Jewelry theory

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The jewelry theory is a subgenus of design theory, which specifically deals with the phenomenon of jewelry. Although jewelry theoretical considerations have been passed down since the Middle Ages, it is only in the 21st century that one can speak of the emergence of a systematic jewelry theory.

The oldest known writing, which also contains some ideas about jewelry theory, is the treatise De diversis artibus by Theophilus Presbyter from around 1125 . This is primarily a guide for goldsmiths, but in the prologue he encourages his students by describing their talent as God's will and proving this with the help of the Psalms of David.

The Florentine goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) also passed on considerations of jewelry theory in his treatise on goldsmithing, which he wrote in 1565–1568 . Although, like Presbyter, it is primarily a practical guide, it also describes the iconographies from which his most important goldsmiths were made. These were created in collaboration with his clients and are just as sophisticated as the great works of art of the Renaissance .

Gottfried Semper's On the Formal Laws of Jewelry and its Significance as an Art Symbol from 1856 is the earliest treatise of a purely theoretical jewelry nature. This essay is the only jewelry theoretical text by an important designer to date.

It was not until the 21st century that jewelry theoretical considerations were made again with the aim of arriving at a useful jewelry theory. Anne-Barbara Knerr made a first attempt in this direction with her book Schmuck und Sinn, Questions and Answers on the phenomenon of jewelry , published in 2009 . There she asks the six most important open questions on this topic and provides them with initial attempts to answer: Why do people wear jewelry? How are fashion and jewelry related? Do men adorn themselves differently? Is there a functionality of the jewelry? Is jewelry more of a sign or a symbol? What is jewelry

Wilhelm Lindemann is also on the way to a theory of jewelry with his book Jewelry Thinking, published in 2011 . This is the condensed result of the colloquium of the same name, which has been held since 2005 by the Idar-Oberstein course in gemstone and jewelry design at the Trier University of Applied Sciences and the city of Idar-Oberstein.

literature

  • Erhard Brepohl: Theophilus Presbyter and the medieval goldsmith's art , Leipzig 1987
  • Anne-Barbara Knerr: Jewelry and Meaning. Questions and answers on the jewelry phenomenon , Norderstedt 2009
  • Wilhelm Lindemann: Jewelry thinking. En route to a theory of jewelry , Stuttgart 2011
  • Barbara Schmidt: "25 reasons to wear jewelry", Munich 2019
  • Gottfried Semper: About the formal laws of jewelry and its meaning as an art symbol. 1856 , Berlin 1987