JEWELRY. THE BODY TRANSFORMED . METMUSEUM

What is jewelry? Why do we wear it? What meanings does it carry? Traversing time and space, this exhibition explores how jewelry acts upon and activates the body it adorns. This global conversation about one of the most personal and universal of art forms brings together some 230 objects drawn almost exclusively from The Met collection. A dazzling array of headdresses and ear ornaments, brooches and belts, necklaces and rings are shown along with sculptures, paintings, prints, and photographs that enrich and amplify the many stories of transformation that jewelry tells.

Jewelry is the world's oldest art form, predating cave paintings by tens of thousands of years. Throughout history and across cultures, it has served to extend and amplify the human body, accentuating, enhancing, distorting, and transforming it. Traversing time and place, this exhibition explores what jewelry is, why we wear it, and how it activates the body it adorns—probing in the process a fundamental aspect of what it is to be human.

What connects a flashing nose ornament from the ancient Andes to a lustrous strand of Parisian pearls or an ivory cuff for a Benin king? All are precious objects made specially for the body, a setting like no other. The exhibition begins with a nod to that crucial relationship, presenting in the first gallery (pictured above) an array of ways that humans throughout history have embellished the head and hair; nose, lips, and ears; neck, chest, and waist; arms and hands; and ankles and feet.

The exhibition then unfolds thematically through a series of vignettes—remarkable excerpts from a global history of jewelry. These groupings of objects highlight the various kinds of transformations jewelry enables. Cultures and time periods collide, stimulating comparative thinking about these works of art, as we look beyond their dazzling forms to discover often overlooked meanings.

Explore the five thematic areas of the exhibition and view selected artworks from each:

The Divine Body

The Regal Body

The Transcendent Body

The Alluring Body

The Resplendent Body

https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/jewelry/welcome-to-the-exhibition