A Brief History of Jewelry
Wolran Kim (Nov 2010)
Usually, we cannot find any person who does not wear even one piece of jewelry around us. People wear all kinds of forms and figures depending on their taste such as rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, headbands, belts, etc. Jewelry shows and reflects culture, history, and social characteristics of the age. One difference between humans and animals is that humans decorate themselves. There are slightly different materials, types and scarcity value, but jewelry has been loved by humans throughout history. When did humans begin to wear accessories? Perhaps Adam and Eve would have worn jewelry made by leaves and flowers? The human desire to present is instinct. The origins of ornaments started from the sense of magic and threats or to protect themselves from the others in primitive times. Therefore there is jewelry where there is culture regardless of time and place.
Before the Paleolithic era, decoration was used to create a magical sense with necklaces made from animal's teeth, bones, shells, etc. acquired through hunting and gathering. The Greek era began focusing on Crete in the Mediterranean, where people began to precisely describe plants and animals around 1600 B.C. Delicate and graceful ornaments of gold appeared through their hair decoration, dropped pendants, and brooches which fixed the clothes at the shoulders. Roman jewelry is concise and simple compared to Anthropocentric Greek jewelry which is delicate and graceful. The medieval era, which is called God's era, included jewelry mostly devoted to God. They were strong religious sacraments such as the cross, Christ, Mary, angels, and edible decorations which used ritual dished or utensils filled with precious metals. This trend was the same as the Byzantine culture which mixed East and West, and pearls, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, topaz, etc. were used. The brilliant and sacred beauty created through artisans’ fingertips attained the highest art perfection that can be achieved.
The ornaments changed to "humanity" as a tool of the expression from "divineness" as offering a sacrifice to God in the Renaissance era. Also people were able to freely express the form of jewelry since the evolution of polished gem mining and refining methods by the development of science and technology. The Italian Renaissance impacted this field considerably over the course of the development of various forms of art with Luther's Reformation, French Enlightenment, and German Romanticism. The history of jewelry voiced the flamboyance of the Renaissance, the sophistication of the Rococo era, and eccentricity of the Baroque period, always reflecting period historical features. A brilliant achievement rose to a climax in Europe, especially the royal court in France between Louis 14th and Napoleon. Thus, in this period, the heart of the European decorative ornaments created a number of notable out fittings. Also it was a remarkable change in jewelry history during the French Revolution of 1789 which created an opportunity to move the protagonists to the citizenry from the ornate aristocratic culture. The "Necklace Incident" of Marie Antoinette, which was the opening scene of the French Revolution, was a symbolic case in the sense that the representative of the French nobility fell victim to very clever fraud because of jewelry, whether true or not.
After the French Revolution, the center of decorating culture moved to the U.K. from France. This period was just the time that Victorian ornaments and decorations represent the era and recognized decoration as etiquette. The dominant flow of this age was known as Art Nouveau (French: New Art) which was a unique artistic trend and combined both the freshness of the sunrise with flowing lines and silence of the sunset. The meaning of this era's color was very symbolic as the last light just before the downfall of western civilization in the 19th century and the beacon of the 20th century's hope.
Jewelry is recognized as a sense of total fashion expressing individuality to the modern people and acting to meet cultural emotional needs. Also it shows one side of the abundant life commodities bonding art with culture, and it is cultural product of high added value in industry terms. According to a surveyor's report in 1993, people with attractive appearances have approximately 5% higher hourly rate than average. The human has an instinct for showing its true nature. Jewelry has an important position in filling human desire and moreover represents the cultural values of the period.
Wolran Kim (Nov 2010)
Usually, we cannot find any person who does not wear even one piece of jewelry around us. People wear all kinds of forms and figures depending on their taste such as rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, headbands, belts, etc. Jewelry shows and reflects culture, history, and social characteristics of the age. One difference between humans and animals is that humans decorate themselves. There are slightly different materials, types and scarcity value, but jewelry has been loved by humans throughout history. When did humans begin to wear accessories? Perhaps Adam and Eve would have worn jewelry made by leaves and flowers? The human desire to present is instinct. The origins of ornaments started from the sense of magic and threats or to protect themselves from the others in primitive times. Therefore there is jewelry where there is culture regardless of time and place.
Before the Paleolithic era, decoration was used to create a magical sense with necklaces made from animal's teeth, bones, shells, etc. acquired through hunting and gathering. The Greek era began focusing on Crete in the Mediterranean, where people began to precisely describe plants and animals around 1600 B.C. Delicate and graceful ornaments of gold appeared through their hair decoration, dropped pendants, and brooches which fixed the clothes at the shoulders. Roman jewelry is concise and simple compared to Anthropocentric Greek jewelry which is delicate and graceful. The medieval era, which is called God's era, included jewelry mostly devoted to God. They were strong religious sacraments such as the cross, Christ, Mary, angels, and edible decorations which used ritual dished or utensils filled with precious metals. This trend was the same as the Byzantine culture which mixed East and West, and pearls, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, topaz, etc. were used. The brilliant and sacred beauty created through artisans’ fingertips attained the highest art perfection that can be achieved.
The ornaments changed to "humanity" as a tool of the expression from "divineness" as offering a sacrifice to God in the Renaissance era. Also people were able to freely express the form of jewelry since the evolution of polished gem mining and refining methods by the development of science and technology. The Italian Renaissance impacted this field considerably over the course of the development of various forms of art with Luther's Reformation, French Enlightenment, and German Romanticism. The history of jewelry voiced the flamboyance of the Renaissance, the sophistication of the Rococo era, and eccentricity of the Baroque period, always reflecting period historical features. A brilliant achievement rose to a climax in Europe, especially the royal court in France between Louis 14th and Napoleon. Thus, in this period, the heart of the European decorative ornaments created a number of notable out fittings. Also it was a remarkable change in jewelry history during the French Revolution of 1789 which created an opportunity to move the protagonists to the citizenry from the ornate aristocratic culture. The "Necklace Incident" of Marie Antoinette, which was the opening scene of the French Revolution, was a symbolic case in the sense that the representative of the French nobility fell victim to very clever fraud because of jewelry, whether true or not.
After the French Revolution, the center of decorating culture moved to the U.K. from France. This period was just the time that Victorian ornaments and decorations represent the era and recognized decoration as etiquette. The dominant flow of this age was known as Art Nouveau (French: New Art) which was a unique artistic trend and combined both the freshness of the sunrise with flowing lines and silence of the sunset. The meaning of this era's color was very symbolic as the last light just before the downfall of western civilization in the 19th century and the beacon of the 20th century's hope.
Jewelry is recognized as a sense of total fashion expressing individuality to the modern people and acting to meet cultural emotional needs. Also it shows one side of the abundant life commodities bonding art with culture, and it is cultural product of high added value in industry terms. According to a surveyor's report in 1993, people with attractive appearances have approximately 5% higher hourly rate than average. The human has an instinct for showing its true nature. Jewelry has an important position in filling human desire and moreover represents the cultural values of the period.
