Booklist
Only through a historical overview can anyone appreciate contemporary art--a maxim that holds true for jewelry as well as the finer arts. Richter, author of
Arts and Crafts of Indonesia (1994), expands her considerable knowledge of Southeast Asia through centuries of gems, precious metals, and rare materials such as giant clamshells, agates, and ivory. With clear roots extending into the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the earliest baubles and beads showcase a well-rounded aesthetic sense and sensitivity to media. Scholarly text, occasionally soporific, traces the evolution of jewelry in each country, from Burma to the Philippines, augmented in part by black-and-white period photographs. The piece de resistance, however, is attached to the end of each chapter, where color photographs reveal the true artistry of our Eastern neighbors--whether pigeon-blood Burmese rubies or incredibly intricate silver chatelaines from Vietnam. Appended are maps, notes, bibliography, materials, and techniques.
Barbara JacobsCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Southeast Asian jewelry is eagerly sought by collectors around the globe. Once prized largely for its ethnographic interest, today it is recognized as a high art form. In a tour de force of original research and synthesis, involving years of study and extensive travel throughout the region, Anne Richter gives us the first comprehensive account of a jewelry tradition that stretches across millennia from the vigor of Neolithic and Bronze Age art to the present day.
Magnificent gold jewelry of classical Cambodia and Java, a man's ruby-eyed dragon ring from Thailand, silver work of the Vietnamese court, filigree bridal necklaces of Sumatra, jeweled belt buckles and tobacco boxes of Malaysia, royal gold sashes of the pre-Hispanic Philippines, adornment for remote hill peoples-the more than 300 pieces seen here, many previously unpublished, reveal a jewelry notable for its beauty and rich significance. The analyses of the symbolism shed new light on Asian cultures, while the aesthetic appeal of the items makes this volume irresistible for all jewelry lovers.
ANNE RICHTER, formerly a lecturer in Art and Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, is an authority on the arts and crafts of Southeast Asia. She has contributed to the Dictionnaire International du Bijou and is the author of Arts and Crafts of Indonesia and other volumes.
450 illustrations, 350 in full color, 81/2 x 11"
