Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : museums

Exhibit: The Nature of Diamonds at the Royal Ontario Museum

Katie Streeter — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:23:00 GMT

The Royal Ontario Museum has a cool series for the 2008-2009 season called "A Season of Gems." The Nature of Diamonds is a part of this series, and the exhibit can be viewed now through March 22, 2009. For more information on the exhibit, check out this article, or visit the Royal Ontario Museum's Web site.

—Katie

The world's finest collection of gold jewelry and objects

Hazel Wheaton — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:17:00 GMT

I had an oh-so-pleasant surprise waiting in my inbox yesterday morning: a news update about the imminent reopening of the Museo de Oro (trans.: The Gold Museum) in Bogota, Columbia. The museum has been in existence for nearly 70 years, and houses what is arguably the world's largest and most important collection of gold pieces, including statuary, vessels, ritual objects, and jewelry. For several years, the museum has been undergoing renovations, so that they could exhibit more than the tiny fraction of their collection (with numbers in the tens of thousands of pieces).

On November 2, the museum will open the doors of its new facilities, allowing awestruck visitors to see a truly staggering collection of gold objects, displaying exquisite craftsmanship. Here's a taste, the most famous piece in the museum's collection, called the "El Dorado Raft."

The raft, only 19.5 cm in length, was found in 1969 in Pasca, south of Bogotá, and was quickly acquired by the museum — it has never left Colombia. Pre-Hispanic societies in the Americas showed a high degree of social and economic organization, leading to the growth of specialist craftsmen, including goldsmiths. Starting in Peru, metallurgy spread through much of the Americas, and the work of Colombian craftsmen is astonishing in its artistic invention and technical expertise. The El Dorado raft is testament to that expertise; it was cast in one piece using lost-wax casting in a clay mold, some time between 1200 and 1500.

Here's a link to the AP news report; CNN has some footage of more pieces from the collection, filmed without a voiceover. For more luscious photos and information, go to the Museum's Web site. Be sure to check out the link at the top tagged "Masterpieces" — that's where you'll find the goodies. The following pieces are some of my favorites:

Hammered nose ornament; A.D. 1250; 13.2 x 15.9 cm

Statue of a man wearing the mask of a bat and surrounded by spirals and figures of birds; 900–1600 A.D.; 10.6 x 11.3 cm

Gold bottle cap; 0–600 A.D.; 11 x 9.5 cm

Gold bracelet; 150–900 A.D.; 5.4 x 8 cm. Made of hammered gold sheets connected with tabs.

Cast gold cat, 350 A.D.; 7.5 x 12.2 cm.

Reflections on ancient Scottish jewelry

Katie Streeter — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:08:00 GMT

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that I recently went to Scotland for vacation. One of the great places I visited in Scotland is the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh. The museum is 7 floors high, and it's packed with fascinating exhibits on nearly everything you can image. Many of the exhibits include videos and other interactive elements, making it a great place to visit with children.

One of my favorite exhibits is the large exhibit on the early people of Scotland. The exhibit includes jewelry that's centuries old, such as this brooch (left). The brooch is constructed of silver and includes red glass and gold inlay. The piece dates to 700 A.D. and was found in Westness, on Scotland's Orkney Islands.

The chain (right) dates from 600 A.D., and was found near Gaulcross.

I think it's amazing that so much jewelry has lasted for centuries, and it makes me wonder what will happen to the jewelry that artists make today. Will one of your creations be discovered 1400 years in the future? Who will find it? What will the people be like? Will they wonder about you, the artists who made the piece in 2008? What do you think?