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Asian Jewelry
In Asia, techniques and styles of jewelry have continued in
unbroken traditions from remote antiquity to the present day.
Indian jewelry—including gold fillets and earrings, bead
necklaces, and metal and pottery bangles—was produced in the
Indus Valley before 1500 BC. Later, medieval sculpture depicts
men and women wearing heavy necklaces, bracelets, girdles, and
earrings. Today Indian goldsmiths, expert in the techniques also
common in the West, produce enameled, soldered, granulated, and
filigreed work of great refinement. Some of the best work,
especially silver filigree, is produced in Cuttack, Kashmir, and
Bengal. Fine historic examples of Indian work shown at the
Victoria and Albert Museum include a crescent-shaped gold brooch
with granulated gold balls and pendants and gold and enameled
turban ornaments from Jaipur, Rajputana. Other examples,
especially from the south of India, bear in relief subjects from
Hindu mythology.
Illuminated manuscripts indicate that in Persia both men and
women wore rich jewelry—head-gear, necklaces, and earrings. The
characteristic material was enameled gold; the main center for
this work was Shiraz. The same technique is often employed today
in the making of the charms and amulets common in Iran.
Silver was used in Chinese traditional jewelry more often than
gold and was gilded to prevent tarnishing. Silver and gold were
frequently enameled in blue, a favorite color, and often
decorated with blue kingfisher feathers. Jade was the most
valued among precious stones. Under the Chinese Empire, jeweled
emblems such as the buttons on the hats of mandarins indicated
rank, and extremely elaborate silver and gold filigree
headdresses were worn by women of high position. Dragons,
phoenixes, and many Buddhist symbols were used as decoration or
charms on necklaces, rings, and bracelets. Outstanding examples
of Chinese jewelry are exhibited at the Freer Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. The gold and silver jewelry of Nepal, Myanmar
(formerly known as Burma), and Thailand is related to Indian and
Chinese work and is also outstanding. The Japanese have excelled
in lacquer and ivory ornaments such as combs, buttons, and purse
toggles worn at the waist.
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