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CONTENTS |
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| CONTENTS:- The History and Culture of the Himalayas; Why Was Jewellery Worn?; Symbolism, Folklore and Beliefs; Metals, Gemstones, Corals and Pearls; Craftsmen and their Work; Jewellery in Nepal; Plates: Lhasa; Central and Southern Tibet; Eastern Tibet; Western Tibet, Ladakh, Bhutan and Sikkim; Nepal. |
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This book presents the traditional jewellery of Nepal, Tibet and the Himalayas in all its splendout, and tells the fascinating stories and the trade, conquest and the faith and fortune that lie behind it. The Jewellary of the region has the extraordinary visual impact, with its vibrant combination of gold and silver and terquise, corel amber and pearls, elements of which were traded from countries far distant from the Himalayas. It is worn as much for its religious and talismanic association as for adorment, and many well represent a woman's whole portable wealth in terms of a dowry.
John Clarke has travelled widely in the region and his illuminating text discussed the connection of jewellery to religion and folk belifes and its rich and many-layered symbolism. Drawing together historical accounts and the oral traditions of living craftsmen, he gives a picture of how goldsmiths and jewellers operated in the past and today, and how jewellery was, and its worn now. He shows Nepal nd Tibet to have been the cultural and economic crossroads of Asia, centre of a world-wide network of trade routs, rather than the isoleted Shangri-La of imperial history.
This beautiful illustrated book draws on the finest examples from the V&A and other British collections, both public andf private. It brings into the spotlight one of the richest decorative traditions of the world and one increasingly appriciated and emulated in the west.
The Author:- John Clarke is a Curator in the V&A's Asian Department, specializing in the art of the Himalayas. He gained a phD at SOAS in 1995 for his work on Tibetan metalworking traditions and he is the author of Tibet, Caught in Time (1997). |
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