the art of japanese jewellery

Beyond the Body: The Art of Adornment in Japan

Hair, Sword and Sash: Japan’s Other Jewellery

For more than a thousand years, the Japanese wore almost no rings, earrings or necklaces — and all the while, Japan remained one of the most sophisticated jewellery cultures in the world.

The lecture covers:

  • What was worn in antiquity: gold earrings, bracelets and curved magatama beads — and why adornment then all but disappears from the body.
  • Where luxury went instead: into the hairstyle, the sword mounting and the objects suspended from the sash.
  • Kanzashi combs and hairpins in lacquer, tortoiseshell and silver.
  • The inrō, and how a small case for seals became one of the few ways to display taste and wealth.
  • Urushi lacquer: designs in gold powder sprinkled onto wet lacquer (maki-e), mother-of-pearl inlay, workshops — and names prized on a par with those of painters.
  • 1876, the sword ban, and how Japan rediscovered the art of jewellery.

Tickets

Tickets cost € 35 and can be bought at the gallery entrance. To book in advance, send a direct message to Alexander Sheremetev on Instagram.

Venue

Vorona Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Berlin-Charlottenburg, founded by gallerist Julia Vorozhtsova. Its programme of curated exhibitions of painting, sculpture and works on paper brings established and emerging artists into dialogue.

Friedbergstrasse 12, 14 057 Berlin
Tel. +49 162 8 785 244

About the speaker

Alexander Sheremetev is an art historian and researcher specialising in the symbolism, ornament and visual culture of Japan. He has worked with museums for over twenty years, curating private and public collections, developing university courses and advising private projects. He lectures and writes, situating aesthetic form within its historical, philosophical and structural context.