Jewelry refers to objects of personal adornment that are valued for their craftsmanship and the materials used in their creation. Historically, jewelry evolved from prehistoric decorations made of shells and animal parts to elaborate pieces crafted from precious metals and gemstones. These adornments have served various purposes, including signifying social or religious status, acting as talismans, and expressing love and loyalty. Throughout history, jewelry has been made from a wide range of materials, from natural elements like wood and bone to precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum, often incorporating gemstones, pearls, and corals. Techniques in jewelry making have also evolved, from simple metalwork and embossing to intricate filigree and casting. The styles and materials used in jewelry have varied significantly across different cultures and time periods, reflecting broader artistic and societal trends.

What materials are commonly used to make jewelry?

Jewelry is crafted from a diverse range of materials, reflecting both historical practices and modern innovation. Early adornments utilized natural elements such as shells , animal tusks, horns, and later, amber and lignite . Precious metals like gold , silver , and platinum have been central to jewelry making due to their malleability, luster, and durability. These metals are often alloyed to enhance strength and reduce costs; for example, sterling silver contains copper, and gold jewelry is measured in karats, indicating its gold content. Gemstones , both precious (diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire) and semiprecious, are integral to jewelry design. Organic materials like pearls , coral , and amber are also classified as gemstones. In contemporary jewelry, nonprecious metals such as steel and even plastic are used, often combined with precious materials for aesthetic effect.

What are some different types of jewelry?

Jewelry encompasses a wide variety of decorative objects worn on the body. Common types include rings , which are circular bands worn on fingers or toes, and necklaces , ornamental chains or strings worn around the neck. Brooches are ornamental pins attached to garments, while earrings are worn suspended from the ear. Bangles are ornaments worn on the wrist, often as part of a bracelet. These items can be crafted from various materials, including precious metals, stones, pearls, and even plastic, and have historically served not only decorative purposes but also as symbols of social status or for protection.

How has jewelry been used in different cultures?

Jewelry has been used across cultures for adornment, status, and symbolic meaning. In ancient Egypt , jewelry incorporated religious and symbolic motifs like the scarab and lotus flower, often using gold with carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. Greek jewelry, influenced by surrounding cultures, evolved from simpler forms to intricate sculptures in miniature, especially during the Hellenistic period. Roman jewelry saw extensive use of gold and precious stones, with styles reflecting both Hellenistic and Etruscan influences, and a greater emphasis on volume. In contrast, traditional Japanese costume historically limited the use of metal or stone jewelry, with adornments often integrated into clothing or hair accessories. African cultures frequently utilized silver and gold, with designs influenced by Islamic art and local traditions, often featuring embossed or filigree techniques.

What is the process for making a piece of jewelry?

The creation of jewelry involves transforming raw materials into aesthetically pleasing and functional items. This process often begins with metals like gold, silver, or platinum, which are shaped through techniques such as forging , casting, or wirework. Precious and semi-precious stones are also integral, undergoing cutting and polishing to enhance their beauty. Other methods include enameling, where powdered glass is applied and heated to adhere to metal surfaces. Gemstones can be engraved, and techniques like repoussé and granulation are used for decorative metalwork. Finally, these prepared components are assembled, historically through mechanical means or, more commonly now, through welding .

jewelry

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Silver Claddagh ring featuring two hands holding a crowned heart, resting on a wooden surface.

Gold funerary mask from Mycenae, shaped as a male face with a beard and closed eyes, known as the so-called Mask of Agamemnon.

Minoan gold pendant known as the Malia Bee Pendant, featuring two bees encircling a textured sun with granulation detail, and three gold discs hanging below.

At a Glance

jewelry summary

jewelry

decorative art

Also known as: jewellery

Written by

Guido Gregorietti

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026 •History

Top Questions

What is jewelry?
Jewelry refers to objects of personal adornment that are valued for their craftsmanship and the materials used in their creation. Historically, jewelry evolved from prehistoric decorations made of shells and animal parts to elaborate pieces crafted from precious metals and gemstones. These adornments have served various purposes, including signifying social or religious status, acting as talismans, and expressing love and loyalty.

Throughout history, jewelry has been made from a wide range of materials, from natural elements like wood and bone to precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum, often incorporating gemstones, pearls, and corals. Techniques in jewelry making have also evolved, from simple metalwork and embossing to intricate filigree and casting. The styles and materials used in jewelry have varied significantly across different cultures and time periods, reflecting broader artistic and societal trends.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What materials are commonly used to make jewelry?
Jewelry is crafted from a diverse range of materials, reflecting both historical practices and modern innovation. Early adornments utilized natural elements such as shells, animal tusks, horns, and later, amber and lignite.

Precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum have been central to jewelry making due to their malleability, luster, and durability. These metals are often alloyed to enhance strength and reduce costs; for example, sterling silver contains copper, and gold jewelry is measured in karats, indicating its gold content.

Gemstones, both precious (diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire) and semiprecious, are integral to jewelry design. Organic materials like pearls, coral, and amber are also classified as gemstones. In contemporary jewelry, nonprecious metals such as steel and even plastic are used, often combined with precious materials for aesthetic effect.
7 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are some different types of jewelry?
Jewelry encompasses a wide variety of decorative objects worn on the body. Common types include rings, which are circular bands worn on fingers or toes, and necklaces, ornamental chains or strings worn around the neck. Brooches are ornamental pins attached to garments, while earrings are worn suspended from the ear. Bangles are ornaments worn on the wrist, often as part of a bracelet. These items can be crafted from various materials, including precious metals, stones, pearls, and even plastic, and have historically served not only decorative purposes but also as symbols of social status or for protection.
5 Britannica Sources
1. brooch
2. jewelry
3. earring
4. ring
5. jewelry
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How has jewelry been used in different cultures?
Jewelry has been used across cultures for adornment, status, and symbolic meaning. In ancient Egypt, jewelry incorporated religious and symbolic motifs like the scarab and lotus flower, often using gold with carnelian, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. Greek jewelry, influenced by surrounding cultures, evolved from simpler forms to intricate sculptures in miniature, especially during the Hellenistic period. Roman jewelry saw extensive use of gold and precious stones, with styles reflecting both Hellenistic and Etruscan influences, and a greater emphasis on volume. In contrast, traditional Japanese costume historically limited the use of metal or stone jewelry, with adornments often integrated into clothing or hair accessories. African cultures frequently utilized silver and gold, with designs influenced by Islamic art and local traditions, often featuring embossed or filigree techniques.
1 Britannica Source
1. jewelry - Greek
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is the process for making a piece of jewelry?
The creation of jewelry involves transforming raw materials into aesthetically pleasing and functional items. This process often begins with metals like gold, silver, or platinum, which are shaped through techniques such as forging, casting, or wirework. Precious and semi-precious stones are also integral, undergoing cutting and polishing to enhance their beauty.

Other methods include enameling, where powdered glass is applied and heated to adhere to metal surfaces. Gemstones can be engraved, and techniques like repoussé and granulation are used for decorative metalwork. Finally, these prepared components are assembled, historically through mechanical means or, more commonly now, through welding.
5 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

jewelry, objects of personal adornment prized for the craftsmanship going into their creation and generally for the value of their components as well.

Throughout the centuries and from culture to culture, the materials considered rare and beautiful have ranged from shells, bones, pebbles, tusks, claws, and wood to so-called precious metals, precious and semiprecious stones, pearls, corals, enamels, vitreous pastes, and ceramics. In certain eras artist-craftsmen have sometimes placed less emphasis on the intrinsic value of materials than on their aesthetic function as components contributing to the effect of the whole. Thus, they might fashion a brooch out of steel or plastic rather than gold or platinum. Furthermore, in addition to its decorative function, during much of its history jewelry has also been worn as a sign of social rank—forbidden by sumptuary laws to all but the ruling classes—and as a talisman to avert evil and bring good luck. During the Middle Ages, for example, a ruby ring was thought to bring its owner lands and titles, to bestow virtue, to protect against seduction, and to prevent effervescence in water—but only if worn on the left hand. The famed Claddagh ring, a traditional Irish ring featuring a heart, a crown, and two hands, has long symbolized love, loyalty, and friendship, respectively. According to Irish custom, the ring’s positioning on the hand conveys the wearer’s marital status. It is also called the “friendship ring” or “hands and heart ring.”

Materials and methods

The first materials used to make objects for personal adornment were taken from the animal and vegetable world. The material taken from the animal world, in a natural or processed form, constituted the actual adornment, whereas vegetable fibres served as its support. A great variety of shells and pieces of shell were used during the prehistoric age and are still used in certain island and coastal cultures to make necklaces, bracelets, pendants, and headdresses. In the inland regions the first materials used for personal adornment came from mammoths’ tusks, the horns of reindeer and other animals, and, later on, amber and lignite.

All materials that have been used over the centuries for the manufacture of jewelry have undergone to some extent mechanical, physical, or chemical treatment for the purpose of transforming their raw shapes into shapes that, in addition to being functional, also satisfy certain aesthetic concepts.

Metals

Precious metals and their properties

Of gold’s properties, when it was first discovered (probably in Mesopotamia before 3000 bce), it was the metal’s malleability that was a new phenomenon: only beeswax, when heated to a certain temperature, could be compared to it. Gold’s molecules move and change position in accordance with the stresses to which it is submitted, so that when it is beaten it gains in surface area what it loses in thickness. In modern jewelry, gold can take on a variety of hues when it is alloyed with other metals: water green, white, gray, red, and blue.

After gold, silver is the metal most widely used in jewelry and the most malleable. Although known during the Copper Age, silver made only rare appearances in jewelry before the Classical age. In general, silver was, and still is, used in jewelry for economic reasons or to obtain chromatic effects. It was often used in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, however, as support in settings for diamonds and other transparent precious stones, in order to encourage the reflection of light.

Another rare metal, whose use in jewelry is fairly recent, is platinum. From the 19th century onward this metal was used ever more frequently in jewelry because of its white brilliance and malleability, as well as its resistance to acids and its high melting point.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

Modern jewelry, such as that designed by early 20th-century artists, introduced nonprecious metals such as steel.

jewelry

Materials and methods

Thank you for signing up!

Metals

Precious metals and their properties