The real history of jewelry across time is not really much an account of human vanity than a reflection of the evolution of human societies and the urge of humans to create symbols and beauty.

Jewels across time

You can find signs that humans have now been wearing jewels from very early times on as personal adornment. Originally, they were made from materials readily available in nature such as for instance shells, animal bones or teeth. Eventually humans learnt Juwelier to work with different stones and metals, including gold and gems that were particularly valued in jewelry. Our ancestors were incredibly gifted jewelers and the sweetness and splendor of the old jewels still fascinates us as clearly demonstrated by the interest shown for jewel displays in museums and for itinerary exhibitions on including the Gold of the Incas or the treasures from Egyptians tombs.

With the use of precious metals like gold or gems like diamonds, jewels became tangible signs of wealth, power and societal order. At different occuring times, like in the Middle Age, laws were passed regarding who had been permitted to wear jewels, which in itself illustrates the social importance attached with jewels.

The thought of crown jewels was created in the Renaissance period where in fact the French King, Francois 1st declared 8 fine pieces to be inalienable heirlooms of French kings.Similar legislation in other countries soon laid the bottom for the treasures of the European Royal families.

19th and 20th century, a turning point

The employment and significance of jewels changed drastically in the 19th century due to social, technological and cultural factors.

A fresh social code - Until then men wear just like sumptuous jewels as women did. Likewise they had precious stones, pearls, gold and silver threads sawed within their garments. However, round the 19th century the social code required a far more sober dress code for men. Furthermore, around the same period, a much sharper differentiation was introduced between day and evening jewels, probably the most sumptuous being reserved for evenings and galas.

A new technology - The industrial revolution managed to get possible to mass produce jewels of high- as well as low-quality, thus placing jewelry within the economic grasp of a much bigger segment of the population. This in turn led to a more stimulating relation to jewels acquired at a cheaper and easily replaced by new collections for a quickly changing fashion.

The current culture - The Art Nouveau movement and the 1900 World Exhibition marked a new era where design and creativity are prized above material value, thus shifting the emphasis of the jeweler's art from the setting of stones to the artistic design. This marked the birth of what is now called art jewelry in place of traditional jewelry.

Through the Art Deco period Coco Chanel greatly popularized costume jewelry as ornamentation to fit a particular fashionable costume or garment. Those costume jewels often made of non precious material and mass-produced marked the start of an era of disposable jewels which are fashionable for a quick time period and quickly outdated by way of a new fashion style.

One cannot mention design without mentioning the Danish Design. This innovative movement is characterized by quite distinct sober round lines of great Juwelier
esthetic quality and a predilection for silver. Georg Jensen is probably the most emblematic figure, but definitely not the sole renowned name. Danish Design had a huge influence in the rest of Europe and in the US and laid the bottom for many experimental jewels in the 1960s an 1970s.

Jewel design did not only experimented with new forms and new material - including cheap materials like aluminum, plastic, paper, nylon, but haute-couture designers such as Coco Chanel, as stated above, and renowned artists like Salvador Dali, Picasso or Max Ernst made an important contribution to innovation for the reason that field. This work challenged constricting conventions and somewhat blurred the boundaries between jewelry, fashion and fine arts.