Ornamenting the Body Decorating the Mind
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Jewellery was one of the first means used by man to express both his aesthetic pursuits and his relationship to his community and to nature. From the viewpoint of western culture, the history of jewellery is estimated to have begun some 30,000 years ago. With his hands man began to shape his environment, striving to acknowledge and express his systematic culture in the midst of chaotic nature, and it is the visual aspects of this that are reflected and represented in the two pieces of jewellery presented. The gold pectoral from Tutankhamen's tomb, and Rowena Gough's 'Container for the Body', one piece ancient, the other contemporary, were created over 3000 years apart, yet with possess meanings that transcend the passage of time.
Jewellery was an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture, worn for both decorative and symbolic purposes. Nearly everyone wore some kind of jewellery - men, women and children, kings, queens and common people alike. It is abundantly clear from their art and literature, the ancient Egyptians attached great importance to jewellery as a means of marking social, political, religious, and even moral distinctions, but probably the most compelling purpose was as amulets for the protection of the wearer from mysterious hostile forces residing in the After Life.
To the ancient Egyptians, death was not an ending, but the beginning of a journey to another world. When the boy King Tutankhamun died in 1350 B.C...