All art objects, whether they be paintings, pottery, sculpture, or any other media, represent the people who created them, and jewelry is no exception. In this volume, approximately 75 entries spanning ancient times to the present, describe the people, places, terms, and tools in the history of jewelry. Readers will learn how the economic, geographic, political, religious, and social circumstances of a place and time influence the materials that are used to make jewelry, the signs and symbols in that jewelry, and way it is worn. More than just pretty pieces, jewelry often has great...

Needlework serves functional purposes, such as providing warmth, but has also communicated individual and social identity, spiritual beliefs, and aesthetic ideals throughout time and geography. Needlework traditions are often associated with rituals and celebrations of life events. Often-overlooked by historians, practicing needlework and creating needlework objects provides insights to the history of everyday life. Needlework techniques traveled with merchants and explorers, creating a legacy of cross-cultural exchange. Some techniques are virtually universal and others are limited to a...

Metalworking Through History provides a comprehensive, historic overview of the subject of metalworking while exploring it within its cultural context. It is written from the perspective that the crafting of objects in metal is a unique way of understanding a particular time and culture. As a broad encyclopedia of metalworking, it allows the reader to view the different societies and periods that produced work in this medium as part of a global, interrelated practice. Comprised of over sixty entries on relevant time periods, cultures, makers and processes, the book is a much-needed general...