Humans have been making jewellery since prehistoric times, and we continue to adorn ourselves with charms and trinkets. Quite a few of us will probably be giving and receiving some bling this Christmas. But why do we wear it? From hairpins that ward off evil, to anklets that alter the way you walk, there's a lot more to self-adornment than simply showing off.
Harnessing the power of baubles and bling
Words by Elissavet Ntoulia
- In pictures
Source: Wellcome Collection. © Science Museum, London. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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It's likely that the earliest jewellery was worn as a form of protection, and that it wouldn't have been classified as jewellery per se, but as amulets, talismans or lucky charms. These objects are material manifestations of magical, folk or religious ideas. The idea of the evil eye is one of the most persistent. It's an ancient belief that a jealous and malicious gaze from someone with an evil eye can cause illness and misfortune. People believed that objects like this necklace could fend off the evil eye's powerful gaze.
Source: Victoria and Albert Museum. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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Protective symbols can be incorporated into jewellery that serves an obvious practical function, like keeping hair or clothing in place. This hairpin has a head shaped like a fig hand, or 'mano fica'. This gesture, with the thumb in between the index and second finger, has been used to ward off evil since Phoenician times.
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Protective powers can also be attributed to materials. In Italy, 'sprigs of rue' pendants incorporated pieces of red coral. Often associated with infancy, coral was believed particularly to protect pregnant women and babies from things including the evil eye, disease, and teething pains. In this painting, the baby Jesus wears a brightly coloured coral amulet around his neck.
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Within Buddhist and Hindu traditions, coloured beads could affirm people's connection to the spiritual realm. Different colours were chosen to mirror natural substances: red (coral) for blood, fire and light, blue (turquoise) for the water, sky and air, and yellow (amber) for earth. This ceremonial headdress incorporates coral with human skull into a highly ritual piece.
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A wearable object's effectiveness depends on strength of belief as much as the power of precious materials. This simple cat-shaped brooch was designed as a charm to protect soldiers during World War I. The black cat has been associated with the devil since Medieval times, but eventually the idea turned around, and they came to symbolise the good luck of having encountered the devil without being struck down.
Source: Wellcome Collection. © Science Museum, London. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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For centuries, miasma theories explained that disease was transmitted through putrid air, so plague-stricken Europe used sweet-smelling pomanders as practical and pretty repellents to mask a lack of proper sanitation. The complexity of the design and the choice of materials reflected the social class of the owner, and the pomander became a status symbol for the elite, especially during visits to a city's poorer and smellier parts. The most elaborate incorporated a number of individual segments for adding sweet-smelling herbs and perfumes.
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Jewellery has come to be especially associated with women and the male gaze. Female feet have sensual connotations in several cultures and so great efforts go into making them attractive to the opposite sex. Indian women's anklets often have bells on them, mesmerising the viewer when the wearer is walking or dancing.
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Among Igbo people in Nigeria, heavy brass anklets were worn by married women before the 1920s. They were a symbol of wealth and a sort of oath of fidelity, the equivalent of a wedding ring, as they made wives incapable of running away. Unmarried girls would more often wear spiral coils of brass or copper like this one, which produced a swaying walk that was considered attractive.
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Hair was first used in memento mori jewellery in the 17th century, alongside images of coffins and skeletons. In the Victorian era, complex hair weaving techniques were developed, and hair was incorporated into different kinds of jewellery designed to declare a love more powerful than death. Wearing jewellery with hair in it became part of upper-class women's grieving etiquette.
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From the Victorian era on, much of jewellery’s significance was as a material possession. The sociologist Georg Simmel tracks the roots of all sexual differences to the original division of property: men used weapons, their first possessions, to impose power, while ornamental jewellery was the first form of women’s property used to bestow a different kind of power, one that comes with being a visual delight to others. In Simone De Beauvoir's terms, "the metamorphosis of a woman into an idol". Brands today still tend to prioritise female audiences, although recent menswear collections have included elaborate jewellery that goes some way to challenge these gender stereotypes.
About the author
Elissavet Ntoulia
Elissavet Ntoulia is a Visitor Experience Assistant at Wellcome Collection.