NEWS RELEASES
The Jeweller's Craft - New Exhibition at Horsham Museum
11th January 2007
11 January - 24 March 2007
Adorning the body beautiful has been a preoccupation of humankind since the Stone Age. Teeth, stones, shells and metals all caught the eyes of our distant ancestors and they used them in their dress and about their body, both for decoration and as status symbols. Paintings and archaeological excavations have revealed the widespread use of jewellery in the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Greece and Rome, and from Saxon times until the present jewellery has played an important part of formal and everyday wear. In our own day 'Bling' has become a commonplace for an overdose of sparkling, generally cheap jewellery.
Think of jewellery and diamonds, pearls and gold come to mind, yet the new 'Jeweller's Craft' exhibition at Horsham Museum explores the many other materials jewellers use in pursuit of fine jewellery; it also discovers that all that glitters is not gold as many cheaper materials have been used as substitutes. For instance, did you know that Italians once made imitation glass gems and pearls that were very good likenesses of the real jewels? False pearls were made from white powdered glass was mixed with egg white and snail slime to produce imitation pearls. In the seventeenth century a Frenchman invented a method of making fake pearls. He coated blown glass hollow balls with a varnish mixed with iridescent ground fish scales. Cut steel was also used as a backing mount mainly due to the iridescent colours. Examples of these are on display.
As well as the raw materials, the exhibition takes a look at the methods and tools jewellers use to make their jewellery. Some of the tools are surprising, and in many ways haven't changed much for hundreds of years; jewellers still use an 'Archimedes Drill,' apparently designed more than 2000 years ago by the famous inventor who once cried "Eureka!"
To illustrate the craft of the jeweller, the exhibition also features the work of three contemporary artists working in different mediums, and examples of their work in silver, enamel and glass are displayed and their working techniques described.
For further information please contact Jason Semmens, Assistant Curator.
Horsham Museum, 9 The Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1RL. Tel: 01403 254959. Email: museum@horsham.gov.uk.