Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present

by Clare Phillips

Book Overview

From the simple shell beads worn by Palaeolithic hunters to the splendor of Renaissance gold work and the sumptuousness of Art Nouveau enamels, here is a fascinating and informative guide to the development of Western jewelry--concluding with the radical and experimental developments in the last three decades. Offering a concise survey of the entire field, this book analyzes jewelry's changing fashions, explores its social context, and examines how...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0500202877
• ISBN13: 9780500202876
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

For a thorough understanding of jewelry throughout the ages...

Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present is a well written book with accompanying pictures to exemplify every style of jewelry popular in the Old World throughout history. Focusing primarily on Europe, this is a great overview of all the techniques and materials used in jewelry creation. The book is enjoyable enough to read page by page, as opposed to using it solely as a reference book. I highly suggest it to anyone interested in gaining an understanding of how jewelry has evolved throughout history.

Superlative short survey of the subject

Clare Phillips's small volume is the best short history of jewelry I have ever seen. The text, though relatively slender, is packed with information, and the illustrations are lovely and educational. If you can only afford one book on the history of jewelry, this is the book to get.

good for a beginner

I am a beginning collector, It gave me a big frame and lots of information. I am still looking for a good book that helps me in buying. This is more a history.As a history book it is great.

Glorious Jewels!!

Usually when I buy a book on jewelry, I merely gaze longingly at the pictures. Not so with this book! I read it from cover to cover. It help my interest and provided wonderful pictures along with the history of (mostly) Western jewelry. My only complaint is I wish that ALL the pictures had been in color!

A good general overview of the subject

This is probably the best general overview one could ask of the subject of jewelry history. Starting around 30,000 BC and ending around 1988, the book (printed 1996) covers a wide variety of styles and eras. It is lavishly illustrated in color and b/w, with excellent detail. Of course, being that it is only 200 pp or so, it's not going to be able to go in depth anywhere, but it still manages to get its points across regarding trends, technology, and sociology and how they all affected jewelry styles.The halfway point in this book is the Elizabethan era, so the entire latter half of the book falls outside SCA period. Very little indeed covers the period I'm most interested in, Italy of the 15th century. It also seems enamored with the "popular" eras -- little attention is paid to non-European countries once the Ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman classic periods are dealt with. However, it's still a fascinating read, and a great introduction to the subject. The bibliography is quite extensive, giving the reader plenty of places to take up additional study. In summary, I would suggest that any history or costuming enthusiast pick this up.