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Jewellery
Jewellery
(Jewelry in American English) is literally any piece of fine material used to
adorn one's self. 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 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.
Form and
function
Kenyan man
wearing tribal beads.Over time, jewellery has been used for a number of reasons:
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 jewelry,
such as brooches and buckles originated as purely functional items, became more
decorated over time, and in some cases became purely art objects as their
functional requirement disappeared.
Jewellery can
also be symbolic of group membership, as in the case of the Christian crucifix
or Jewish Star of David, or 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 Fabergų
and Renų 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.
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