Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry: From the Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels Collection [Hardcover]

Frances Borel (Author), John Bigelow Taylor (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 1994

Over the long course of human history, jewelry and other kinds of body adornment have expressed a multitude of meanings in people's lives - social position, marital status, individual wealth, self-esteem. All these things and more are revealed in the objects that men and women use and wear on and around their bodies. And those who can perceive and understand the subtle meanings of these richly elaborated, finely crafted, and beautiful things are the richer for it. Among the world's finest private collections of ethnic jewelry is that of Colette and Jean-Pierre Ghysels. Formed over the course of more than thirty years of dedicated world travel, conscientious trekking, and trading, the Ghysels' collection has, until now, not been available for viewing except to the couple's friends and selected scholars. Never exhibited extensively, never published in any comprehensive way, the collection has remained carefully protected in Brussels. Published here for the first time, the Ghysels Collection comes to light in brilliant photographs - made especially for this book - by John Bigelow Taylor and accompanied by a thoughtful and wide-ranging introductory text by a Belgian scholar, the art historian France Borel. Among the four hundred stunning color reproductions from the collection are pieces from every corner of the globe - Africa, the Middle East, the mountain kingdoms of Asia, India, the golden triangle, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Philippines, China and Japan, Oceania, and the Americas. The materials of which they are made cover an enormously wide array: gold, silver, brass, bronze, and iron; precious and semiprecious gems such as carnelian, turquoise, and amber; animal fur, bones, teeth,and feathers; shell, ivory, wood, leather, stone, glass, seeds, plant fibers, and clay. The range of sizes, forms, and craft techniques is equally amazing. In her lucid and readable overall survey of the subject and in geographical section introductions, France Borel leads the read

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Over 30 years in the making, the Ghysels Collection of ethnic jewelry here yields a magnificent array of over 400 pieces of jewelry, ranging from the elaborate extravagance of Central Asian headdresses to the stark simplicity of Solomon Islands chest pendants. Art historian Borel's gracefully written essay describes the universality of the desire to ornament the body, as seen in the cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Captions describing the provenance and use of each piece accompany the luminous photographs. The jewelry pieces are not pictured as actually worn but are appreciated as objects of art. This beautifully executed volume will provide inspiration for designers and pleasures for students of ethnic cultures. Recommended for large decorative arts collections.
Therese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

It is through wonderfully composed color photographs, enhanced by text, that the body decorations of cultures from around the world come to life here. Curator-scholar Borel concentrates on the materials, the cultural imagery, and the meaning of jewelry worn by peoples in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The impressions are indelible: Brazilian men tossing around a certain colorful, feathered akangitat, or headdress, during special ceremonies, Sudanese women with spiked silver bracelets for self-protection, and amulet cases with carnelian, worn at the waist to ease the pain of childbirth. Barbara Jacobs

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (September 5, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810944537
• ISBN-13: 978-0810944534
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,908,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendor is the appropriate word, May 22, 2003

By 

"chiouhsiang" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry: From the Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels Collection (Paperback)

This is, indeed, a very beautifully photographed book. The represented pieces are all exquisite.

Though, it's true there could have been more background information provided, giving the book a rating of one star, as the previous reviewer did, is grossly unjust - an act of spite rather than of informed criticism. Clearly, the book was never meant to be a exhaustive examination of all the ethnological aspects of each piece (though there is ample annotation); such a book would have run to 2000 pages rather than 250! So the Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry is not a doctoral thesis but rather a stroll thru a museum; in this case, the Ghysels Collection. A coffee-table book if you want, but beautiful none the less and of the highest standard.

If you have previously had no interest in ethnic jewelry per se, this book will open your eyes to the extraordinary artistry of these ornaments created by the world's non-industrial peoples. Each object in itself says much more than an accompanying treatise ever could, and I cannot imagine anyone coming away from this book without a desire to learn more.

A second copy purchased for a friend who deals in ethnic jewelry was very much appreciated.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most beautiful ethnic jewelry book I have seen, April 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry: From the Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels Collection (Hardcover)

This is a HUGE book filled with georgeous close-ups of really inspirational jewelry. A favorite of mine!

4.0 out of 5 stars A useful coffee-table book, November 9, 2011

By 

Joost Daalder "Joost Daalder" (South Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry : From the Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels Collection (Paperback)

It seems to me understandable that this book has created some extreme reactions, resulting in one rating of 5 stars and another of 1 star. I think 4 stars is a correct assessment, as the many objects shown are on the whole of a very high standard and diverse in range, while reasonably helpful though very basic captions are also provided. It would not have been a particularly difficult book to produce. There is a superficial general introduction so wide-ranging and non-specific as to be little help, and for the most part one needed a good photographer and a person who could supply the captions. One reviewer claims that this was never meant to be an "exhaustive examination of all the ethnological aspects of each piece (though there is ample annotation); such a book would have run to 2000 pages rather than 250." As the husband of Truus Daalder, who spent 7 years writing her book *Ethnic Jewellery and Adornment*, I know this to be untrue. In that book (420 large pages showing more than 700 objects) each culture area from which objects are shown is extensively described, and each object is ethnologically considered within its cultural context. A book as shallow as *The Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry* is in many ways an opportunity missed, as to a large extent the objects are presented within a cultural void. However, those who are unacquainted with ethnic jewellery do get to see a very good sample of objects, and at a very basic level are given some indication of what they are. What is lacking is any attempt to show what real meaning the objects had for those who wore them, and why they should interest us, today, not just as pretty pieces, but profoundly revealing cultural manifestations.