Sunday, August 17, 2008

Silver Jewelry On Display in Washington

Silver Jewelry Adornment


By JamesAllen Silver Jewelry.com

Visitors to Washington, DC can admire silver jewelry from Bilad al-Sham which is on display at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery.

A wide array of hand-crafted silver jewelry and intricately embroidered costumes are on display until Sept. 12, 2008 at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washington, DC.


Ellen Benson and Lynn Springer of Washington, DC’s Bead Museum organized the exhibit using treasures largely drawn from the David and Marjorie Ransom silver jewelry collection. Marjorie Ransom gave an informative lecture to open the exhibition on May 16.

Until the 1950s and 1960s silver jewelry and embroidery were widely worn in Bilad al-Sham, an area that included Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Syria. Descriptions beside each display provide a wealth of information about where each piece of silver jewelry and clothing came from and what it signified.

Silver-making techniques are also described in fascinating detail.

A complementary silver jewelry exhibit drawn from the same collection, “Silver Speaks,” closed March 2008 after successful showings at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, the Gibson Gallery at the State University of New York at Potsdam, the Jefferson County Historical Society in Watertown, New York and the Bead Museum in Washington, DC.

The Mingei International Museum in San Diego also displayed 77 silver jewelry pieces from this collection from April 2006 to September 2007. This high-caliber exhibit should travel the country to help teach Americans about the rich artistic traditions that Jews and Arabs have enjoyed for centuries.

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