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Jewellery or jewelry (see American and British English spelling differences) signifies items of personal adornment, such as necklaces, rings, brooches, earrings and bracelets. Jewellery may be made from any material, such as gemstones, precious metals or shells, besides other materials, depending on cultural differences and availability of materials. Jewellery may be appreciated because of geometric or other patterns, or meaningful symbols. (Items such as belts and handbags etc. are considered to be accessories rather than jewellery.)

The word jewellery is derived from the word jewel, which was Anglicised from the Old French "jouel" circa the 13th century.[1] Further tracing leads back to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything. Jewellery is one of the oldest forms of body adornment; recently found 100,000 year-old beads made from Nassarius shells, are thought to be the oldest known jewellery.

Jewellery is sometimes seen as wealth storage or functionally as holding a garment or hair together. It has from very early times also been regarded as a form of personal adornment. The first pieces of jewellery were made from natural materials, such as bone, animal teeth, shell, wood and carved stone. More exotic jewellery was probably made for wealthy people or as indications of social status. In some cases people were buried with their jewellery.

Jewellery has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality jewellery is made with gemstones and precious metals, such as silver or gold, there is also a growing demand for art jewellery where design and creativity is prized above material value. In addition, there is the less costly costume jewellery, made from lower value materials and mass-produced. Other variations include wire sculpture (wrap) jewellery, using anything from base metal wire with rock tumbled stone to precious metals and precious gemstones.

Contents

* 1 Form and function

* 2 Materials and methods

o 2.1 Diamonds

o 2.2 Other gemstones

o 2.3 Metal finishes

* 3 Impact on society

* 4 History

o 4.1 Early history

+ 4.1.1 Egypt

o 4.2 Europe and the Middle East

+ 4.2.1 Mesopotamia

+ 4.2.2 Greece

+ 4.2.3 Rome

+ 4.2.4 Middle Ages

+ 4.2.5 Renaissance

+ 4.2.6 Romanticism

+ 4.2.7 Art Nouveau

+ 4.2.8 Art Deco

+ 4.2.9 Jewish jewellery

o 4.3 Asia

+ 4.3.1 China

+ 4.3.2 India

o 4.4 Americas

o 4.5 Pacific

* 5 Modern

* 6 Body modification

* 7 Jewellery market

* 8 See also

* 9 References

* 10 Further reading

* 11 External links

[edit] Form and function

Kenyan man wearing tribal beads

Jewellery has been used for a number of reasons:

* Currency, wealth display and storage,

* Functional use (such as clasps, pins and buckles)

* Symbolism (to show membership or status)

* Protection (in the form of amulets and magical wards),

* Artistic display

Most cultures have at some point had a practice of keeping large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of jewellery, or create jewellery as a means to store or display coins. Alternatively, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good; an example being the use of slave beads..

Many items of jewellery, such as brooches and buckles originated as purely functional items, but evolved into decorative items as their functional requirement diminished.

Jewellery can also be symbolic of group membership, as in the case of the Christian crucifix or Jewish Star of David, or of status, as in the case of chains of office, or the Western practice of married people wearing a wedding ring.

Wearing of amulets and devotional medals to provide protection or ward off evil is common in some cultures; these may take the form of symbols (such as the ankh), stones, plants, animals, body parts (such as the Khamsa), or glyphs (such as stylized versions of the Throne Verse in Islamic art).

Although artistic display has clearly been a function of jewellery from the very beginning, the other roles described above tended to take primacy. It was only in the late 19th century, with the work of such masters as Peter Carl Fabergé and René Lalique, that art began to take primacy over function and wealth.[citation needed] This trend has continued into modern times, expanded upon by artists such as Robert Lee Morris and Ed Levin.

 

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