DECONSTRUCTING HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY ATTITUDES TOWARDS JEWELRY: HOW MATERIAL CHANGES NOTIONS OF PRECIOUSNESS

Abstract

The relationship between humanity and jewelry has its roots in prehistory and predates human civilization by tens of thousands of years- the earliest examples of jewelry being Nassarius Kraussianus shell beads strung from leather strips that most academics agree arose from the Near East and North and Sub-Saharan Africa around 70,000 years ago. The presence and prevalence of jewelry in society transcends millennia, continents, and cultures- with civilizations from the Ancient Egyptians to the Aztec Empire learning independently from each other how to liquefy metal and produce jewelry through the utilization of lost wax casting and the hammering of sheet metal. With these techniques cultures from as far back as the Ancient Chinese who learned to purify silver 6000 years ago as well as companies actively producing jewelry today have been able to materialize pieces for practically every echelon of society. Historically though, jewelry was almost exclusively reserved for the wealthiest of citizens- ultimately by nature of the inherent value of the materials used in their production- traditionally a singular or combination of precious or semi-precious stones set in a precious or semi-precious metal. This thesis investigates the implications of these arbitrary categories of stones and metals and questions conventional preconceptions of jewelry through the creation of sculpted bronze jewelry made through the utilization of the lost wax casting method.