Eternal Jewels: Lee Kangwon’s Collector’s Journey Through World Jewellery

Eternal Jewels: Lee Kangwon’s Collector’s Journey Through World Jewellery

by | Reviews

jewellery book review

Eternal Jewels: Lee Kangwon’s collector’s journey through world jewellery

Published October 22, 2025

Jewellery collections are as much part of the lives of their collectors as they are of the original cultures from which the pieces emerge. The collector’s eye, the journey of acquisition, the story behind each piece – these form the hidden backbone of any collection. And it’s not often that we get to see that point of view! In Eternal Jewels: A Collector’s Journey, Lee Kangwon shares her personal odyssey. And in doing so, she invites us into a world of flame-lit gemstones, ancient ornament, and a lifetime of passion. This art jewellery book captures both the emotion of collecting and the passion for world heritage.

A celebration of the World Jewellery Museum’s 20th anniversary

From the outset, Eternal Jewels defines itself as more than a mere catalogue. Published to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the World Jewellery Museum in Seoul, the volume positions Lee’s voice as central: collector, poet, traveller, and museum founder. It makes for a remarkable volume!

We meet a woman who has lived on four continents, whose diplomatic life exposed her to over a hundred countries. The result is a collection of over 3,500 pieces that spans the globe – the book takes us from Colombian emerald mines to Tibetan temples, from heirloom jewels in her own family to rare ceremonial headpieces, from traditional forms to modern-day design.

A collector’s journey across continents and cultures

Organised elegantly by type – rings, anklets, bracelets, brooches, pendants, necklaces, earrings, and headdresses – the book also features thematic essays on gems such as emeralds and amber, and on symbolic ornaments like Ethiopian silver crosses. The range of the collection is incredibly wide: from Western mourning jewellery to a Dinka corset, this books holds many surprises.

Alongside each category, Lee Kangwon shares vivid recollections: a meeting in Addis Ababa that sparked her journey of collecting, a negotiation in Bogotá, the quiet turning of a gem under museum lights. These moments make the jewellery collection breathe; we are not only looking at objects but following the collector on her journey – it reminded me of the book by Peter Hoesli (see more about that here).

The foreword, written by Elaine Kim, effortlessly weaves jewellery history and the use of adornment throughout the cycle of life together. I loved how this approach shows us how jewellery traditions across the world and through time are sometimes so similar – a point I cannot make often enough myself, and if you have been following this blog for a while, you will certainly recognise what I mean!

A visual feast: design, photography and emotion

Visually, Eternal Jewels is sumptuous. Large-format plates, crisp photography, and full-page spreads allow the reader to observe the beauty of each piece: surfaces glow, patinas deepen, and gemstones sparkle as though lit from within. Just see the cover of the book, where a translucent emerald cameo in an Italian jewel seems to be ablaze!

This is not a museum catalogue with its details and facts, but an art book invitation- a visual experience that honours the collector’s profound love for jewellery.

That love shines through in her introduction, where she shares how jewellery speaks about its journeys and its life: this is one of the very few books I have read where the jewels speak themselves, too.

Jewellery, legacy and the future of collections

This book blends personal narrative with jewellery curation. It gives us insight into how a collection is assembled, how aesthetic choices are made, and how cultural artefacts find new homes.

What makes it different from other jewellery books is that it reads as a biography, and as travel journal. The museum’s anniversary lends a further dimension: this is about legacy, about bridging cultures, about jewellery as material culture in the richest sense. So many private collections end up for sale again, their stories lost, their collectors forgotten: this collection continues to tell its stories through the care of the World Jewellery Museum.

A book like this reminds us how closely people and things are connected: the collections assembled over time are as much tangible memories of the collector as well as cultural heirlooms. And if they lose their voice, we lose so much: collective history, and personal memories. If you have a collection, start thinking about its future today – let this book inspire you!

Eternal Jewels: a tribute to jewellery as cultural story

Eternal Jewels does not aim to provide detailed comparative cultural context, although you will find short descriptions with many of the pieces highlighting the meaning of specific design details, colours, or uses within the culture that the piece comes from: its main strength lies in evoking the feeling of intimacy, poetry, and beauty.

Ultimately, Eternal Jewels: A Collector’s Journey is a beautiful book about human stories, both of the creators of these jewels as well as those of the collector. Lee Kangwon opens her world jewellery collection and memories to us. For anyone passionate about jewellery and collecting, this volume is a deeply satisfying companion. I enjoyed reading the personal memoires and, of course, the wonderful pieces themselves!

In short: definitely recommended for collectors, cultural travellers, and lovers of world jewellery heritage. It’s a beautiful read.

Eternal Jewels: A Collector’s Journey by Lee Kangwon, 2025. 184 pages, full-colour, in English.

Published by Kulturalis Ltd, London.

I received the book as a review copy.

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

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Jewelry and Adornment of Libya

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya

by | Cultures & People, Reviews

Libyan jewellery in depth

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya

Published on November 8, 2024

Libya is home to spectacular jewellery, but very few books are currently available on the jewellery heritage of this country. That has now changed with the much-anticipated arrival of Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: a book that fills a huge gap – and in more ways than one!

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: a personal view

The author of this book, Hala Ghellali, is from Libya herself: she was born and raised in Tripoli. This is where she first encountered silver jewellery as a young woman, when her father took her to the souq to purchase silver bracelets for her. Personal memories like this form the starting point of the book, but Hala’s background is much wider. You may have read her essay in the Postcard Women’s Imaginarium book, for example.

She was schooled in Tripoli, studied in France, and then moved to Italy, Egypt, Syria and finally, the USA. She is fascinated by Libyan history, both the tangible and the intangible (like poetry or proverbs), and has conducted research into jewellery and adornment for years.

What do you get when someone like that writes a book? A super rich, very detailed book that (at least for me) hits all the important nails on the head when it comes to jewellery research.

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: the outline

Let me start with one of my hangups: references. You know I love references! Sharing one’s sources when making a claim is very helpful when one wants a book to contribute to common knowledge, and simply necessary when one wants to enable future research. Jewelry and Adornment of Libya is referenced, and here’s the beauty of it: it references sources in Arabic, Italian, French, and English, and provides clear references as to which silversmith shared which piece of information, anecdote or memory with the author. That is different for Libyan Jewellery – A Journey Through Symbols by Elena Schenone Alberini (1998) for example: this has a bibliography, but is not referenced.  

This kaleidoscope of sources results in a solid basis for the research in this book. Hala effortlessly combines observations from travel diaries with patent books, colonial legislation with oral history and poetry, museum pieces with personal memories. This variety brings you a book that is packed with facts and insights on the context of jewellery – absolutely crucial if we want to understand the jewellery itself.

The book is roughly structured in three main parts: the world of jewellery producers, the world of jewellery wearers, and wedding customs in Tripoli. So, let me take you on a quick tour!

Libyan jewellery: the silversmiths

The first three chapters of the book discuss the history of Libyan silversmithing. Here, the book differs notably from Schenone Alberini’s book: these chapters really dive in the history of jewellery production. First, a chapter on jewellery in archaeological excavations and travel diaries outlines the sources that exist for the history of jewellery in Libya. Interestingly, these also include reports by merchants, shedding light on the transactional context of jewellery: who buys and sells these things, and for how much?

Next is a chapter on the production of jewellery itself, both in its historic context as well as detailing techniques. The wealth of historic background is incredibly enlightening. Just one example is how we learn about the close relations between the Jewish silversmithing communities of both Tripoli and Djerba in Tunisia. As so often the case, colonial borders mess with transregional cultural identities: in the case of Tripoli and Djerba, these two communities became so closely entangled that much of the southern Tunisian jewellery was hallmarked in Tripoli. This chapter picks apart how political and economic developments affected both the Jewish and Muslim silver business over time.

I can’t emphasise enough how relevant this is – I see so many online sources and discussions on social media claiming that a piece of jewellery belongs to either this or that nationality, without consideration for the historical context, that it is nothing short of refreshing to see someone patiently walking us through the history of it all and presenting us with a nuanced, detailed view.

There is much more in this chapter: guild organisation, the various arts and crafts production centres, techniques and forms, terminology used by both Jewish and Muslim jewellery makers, all against their shifting historic and cultural backgrounds.

And then there is hallmarks! You know I adore my copy of World Hallmarks Volume II, the fabulous overview of hallmarks from non-Western countries. But Libya is missing from this overview. Schenone Alberini does present hallmarks and adds drawings of both hallmarks and amin stamps, but has difficulty organising the hallmarks chronologically – another gap sorted with Jewelry and Adornment of Libya. Here, we learn of the development of hallmarks throughout and after the Italian colonial period, the difference between hallmarks and master silversmith stamps, and the challenges in attempting to organise hallmarks diachronically.

Libyan jewellery: from head to toe

The book then continues with ten chapters devoted to jewellery itself. From head jewellery to waistcoat buttons to belts, anklets and slippers, in these pages you will find an abundance of jewellery – and its stories. Each piece of jewellery is presented with its vernacular name, there are poetry and song references throughout, and here again, everything is discussed in its historic timeframe. For many names, their linguistic origin is also given, which helps a lot in understanding what these names mean and why specifically they are chosen for a particular object.

These chapters are so rich in their descriptions that I don’t even know where to begin. Let me just say that when you read it all, you will get so much more than just jewellery. There are customs and practices, sayings and Qur’an citations, beliefs and glimpses into everyday life. And the photos! The entire book is lavishly illustrated, with images of private collections that have not been published before, but also with photos of how jewellery is actually worn.

As if that was not enough, the final chapter presents jewellery customs related to engagement and marriage in the city of Tripoli. Illustrated with vintage photos of actual wedding ceremonies, this essay brings us customs and habits that have since disappeared, and as such, this forms yet another important documentation of jewellery in its living, breathing context.

Libyan jewellery research: just in time

That sense of disappearing traditions is present throughout the book. In the epilogue, Hala shares the difficult road towards the publication of this book. For one, archives are not always accessible: in 2011, the political situation changed drastically, resulting in difficult times for those living and working in Libya. Another part of the challenges was the unescapable fact that the last generation of both wearers and silversmiths is disappearing rapidly. Who still remembers songs, customs, memories from before the Second World War? And even more relevant: who is willing to actually share these?

This is a challenge we see everywhere around the globe, and this book illustrates how important it is to incorporate this disappearing knowledge before there is no one left to ask. One of the things I really value is how this book pays it forward to future researchers by including an long list of Tripolitan silver- and goldsmiths in the appendix: we may not yet know when exactly they practised their craft, or what their makers’ mark looks like, but at least, this provides us with a starting point in preserving their names and their memory.

Glossary of jewellery terms

There is even more to this book, I’m not done yet. For me, one of the highlights is the glossary of jewellery terms in Arabic at the end of the book. For those of us who do not master Arabic, these four pages with terminology for everything from earrings to anklets are a major asset. You remember that e-book with jewellery search terms in 7 languages I created to help you expand your online search results? This glossary is a big help with the Arabic terms – do note that it is Libyan Arabic, so regionally spoken, but it is very insightful nonetheless.

So far, you’ll have noticed that I’m gushing. Is there no comment to be made at all…? Very few, if I’m being honest.

If I could ask for anything more, it would be a map of Libya and its neighbouring countries to help visualise where, for example, Djerba and Siwa are relative to Tripoli. As an archaeologist, I would have liked to see more diachronic backup for the explanation of some forms of symbolism: up until now, no one has convincingly shown that some forms of pre-Islamic symbolism, like the triangle for Tanit or the cross-in-circle pendant, have indeed been present as such in jewellery continuously. I lean towards the thought that this is more a case of revival than survival, but that is me. And well, ok, final comment, the green font for quotes is at times difficult to read.

But that’s it – the book design is beautiful, the weight of the paper has a sumptuous feel to it, and it’s a good thing that this is a hardback edition: I’m going to be leafing through it quite often.

For those that would want to compare this to Schenone Alberini’s book: that is gorgeous, too, no shade! But Jewelry and Adornment of Libya goes beyond, is more detailed and specific. I found that reading Jewelry and Adornment of Libya helped me place Schenone Alberini’s book in more context, and increased my understanding of Libyan jewellery significantly.

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya: a treasure of a book

The author writes that creating an exhaustive catalogue has not been her intention: the book gravitates around Tripoli (but does include many other places in the jewellery chapters), there is always more research to be done, and she hopes that researchers will build upon this work. I hope so, too! And with Jewelry and Adornment of Libya, the standard is set high.

Because with this book, you will get far more than a catalogue with Libyan jewellery. You will get a valuable record of the world in which this jewellery existed: its social, cultural, historical and economic context. This is one of the best recent books on traditional jewellery I have read, also because of its clear referencing – and as you know, I have read quite a few. So, whether you are from Libya yourself, a collector, curator or scholar working with traditional jewellery: go on and treat yourself to this book before it ends up out of print!

More about Jewellery and Adornment of Libya

Jewelry and Adornment of Libya By Hala Ghellali, 2024. 180 pages, full colour, English.

Published by BLKVLD Uitgevers Publishers.

Available with the publisher: see here how to order

I received the book as review copy.

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The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

Joyeria Amazig/Amazigh Jewelry

Joyeria Amazig/Amazigh Jewelry

by | Cultures & People, Reviews

A private jewellery collection

Joyería Amazig/Amazigh jewellery

Published on November 3, 2024

Another private collection that sees the light of day: in an exhibition and a catalogue! The collection of Amazigh jewellery collected by Spanish ambassador Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo has been the focus of an exhibition in Granada, and its accompanying catalogue Joyería Amazig presents an overview of the collection.

Amazigh jewellery: neighbours

With the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa being neighbours, separated only by the street of Gibraltar, both geographical realms share a history. Not only of trade, but of mutual colonisation; the Amazigh kingdoms conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century, and would control it until the 15th century, and in Spain held two ‘protectorates’ in Morocco from 1912 to 1952 amidst the French colonisation of the Maghreb.

It is this shared history that the exhibition aims to emphasise with an exhibition on Amazigh jewellery: ‘to understand more about the cultural wealth of the past, and to build bridges towards a future based on respect for and appreciation of diversity’ [p. 11] [1]

Amazigh jewellery: the book

This publication is bilingual in Spanish and English: an excellent choice, as by using two of the major world languages, the collection may reach a wide audience. The book is divided into two main parts. First, an introductory part highlights the cultural background of Amazigh jewellery. This is followed by the second part, which is the catalogue itself.

The introductory part starts with two essays on the cultural history of the Amazigh, and places these in local context in an essay on the Amazigh in Granada. Given that the exhibition was held in Granada, this chapter truly connects two worlds. The jewellery is then explored by Cynthia J. Becker. Her article uses the collection as a starting point and merges it with her in-depth description of jewellery makers and wearers. I loved how she both includes the broad strokes of history as well as significant local details to place this jewellery collection in its cultural context.

Finally, the ambassador himself details how both his collection and his appreciation for jewellery grew – as you know, it is important to get some idea of the circumstances of collecting and the personal preferences of the collector. This helps understand the collection itself and to compare it with others: each collector holds one piece of the total puzzle, and so having a chapter on the collection history is most valuable. In this case, the starting point was his own culture: the presence of Spanish coins in clothing pins.

The collection: a mixture of pieces

In this case, the collection embraces mostly relatable pieces. Where you will often find catalogues with high-end, exceptional pieces (because that is what the collector is aiming for, and which leave out the more common pieces), these pages reflect the transitional stages of jewellery: the jewellery available in the market today, and their changing interpretations.

Both older and newer jewellery sit side by side with restrung or altered pieces, like the Draa temporal ornament reworked into a pendant [p. 222]. There are also several chimeras or composite pieces in the collection, like the diadem shown on p. 200: this has been constructed of two different bands placed on top of each other, crowned with an upside-down positioned fibula. [2] This has been constructed for the market for cultural outsiders: it would not have been worn as such by the Amazigh community.

That is also the case with the multi-strand necklaces shown on pp 244-245: these are relatively recent compositions, and not part of traditional dress. [3] Creations like these showcase the evolving nature of jewellery from an economical point of view: a way to make a living. Those alterations come in various forms, and are not automatically a bad thing: see how that works and 5 practical tips on how to spot alterations here.

However, the catalogue does not differentiate between these newer and older pieces, and that is a serious drawback. None of the captions gives a date for the piece shown: the publication definitely does not claim all pieces are indeed old, but does not point out when they are younger, either. There are also no reflections on cultural authenticity, which in several cases might have helped to avoid misunderstandings.

A wide variety of jewellery

Personally, I liked the overview of fibulas that have coins as their main decorative element. Coin jewellery may tell us a lot about its wearers, as I describe here.  7 pages with a series of fibulas carrying Spanish coins present a selection that you will not find as easily elsewhere – here, the focus of the collector brings us another angle through which to study jewellery. The drawback is that of all objects in the catalogue, these lack a proper description. For a Spanish person, these coins are probably easily recognisable and datable, but I’ll need to spend a little more time comparing the images to Spanish coinage through the centuries.

The variety of the collection is wide: I loved the variety in fabric headbands with all sorts of decoration stitched on (although I’m not entirely sure all of them are in authentic configuration), you’ll find several examples of large fibula sets, but also a selection of tiny amulets…there are pieces from Mauritania to Libya and I spent a good time going over all of them.

A noteworthy point of the book is that it zooms out to the transregional elements of Amazigh jewellery on occasion. A temporal pendant from Libya for example is compared to both Moroccan and Tunisian examples [p. 237, only in text, not with images], and while all three are different, their common ancestry is not often addressed directly, so I liked that this was touched upon, however briefly.

Joyería Amazig

The focus of this book is, understandably given the position of the collector, on Morocco, but incidentally you will find pieces from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya as well. It is abundantly illustrated: landscapes, rock art, architecture, paintings and photos of people allow you to appreciate the context of the jewellery.

That being said, there is no reflection on the nature of some of these images: colonial postcards and Orientalising paintings are included without further discussion.Some of these have been made under duress, and not all of them are to be considered reliable sources: personally, I feel that the images chosen for a book should be considered with as much care as the text itself.

The artists’ drawings of jewellery throughout the book are simply beautiful: the drawing on the cover is just one example (although those touches of verdigris are a bit unsettling on such a beautiful piece!) There are many more, and I liked their dreamy rendering of beautiful jewels.

The introductory chapters are well written, and contain a wealth of knowledge about Amazigh history and culture, which is so important when looking at jewellery in its context. The book reflects the changing market for jewellery, and pays attention to the more modest pieces. It is these ‘humbler’ items that stand to disappear first, because collectors do not always value these: see the 4 filters of collecting explained here.

I also appreciated that the catalogue part dedicates a single page to every item, allowing you to see it in full. Each piece of jewellery is presented against a black or cream-coloured background, so they really stand out.

However, caution is needed if you’d want to use this as a reference book: like I said, the captions do not clarify the age of the pieces and also do not address the possibility of pieces being composed and rearranged from older elements. When researching exact details of individual pieces, you’ll need to cross-check information in this book with other sources.

Joyería Amazig is an overview of a personal collection. The chapters on its cultural context in the first part of the book add value; the catalogue needs to be considered with caution.

More about Joyería Amazig

Joyería Amazig: identidad de los pueblos beréberes – Amazigh jewelry: identity of the Berber Peoples

Various authors, 2024. 348 pages, full colour, bilingual in Spanish/English

Published by El legado andalusí.

Available with the publisher: to order, fill out the email form under ‘solicitar información’ and the publisher will get back to you with a quote for shipping costs. (the field ‘correo electronico’ is where you leave your email address)

I received the book digitally as review copy. In all transparency: I received a low resolution pdf to review, and have not seen the printed book itself. I can’t tell you anything about the technical execution of the book, the quality of the images, or show you what it looks like inside – just so you know!

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References

[1] I think it’s page 11, the introductory part of the book has no page numbering.

[2] Probably a belt element as shown in Benfoughal, T. 1997, Bijoux et Bijoutiers de l’Aures, p. 162-164, combined with a diadem and the body of a fibula.

[3] As discussed by Alaa Eddine Sagid, curator of the MAP Marrakech, on Facebook-group Ethnic Jewels Community, May 13, 2021.

The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Ladakh Lointain

Ladakh Lointain

by | Cultures & People, Reviews

A journey in photographs

Ladakh Lointain

Published on August 14, 2024

A massive book with hundreds of photos from a corner of the world that is not too often addressed: Ladakh, in the northernmost part of India. This book is the result of three journeys made between 1979 and 1981.

Ladakh Lointain: a personal journey

Photographs made during three private journeys form the basis of this huge and heavy book: 600 pages, hardbound, a volume that weighs several kilos. The photo below will give you an idea of this massive book, with a few rings added for scale.

Ladakh Lointain means ‘Distant Ladakh’ in French: distant, both because of the actual distance, but also because the photos included in the book show Ladakh as it was 50 years ago.

The photos were taken by Anne-Marie and Roland Gillion Crowet, and if that name rings a bell, that makes sense: the Gillion Crowets avidly collected jewellery, and you may have seen the book Berber Memories on their splendid collection of Amazigh jewellery from Morocco.

Ladakh Lointain: the outline

The book is divided into three main parts, organised roughly geographically, but also thematically. Each part starts with an introduction on the region, and mixes general historical research with personal memories. That makes the texts a highly personal read – the book expressly states that it does not aim to be a scholarly publication, but rather an annotated collection of photos. In that respect, it is different from the detailed and well-researched Berber Memories – it’s another genre.

First, the focus is on photos of the landscape and architecture of Ladakh. The second part zooms in on photos of the Ladakhi people themselves, and in the third part images of monasteries and festival are central. That is a very loose division, by the way, you will find all subjects in all parts, but the emphasis is slightly different in each part.

The photos themselves take up most of the book, and here its large format works so well! Having travelled on the other side of the Himalaya myself, through the Pamir, the Wakhan-corridor and along the border with Afghanistan, seeing the sweeping landscapes brought a sense of recognition.

Journeys into Ladakh

I read this book in tandem with another publication of travel photographs: the photos taken by German traveller Otto Honigmann, who visited Kashmir, Ladakh and Baltistan [1] in 1911 and 1912. Completely by coincidence, this book, too, is written by a relative: the granddaughter of Honigmann’s second wife researched his travels and published his photos in 2010. [2]

Both books start with a map of the journey made. In Ladakh, the Gillion Crowets and Honigmann largely followed the same trail along the Wakha river until Mulbekh, and after that over land towards Khaltse on the Indus river. Both journeys then follow the Indus until Leh, where their paths split. So, even though the book with 1911-1912 photos is considerably smaller, that leaves room for comparisons!

Changing Ladakh

Just one example of both books illustrates the importance of this publication. That is Leh, the ancient royal town, which has always been a crossroads of cultures.

When Honigmann travelled here, he mentioned a summer market filled with people from ‘all over India, Turkestan, Tibet, Siberia and the far ends of Central Asia’. [3] Its inhabitants were speaking Hindustani, Tibetan and Turkish, and were Buddhists, Muslims, Hindu’s and Sikhs.

Almost a century later, in 2008, Nathalie de Merode writes in Ladakh Lointain, Leh was at the verge of disappearing – the photos taken in 1979 still showing the town inhabited and bustling.

This is just one example of why photos, notes taken and memories relived of personal collections are very relevant to keep and publish. They add to historical resources in a myriad of ways, particularly because every photographer has their own interests. For Anne-Marie Gillion, that was people and adornment.

Ladakhi jewellery and dress

One chapter is devoted to personal adornment in particular. This chapter focuses mainly on the perak, the iconic headdress of Ladakh but also, in different forms, worn in parts of current-day Pakistan, as the images by Otto Honigmann show, and in larger parts of the Western Himalaya. [4] This is illustrated with dozens of photos, including details, and is just splendid to look at.

But throughout the book, you will find a treasure trove of dress and adornment because of the personal interest of the photographer. From small kids with chunky turquoises attached to their hat, festive ladies attending the festival of Phyang, a man spinning wool on the go in Leh…there is so much to see in this book.

Ladakh Lointain – an important resource for dress and adornment

The photographs gathered in Ladakh Lointain are tribute to a region and its people that have since changed considerably. For the study of adornment and dress, this is a particularly important volume because of its often-candid photos: you will see people from all walks of life, going about their daily business, attending a festival, sitting in front of their home…I may be a bit of a nerd, but I spent many hours peering over photographs with a magnifier, taking in details of jewellery and dress.

It’s also a book that gets one thinking: how many more photo-albums are out there, that no one gets to see? Like the personal archive of drawings of Tuareg culture that I discussed earlier, this personal archive, too, presents us with a unique view on the recent past and as such forms an important historic source. And not just for people interested in other cultures, but also for the Ladakhi people themselves.

Like the earlier publication by the same publisher, Berber Memories, this book, too, is very reasonably priced. If you are working in any capacity with the history of the Western Himalaya, this collection of private photographs is highly recommended!

More about Ladakh Lointain

Ladakh Lointain By Nathalie de Merode and Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet (2024). 600 pages, full-colour, in French. Published by Mercator Fonds: see here for more information and ordering.

I received the book as review copy.

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References

[1] Baltistan is now partly Pakistan, partly India.

[2] Appel, M. 2010. Kashmir, Ladakh, Baltistan. Fotografien von Otto Honigmann. Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Munich.

[3] Appel 2010, p. 18-19.

[4] Weihreter, H. 1988. Schmuck aus dem Himalaja, p. 110-115.

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Textiles in Motion

Textiles in Motion

by | Ancient jewellery, Reviews

Dress research

Textiles in Motion

Published on August 08, 2024

When the study of ancient personal adornment meets lived experiences, magic happens! Textiles in Motion. Dress for Dance in the Ancient World is filled with interdisciplinary study in which ancient textiles come to life, statues swirl and the past jingles.

Textiles in Motion: the outline

This book is one of the results of a much larger project focusing on Etruscan dance through textile studies. Its contents extend wider than Etruria though, and present us with articles grouped in 6 distinct parts. First, you’ll find practical perspectives on dance and clothing, followed by Movement and Design, Embodiment and Communication, Cognition and Sensory Experience, Images and Metaphors, and even Modern Reception.

The contributions take us all over the ancient world: from the Mediterranean to China, from Bronze Age Europe to dancing Egyptologists. What will you find in this book? I’m not going to cover it all (because, spoiler alert) but will take you through my favourite chapters.

Textiles in Motion: dance in action

The first contribution, Practical perspectives on dance and clothing, is one I like best in this book. It’s written in a very approachable style, and weaves current-day dance experience together with the study of ancient textiles. I mean, even the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders make an appearance! The combination of folkloric dance experience and textile study makes this one of the most relatable and enjoyable chapters in the book. I found the notion of ‘showing off’ during dance particularly valuable –  it brings a new dynamic to the study of ancient textiles.

That is followed-up immediately by the next chapter, which introduces the design and construction of woollen skirts from eastern Central Asia. These were made some 2,000 years ago, and this chapter shows how they were actually designed to move. Through a combination of scientific research and technical recreation, these skirts were seen moving again the for the first time in millennia: a great example of how creating and wearing replicas of ancient textiles may help us understand their functionality.

That same combination of research with recreations is also what makes chapter 8 fascinating. Here, we move to Iron Age Europe, so even further back in time to around 800 – 400 BCE. Elite ladies from the Hallstatt culture in this timeframe wore jewellery that jingled, and what I found really interesting in this contribution is that the sound they produce has been analysed for its wavelength: individually and together, to create an idea of the ‘soundscape’ of these ladies.

I do wonder if that sound may have been altered slightly due to the corrosion on the jewels – I can’t quite make out if this analysis has been done with original jewels, replica jewels, or both. Either way, it’s super cool research – because it also involves reenactment of ancient dance poses by dancer dressed in replica garments and jewellery.

This way, both the movement of textile and the sounds produced could be studied. From there, further research is suggested into the ‘sound fields’ that these elite ladies emitted: could you, as an Iron Age person, judge from the specific jingle of their ornaments what status they have?

Textiles in Motion: dancing statues

Another field of study is that of 3D objects, like statues. The third chapter examines beautiful terracotta and bronze statues from ancient Greece, showing women who clearly are moving – but are they dancing, and if so, how? This chapter reads almost like a detective, piecing clues about the type of textile, how it was fastened, and which movements could may made – or not.

I also really enjoyed the elaborate discussion on Roman household gods, the lares. These gods were present in nearly every household, either in the form of little statuettes or painted on the wall. The author goes over pose, dress and personal appearance in great detail, and after reading this contribution I figured myself not much of an archaeologist – because I never realised that they, clearly, dance. How cool is that, to have dancing gods in your home? The author calls them ‘the festive guardians of the prosperity of the household’ (p.66), which is at, least to me, a new angle from which to observe these very familiar gods.

Textiles in Motion: the body, the senses, and dance

Multiple chapters discuss dance, personal appearance and the senses in Ancient Egypt. To share just one of these, the contribution on tattoos in ancient Egypt explores the relation between the body and elements of dress, the art of writing in Egypt and divine service. By considering tattoos as clothing, they gain an entirely new meaning in the context of dance: while dance is a performance that is temporal, tattoos are permanent.

Textiles in Motion – an inspiring book

This is a book about so much more than ‘just’ textiles and dance: it approaches dance in Antiquity across the full range of the senses. That is what makes it an absolutely inspiring book to me. Many of the chapters are illustrated with well-chosen images, and what I also picked up while reading this volume, was a sense of fun: in several contributions, the authors really seemed to have enjoyed what they were doing. That is usually the best way to embark on any type of research!

In combining sources such as texts, images and actual remains with sensory experiences, the past becomes a vivid place. Its interdisciplinary approach and openness to new avenues of exploration adds significantly to how we may understand movement and the senses in the past – an understanding that brings the people of that past much closer.

Whether you are into the history of dance, or an archaeologist or historian (or all of them), this is a volume I highly recommend!

More about Textiles in Motion

Textiles in Motion. Dress for Dance in the Ancient World.

Edited by Audrey Gouy (2023). 208 pages, full-colour, in English. Published by Oxbow Books: see here for more info and ordering.

I received the book as review copy.

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Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

The Art of the Ring: book review of the Griffin Collection

The Art of the Ring: book review of the Griffin Collection

by | European jewellery, Reviews

Rings from the Griffin Collection

The Art of the Ring: book review

Published on July 31, 2024

Who does not love rings? I think it may be fair to say people have always been obsessed with them, and so they have been both produced ánd collected in large numbers. The Art of the Ring by Diana Scarisbrick presents highlights from one such collection, the privately held Griffin Collection, and offers both a visual and scholarly journey into ring history. In this review, I’ll walk you through its strengths, highlights, and how it compares with other landmark publications on rings.

The Griffin Collection: earlier publications

The Art of the Ring is the third volume in a series devoted to rings from the Griffin Collection. The collection is huge, and the two previous books have zoomed in on one particular category of rings. Take this Ring explored medieval and renaissance rings, and I like my choyce presents the history of posy rings. The Art of the Ring takes another approach: here, the aim is to present a cross-section through the collection. In that way, you could think of this as the prequel to the other volumes: it introduces the collection.

Highlights of the Griffin Collection of rings

Introducing such a vast collection is no easy thing to do! The book presents 100 rings, some of which have been featured in other publications, and some are published here for the first time. This selection is divided into 8 chapters, each focusing on a certain type of ring. There are signet rings, devotional rings, Memento Mori and memorial rings, Love, Marriage and Friendship rings, rings related to daily life, rings set with coloured stones, diamond rings and rings with royal and noble associations. Each chapter sets out with an introduction on the central theme.

Comparing The Art of the Ring with other publications

These sections largely coincide with those of another publication by Diana Scarisbrick, Rings. Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty (2007). This book presents the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection, expanded with rings from museum and private collections to form a comprehensive overview of rings. That makes it very easy to read both books in tandem, compare both collections and as such expand your insight in the subject.

Photography and presentation in The Art of the Ring

Each ring in The Art of the Ring has its own ‘passport’: several photos, a description, and an explanation of what we see and how this particular ring fits into a wider context. And for each ring, you will also find an overview of its provenance (how did it end up in this collection?), where it has been exhibited, and where it has been published.

I did wish some of the photos would be larger. As there is a lot of information included per ring, the space allocated to photos of the ring itself sometimes just is not that much. For example, ring no. 20 is an Italian ring with a sardonyx cameo showing the Shroud of Turin: a magnification here would have been helpful, as the image itself is crisp, but on the small side. That is not to say all of them are small! Throughout the book, page-sized details allow the reader to take in splendid details. But where Rings. Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty presents large photos overall, the illustrations in The Art of the Ring are notably smaller.

European focus and perspectives in ring collecting

The Art of the Ring focuses on European rings, with Byzantine rings as the most ‘eastern’ representatives. The other two publications dedicated to the Griffin Collection also are firmly focused on the West  – at least, that we know of: perhaps this private collection holds more than has been published yet!

That perspective on European/Western rings appears in other books and other collections, too: there are few collections that include the Islamic world as well. Such as the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection, which holds a large number of Islamic rings, and which have been published in Islamic Rings & Gems. The Zucker Collection.

Why is that perspective important? One example from The Art of the Ring may illustrate this point.

The Italian sapphire ring with Arabic inscription

That is the super stunning Italian inscribed gold ring with a sapphire carrying an Arabic inscription. It is featured in both The Art of the Ring and in Cycles of Life, also drawing from the Zucker collection – jewellery travels, and this ring has moved from one collector to another. See an image of this beautiful ring here.

In Cycles of Life, the discussion of this particular ring is very complete, with a presentation of two parallels. The same ring is also briefly featured in Rings. Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty, and now in The Art of the Ring as well – with a most breathtaking photo. In all three books, the sapphire is treated as ‘the odd one out’, a rare stone to be included in an Italian ring. But when browsing through the two volumes of Ruby, Sapphire & Spinel: An Archaeological, Textual and Cultural Study (2016), where sapphires are discussed in their cultural context throughout time, we learn much more about the importance and meaning of sapphire as well as inscribed Islamic gems. Such a wider scope would make this collection even more fascinating.

The Art of the Ring in context of other ring books

As I said above, this volume is dedicated to the Griffin Collection. As with all collections, the choices of the collector determine what the scope of the collection is, and so I enjoyed comparing The Art of the Ring with a few other collections that live on my bookshelves. This is, incidentally, why you would want to own not just one book on rings: it’s when they all get together that you’ll start learning!

By the same author, there is the book I already mentioned, Rings. Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty (2007), with the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection as its core. This collection starts earlier, timewise: where the Griffin Collection seems to start out with Greek and Roman rings, the Zucker Collection also holds Egyptian rings (that’s another 3,000 years of rings).

That same collection is also published in Cycles of Life which uses a different approach in linking rings to stages in our lives: birth, marriage, death, eternity, and everyday life. This book adds more descriptive detail to its 41 rings, and discusses parallels for each piece as well, something that The Art of the Ring does not.

And where The Art of the Ring is organised thematically, the V&A publication on its ring collection Rings is built chronologically. Both books are still quite comparable, with many examples from the same timeframes featuring in both books.

Although this brief comparison is clearly far from exhaustive, it hopefully gives you some idea of the nature of The Art of the Ring in relation to other books on European ring collections.

Conclusion: why The Art of the Ring is a beautiful book

Whether you are working as a curator, collector, or simply adore rings, The Art of the Ring is a book you will want to own.

It is expertly written and presents an engaging introduction in the beautiful ring collection of the Griffin Collection. It complements the previous two volumes wonderfully, and is also a great companion volume to Rings. Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty. But even without its sibling books, The Art of the Ring is a volume that very well holds its own – it’s a wonderful overview of rings.

The only drawback is the size of some photos, notably for the rings that have not been published before, but I really enjoyed this book as a valuable introduction into a collection of which I hope many more volumes will be published!

More about The Art of the Ring

The Art of the Ring. Highlights from The Griffin Collection.

By Diana Scarisbrick (2024). 240 pages, full-colour, in English. Published by AD ILISSVM/Paul Holberton Publishing.

I received the book as review copy.

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Bibliography

Church, R. 2017. Rings. Thames & Hudson/V&A

Content, D.J. 2016. Ruby, Sapphire & Spinel: An Archaeological, Textual and Cultural Study, Brepols

Content, D.J. (ed) 1987. Islamic Rings & Gems. The Zucker Collection. Philip Wilson Publishers

Hindman, S. 2014. Cycles of Life. Rings from the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection. Les Enluminures

Hindman, S. 2015. Take this Ring. Medieval and Renaissance Rings from the Griffin Collection. Les Enluminures

Scarisbrick, D. 2007. Rings. Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty. Thames & Hudson

Scarisbrick, D. 2021. I like my Choyce. Posy Rings from the Griffin Collection. AD ILISSVM/Paul Holberton Publishing

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on the jewellery of the Egyptian zar-ritual. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.