonged, bringing to light untold stories that are testaments to the grief of separation and the timeless bond between a mother and child. Each heart-wrenching story offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary women in the eighteenth century. The accounts reveal fascinating information about the tokens themselves, the circumstances surrounding the mother’s decision to give up her baby and the moving stories of the individual foundlings to whom the tokens belonged.

25/01/2013 – 19/05/2013

The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AZ, UK

In Death Lamented: The Tradition of Anglo-American Mourning Jewelry

This exhibition features rings, bracelets, brooches, and other pieces of mourning jewelry from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, ranging from early gold bands with death’s head iconography to jeweled brooches and intricately woven hairwork pieces of the Civil War era. These elegant and evocative objects are presented in the context of their history, use, and meaning, alongside related pieces of material culture.

28/09/2012 – 31/01/2013

Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02215-3695, USA

Perfume & Seduction

Discover the finest examples of perfume bottles, gold boxes, porcelain objects, and other eighteenth-century luxury items that were used in the bathing and dressing ritual known as la toilette. This special exhibition will present examples of objects from Hillwood's collection that represent the finest luxury objects used in this elaborate ritual. A selection of objects from the private European collection of Givaudan, the Swiss manufacturer of flavours, fragrances, and cosmetics, founded in 1898 by the French brothers, Xavier and Léon Givaudan, will complement the Hillwood collection. Presented for the first time in the United States, the Givaudan collection of luxury objects for the service de toilette is one of the most important and complete in Europe.

16/02/2019 - 9/06/2019

Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA

Perfume - Bottling Seduction

Exquisite flacons, sophisticated packaging, suggestive advertising spots – perfume, the scent of seduction, is presented using all these means. Consequently it is not just the perfumes themselves that are masters in manipulating our senses but also their various forms of packaging. Whether they are flowery and fruity, powdery or sweet, these scents beguile our senses. Every fragrance creates its own atmosphere that requires an appropriately designed container. Special containers for fragrant essences were already made in pre-Christian times. Many of today’s perfumes bear the name of a Parisian haute couture house and their packaging must therefore reflect the fashion style of the particular brand. This exhibition shows perfume bottles along with their respective ensemble of packaging, advertising and perfume. Starting with the first glass containers of antiquity it presents objects by famous designers as well as rarely shown creations right down to the present day, and recounts stories about the containers of these volatile essences.

2/12/2011 - 9/04/2012

Museum Bellerive, Zürich, Switzerland

The Art of the Writing Instrument from Paris to Persia

This focus show features writing instruments produced in cosmopolitan centers such as Paris, Isfahan, and Kyoto. Every culture that values the art of writing has found ways to reflect the prestige and pleasure of writing through beautiful tools. Writing implements, such as pens, knives, and scissors, as well as storage chests, pen-cases, and writing desks, were often fashioned with precious materials: mother of pearl, gems, imported woods, gold and silver. Once owned by statesmen, calligraphers, wealthy merchants and women of fashion, these stunning objects highlight the ingenuity of the artists who created them and underline the centrality of the written word in the diverse cultures that produced them.

2/07/2011 – 25/09/2011

Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA

Corals and bells: a collection of rattles

For the first time in Belgium, this exhibition presents a large private collection of rattles. The silver and gold rattles and jingling bells finished with precious materials such as rock-crystal, ivory and red coral are shown alongside charming miniatures and arresting children‘s portraits by painters like Théo Van Rysselberghe. To tie in with the exhibition, Sterckshof Silver Museum is producing a catalogue containing illustrations of the artworks and objects on show.

6/10/2009 – 10/01/2010

Sterckshof Silver Museum, Deurne, Antwerp, Belgium

Eye to Eye: Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth

Toward the end of the 18th century, portraits of the single eye of a loved one became fashionable among the British nobility and aristocracy, a fashion that soon spread all over Europe. Given as a token of affection, these portraits were most often painted in watercolor on ivory and mounted in jewelry, appearing in the form of brooches, rings, lockets and bracelets. This exhibition, consisting of over 30 eye portraits drawn from the collection of Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth, offers visitors a very rare opportunity to view this distinctive form of portraiture.

17/04/2010 – 11/07/2010

Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, PA, USA

Christmas tree ornaments from Jablonec

Exhibition of the silver and glass Christmas tree ornaments which were a speciality of the jewellery makers of Jablonec, Koniginhof and the Elbe River region in the 19th century. From the collection of Dr. Waltraud Neuwirth.

28/11/2009 - 28/02/2010

Museum Bautzen, Bautzen, Germany

Les Canons de l'élégance
A Salute to Style

Because war has often been the preserve of the privileged castes and because they above all strive to distinguish themselves from civilians and display their dazzling triumphs, soldiers have always had a taste for finery and are attached to the beauty, quality and even opulence of the weapons, items of equipment and accessories designed to mark their status as well as serving a functional purpose. This new exhibition at the Musée de l'Armée invites visitors to discover these exceptional artefacts. Combining historical, anthropological and aesthetic approaches, the exhibition highlights the way martial splendour contributes to the radiance and legitimacy of political power, and how it rewards merit and satisfies the desire for assimilation or distinction within the group. Around 200 masterpieces of armoury and gunsmithery, as well as goldsmithery, embroidery, ivory work and saddlery, mostly taken from the Musée de l'Armée's collections, will enable visitors to marvel at these items of jewellery, fashion accessories and haute couture pieces... all exclusively reserved for the warriors of yesteryear and today.

10/10/2019 - 26/01/2020

Musée de l'Armée' Hôtel national des Invalides, 129, rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris, France

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