Jewelry
Loosely defined as articles of personal adornment, jewelry is typically fabricated from precious metals such as silver, gold and platinum. Often embellished with bead craft and gem ornamentation, the work of jewelers most commonly produces necklaces, bracelets, and rings however the range of possibilities is innumerable. Participating Architecturals.net artisans and craftsmen offer a wide variety of handmade jewelry including metals, gems, bead craft, and more.
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BraceletsAncient Grecian soldiers bore thick leather bands of armor around their wrists and lower arms known as bracels, a term derived from the Latin word brachium, meaning arm. Gold, silver and gemstones were added to the bracels as a demarcation of status, which sparked the interest of the Greek women who commissioned craftsmen to create petite versions known as bracel-ets or bracelets. The practice became fashionable and the use of bracelets as personal adornment quickly spread.
EarringsEarly earrings were crafted as hoops, pendants and plugs. Simultaneous parallel development has been documented with the unearthing of earrings in Iraq dated 2500 B.C. and in Crete dated 2000 B.C. The practice of entombing personal effects with the dead has produced rich archeological evidence of earring production, however routine earring use has been documented in images preserved on coins, in paintings and sculpture such as the plug style earrings found on the ancient bust of Egyptian King Tutankhamen who reigned from 1361 B.C. to 1352 B.C.
NecklacesArcheologists believe the necklace was born during the Stone Age about 40,000 years before than previously believed. In April of 2004, scientists were excavating a cave in South Africa and discovered forty-one mollusks that may have been strung as neck jewelry some 75,000 years ago. Prior to this discovery the oldest known necklace to have been found was dated about 30,000 B.C., which were made mostly of shells, bones, stones, animal teeth or claws and strung on a thread.
Pendants & PinsDerived from the Latin term pendere meaning to hang, pendants are personal adornments that are suspended from a piece of jewelry such as a necklace or earrings. The uses of pendants have several purposes including ornamentation, identification, protection, self-affirmation, ostentation, award or a combination of these purposes that often results in a luxuriously jeweled symbol of the intended representation.
RingsRings became quite popular during the medieval period and were worn by every class of people. Fabricated from iron, copper, silver, and gold, the quality of the material used was an indication of the wearer’s status in society. Craftsmen began setting rings with faceted jewels beginning in the 14th century, a practice that more precisely separated the classes. Rings are worn for a variety of reasons including simple adornment, representations of commitment and to commemorate accomplishments.
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SetsParures are matching jewelry sets consisting of a suite of coordinating pieces adorned with precious gems. These jewelry sets could include a necklace, a comb, a tiara, a diadem, a bandeau, bracelets, pins, rings, drop or cluster stud earrings, a belt clasp or any such combination. Napoléon Bonaparte’s first wife Joséphine popularized Parures jewelry sets, which were later worn by his second wife Marie Louise.
