Jewellery (jewelry in American English)

is literally any piece of fine material used to adorn oneself. The word jewellery is derived from the word jewel, which was anglicised from the Old French jouel in around the 13th century. Further tracing leads back to the Latin word jocale, meaning plaything. Jewellery has probably been around since the dawn of man; indeed, recently found 100,000-year-old Nassarius shells that were made into beads are thought to be the oldest known jewellery. Although in earlier times jewellery was created for more practical uses, such as wealth storage and pinning clothes together, in recent times it has been used almost exclusively for decoration. The first pieces of jewellery were made from natural materials, such as bone and animal teeth, shell, wood and carved stone. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were buried with it. Jewellery is made out of almost every material known and has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality and artistic pieces are made with gemstones and precious metals, less costly costume jewellery is made from less-valuable materials and is mass-produced.

Over time, jewellery has been used for a number of reasons:

• Currency, wealth display and storage,
• Functional use (such as clasps, pins, and buckles)
• Symbolism (to show membership or status)
• Protection (in the form of amulets and magical wards) and Artistic display

Most cultures have at some point had a practice of keeping large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of jewelry, or create jewelry as a means to store or display coins. Alternatively, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good; a particularly poignant example being the use of slave beads. Functional use dates back to the earliest days of jewellery; indeed, many items of jewellery, such as brooches and buckles originated as purely functional items, but evolved into decorative items as their functional requirement deminished. Jewellery can also be symbolic of group membership, as in the case of the Christian crucifix or Jewish Star of David, or of status, as in the case of chains of office, or the Western practice of married people wearing a wedding ring. Wearing of amulets and devotional medals to provide protection or ward off evil is nearly universal; these may take the form of symbols (such as the ankh), stones, plants, animals, body parts (such as the Khamsa), or glyphs (such as stylized versions of the Throne Verse in Islamic art). Although artistic display has clearly been a function of jewellery from the very beginnings, the other roles described above tended to take primacy. It was only in the late 19th century, with the work of such masters as Peter Carl Fabergé and René Lalique, that art began to take primacy over function and wealth. This trend has continued into modern times, expanded upon by artists such as Robert Lee Morris.

Materials and methods

Anticlastic forged sterling bracelet. In creating jewellery, a variety of gemstones, coins, or other precious items can be used, often set into precious metals. Common precious metals used for modern jewellery include gold, platinum or silver, although alloys of nearly every metal known can be encountered in jewellery -- bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Most gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is stated in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. For example, ordinary gold jewellery ranges from 10K (41.7% pure gold) to 22K (91.6% pure gold), while 24K (99.9% pure gold) is considered too soft for jewellery use. Platinum alloys range from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). The silver used in jewellery is usually sterling silver, or 92.5% fine silver. Other commonly used materials include glass, such as fused glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; natural clay, polymer clay, and even plastics.

A selection of diamonds

Beads are frequently used in jewellery. These may be made of many different substances including glass, gemstones, metal, wood, shells, clay and polymer clay. Beaded jewellery commonly encompasses necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and belts. Beads may be large or small. The smallest type of beads commonly used are known as seed beads; these are the beads used for the "woven" styleof beaded jewellery. Advanced glass and glass beadmaking techniques by Murano and Venetian glassmasters made a significant difference in jewelry designs.These artisans developed and refined many technologies, creating crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo) and imitation gemstones made of glass. As early as the 13th century, Murano glass and Murano beads were extremely popular. Silversmiths, goldsmiths, and lapidaries use numerous methods to create jewellery, including forging, casting, soldering or welding, cutting, carving, and "cold-joining" (using adhesives, staples, and rivets to assemble parts).

Jewellery and society

One universal factor is control over who could wear what jewellery, a point which indicates the powerful symbolism the wearing of jewellery evoked. In ancient Rome, for instance, only certain ranks could wear rings; later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewellery; again based on rank. Cultural dictates have also played a significant role; for example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered "effeminate" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Conversely, the jewellery industry in the early 20th century launched a campaign to popularize wedding rings for men — which caught on — as well as engagement rings for men (which did not), going so far as to create a false history and claim that the practice had Medieval roots. By the mid 1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. featured a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s.[8] Religion has also played a role: Islam, for instance, considers the wearing of gold by men as a social taboo, and many religions have edicts against excessive display

History of jewellery

The history of jewellery is a long one, with many different uses among different cultures. It has endured for thousands of years and has provided various insights into how ancient cultures worked.

Early jewellery

The Nassarius beads thought to be the oldest form of jewellery. The first signs of jewellery came from the Cro-Magnons, ancestors of Homo sapiens, around 40,000 years ago. The Cro-Magnons originally migrated from the Middle East to settle in Europe and replace the Neanderthals as the dominant species. The jewellery pieces they made were crude necklaces and bracelets of bone, teeth and stone hung on pieces of string or animal sinew, or pieces of carved bone used to secure clothing together. In some cases, jewellery had shell or mother-of-pearl pieces. In southern Russia, carved bracelets made of mammoth tusk have been found. Most commonly, these have been found as grave-goods. Around 7,000 years ago, the first sign of copper jewellery was seen.

Jewellery in Egypt

Amulet pendant, 14 cm wide. Gold, Lapis-Lazuli, Turquoise, Carnelian. 254 BCE The first signs of established jewellery making in Ancient Egypt was around 3,000-5,000 years ago. The Egyptians preferred the luxury, rarity, and workability of gold over other metals. Predynastic Egypt had already acquired much gold; although the Egyptians acquired gold from the eastern deserts of Africa and from Nubia, in later years they captured it in the spoils of war or were gifted it in tributes from other nations. Jewellery in Egypt soon began to symbolise power and religious power in the community. Although it was worn by wealthy Egyptians in life, it was also worn by them in death; with jewellery commonly seen among grave goods. Unfortunately, due to graver-robbers much of this has been lost to history. In conjunction with gold jewellery, Egyptians used coloured glass in place of precious gems. Although the Egyptians had access to gemstones, they preferred the colours they could create in glass over the natural colours of stones. For nearly each gemstone, there was a glass formulation used by the Egyptians to mimic it. The colour of the jewellery was very important, as different colours meant different things; the Book of the Dead dictated that the necklace of Isis around a mummy’s neck must be red to satisfy Isis’s need for blood, while green jewellery meant new growth for crops and fertility. Although lapis lazuli and silver had to be imported from beyond the country’s borders, most other materials for jewellery were found in or near Egypt, for example in the Red Sea, where the Egyptians mined Cleopatra's favourite gem, the emerald. Egyptian jewellery was predominantly made in large workshops attached to temples or palaces. Egyptian designs were most common in Phoenician designs. Also, ancient Turkish designs found in Persian jewellery suggests trading from the Middle East into Europe was not uncommon. Women used to wear elaborate gold and silver pieces that were used in ceremonies.

Europe and the Middle East

By approximately 4,000 years ago, jewellery-making had become a significant craft in the cities of Sumer and Akkad. The most significant archaeological evidence comes from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, where hundreds of burials dating 2900–2300 BC were unearthed; tombs such as that of Puabi contained a multitude of artifacts in gold, silver, and semi-precious stones, such as lapis lazuli crowns embellished with gold figurines, close-fitting collar necklaces, and jewel-headed pins. In Assyria, men and women both wore extensive amounts of jewellery, including amulets, ankle bracelets, heavy multistrand necklaces, and cylinder seals. Jewellery in Mesopotamia tended to be manufactured from thin metal leaf and was set with large numbers of brightly-colored stones (chiefly agate, lapis, carnelian, and jasper). Favored shapes included leaves, spirals, cones, and bunches of grapes. Jewellers created works both for human use and for adorning statues and idols; they employed a wide variety of sophisticated metalworking techniques, such as cloisonne, engraving, fine granulation, and filigree. Extensive and meticulously maintained records pertaining to the trade and manufacture of jewellery have also been unearthed throughout Mesopotamian archaeological sites. One record in the Mari royal archives, for example, gives the composition of various items of jewellery: