Adornment. Jewelry from Africa, Asia and the Pacific Photography by Pierre-Alain Ferrozine.

Ein gutes und sauberes Exemplar. - Photographs of jewellery selected from the collections of the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva, Switzerland. - Created both for everyday living and for special festivities, the extraordinary objects of adornment displayed here served at once as symbols of wealth, marks of rank and magic talismans. Whether fashioned of gold, silver, bronze, ivory, jade, bone, shell, natural fibre or human hair, these are pieces of high aesthetic merit. They come dramatically alive when shown adorning the wearer's body - their qualities designed to enhance both the dignity and the beauty of their wearers. Funerary jewelry for burial asserted the importance of the deceased for the afterlife. Other artifacts were hidden away, reserved for secret rituals. Each reflects something of the magical sensibility of the cultures in which they were created. Adornment reveals in resplendent colours the famous collection of ethnic jewelry initiated by Joseph Mueller and expanded by two generations of his heirs. Now housed in the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, the collection first came to life in the early part of this century, when Mueller found himself captivated by African sculpture, masks, necklaces, bracelets, anklets and other ornaments he saw displayed in the Paris studios of Picasso and other artist friends. Pursuing his new passion for these "living jewels, Mueller travelled in Africa, but also in India, Southeast Asia and South America. This book reproduces the finest pieces in the collection. ISBN 9780500016411