jewelry

Introduction
Materials and methods
- Metals
  - Precious metals and their properties
  - Metalwork
  - Enamel work
- Gems
  - The properties of gems
  - Gem engraving, setting, and cutting
The history of jewelry design
- Middle Eastern and Western antiquity
  - Sumerian
  - Egyptian
  - Aegean
  - Phoenician
  - Etruscan
  - Greek
  - Roman
- Middle Ages
  - Byzantine
  - Islamic
  - Teutonic
  - Western European
- Renaissance to modern
  - 15th and 16th centuries
  - 17th century
  - 18th century
  - 19th century
  - 20th century
- Non-Western cultures
  - East Asian
    - Chinese
    - Japanese
  - Indian
  - Southeast Asian
  - Scythian
  - African
  - American Indian
    - Central and South American: pre-Columbian
    - North American

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

Related Questions

How can alloying gold with other metals change its color?
How did Art Nouveau jewelry reject the imitation of ancient styles?
How did Chinese jewelry traditionally differ from Western jewelry in its relationship to clothing?
How did Josiah Wedgwood popularize Neoclassical cameo jewelry?
How did Mughal rulers and nobles wear jewelry?
How did Renaissance jewelers use baroque pearls in pendants?
How did jewelry serve as a sign of social rank in many historical societies?
How did plastic expand the materials available for modern mass-produced jewelry?
How did prehistoric people decorate their bodies before precious metals were discovered?
How did sumptuary laws limit the wearing of jewelry?
How did the discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum influence 18th-century jewelry styles?
How did the techniques of granulation and filigree reach China?
How does engraving decorate a metal piece of jewelry?
How does the lost-wax process make fully modeled metal jewelry?
How does the niello technique create black designs on gold or silver jewelry?
How does transparent enamel change the appearance of metal jewelry?
How is filigree made with fine metal wire?
How is repoussé used to create raised designs on jewelry?
How was a nauratan amulet made, and how could it be used in a necklace?
How were chatelaines used by men and women in the 18th century?
How were semiprecious stones shaped and set in Ming dynasty jewelry?
What do the heart, crown, and hands on a Claddagh ring symbolize?
What kinds of necklaces did women wear during the Renaissance?
What were early Chinese gold ornaments from about 400 BCE mainly used for?
Which basic forms of metal have jewelers used to create jewelry?
Which famous 20th-century artists designed or made jewelry?
Which kinds of jewelry were made for the head in ancient civilizations?
Which manufacturing changes transformed jewelry production during the 19th century?
Which materials and images did René Lalique use in Art Nouveau jewelry?
Which metalworking techniques were used by Minoan and Mycenaean jewelers?
Which ornaments were popular during China’s Shang dynasty?
Which powers were believed to belong to a ruby ring during the Middle Ages?
Why did 19th-century jewelry designs borrow from many earlier historical styles?
Why did Brazilian diamond imports transform European jewelry during the 18th century?
Why did Indian jewelers often create richly colored, multicolored jewelry?
Why did Peter Carl Fabergé become famous at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition?
Why did floral decoration become especially popular in 17th-century jewelry?
Why did platinum become more common in jewelry after the 19th century?
Why do burials help historians trace the history of jewelry?
Why were gemstones in Indian jewelry often polished instead of extensively cut?

Visual Arts Fashion & Personal Adornment

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External Websites

BBC Culture - The 10 most iconic jewels through history
International Gem Society - Early History of Jewelry: Ancient Times to the 17th Century
History of Jewelry
Open Library Publishing Platform - Dress and Adornment in Ancient Greece - ItÂ’s All About the Bling: Jewelry in Ancient Greece
Victoria and Albert Museum - A history of jewellery

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

jewelry and gems - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
jewelry and gems - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

jewelry

decorative art

Also known as: jewellery

Written by

Guido Gregorietti

Director, Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan. Author of Jewelry Through the Ages.

Guido Gregorietti

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026 •History

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...

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