Language & terminology: Jewelry or jewelry, is there a difference?

An expert in jewelry once told a lecture that using the term jewel (instead of gem) would be reason not to accept a son-in-law-to-be. Whew! For some, the distinction between jewelry and gems is apparently life-defining.

Random use of words?

Jewelry or jewelry: language & terminology, who determines the definitions? How are they used and how much value or meaning can you attach to them? And how universal or multilingual are they, those definitions? Or does arbitrariness sometimes rule?

Author jewelry, Autorenschmuck, authors jewellery, studio jewellery, artist jewelry, art jewelry or art jewelry, costume jewellery, contemporary jewelry, contemporary jewelry, jewelry, art jewelry, fashion jewelry, bijoux: what's the difference? In this forest of terms you quickly get lost. Pragmatic as I am, I then think: is it important, that distinction? What is a piece of jewelry more than an object to adorn yourself with? Does it matter whether it is intrinsically worthless or valuable? I don't think so. Every piece of jewelry is made and it cannot help but have been thought about the design and message, no matter how long or short. Point.

Objects to adorn man with

To put it clearly first: jewelry is meant to adorn, to decorate man. Almost a century ago (1924) Lady Caroline Henriette de Jonge, the first curator of fashion at the Centraal Museum, published the first book in the Netherlands devoted entirely to Dutch jewelry. In it she writes that jewelry is of all times and peoples and that jewelry is worn by people to distinguish themselves from others and or to demonstrate wealth or status. In addition, jewelry is worn as a talisman or has a religious meaning.

A good piece of jewelry focuses on the design, not the preciousness

De Jonge distinguishes jewelry made from inexpensive raw materials from precious ones as follows: with inexpensive materials, it is the design that matters and with precious materials, less processing is required and the materials speak for themselves. She also distinguishes the costly piece of jewelry from the jewelry worn daily. According to De Jonge, a good piece of jewelry is not necessarily made of noble materials: with a good piece of jewelry, it is the design that catches the eye and not as with a precious jewel which, according to her, "...derives its value only from a precious material, in which art has no part...". Other names De Jonge uses for jewelry are bijou de ville and arts and crafts jewelry; terms that have not been used for decades.

Marjan Unger also writes about the arbitrary use of definitions to describe jewelry in her 2010 dissertation. Whether the materials of a piece of jewelry are precious or worthless does not matter to her. What matters is the meaning and the message for both the wearer and the viewer.

Is jewelry always precious?

Regular distinctions are made based on the preciousness of the materials used: jewelry is made of precious metals and possibly precious stones. Jewelry can be made of any material. Really, it seems a tad arbitrary to me.

What is artist jewelry?

The term artist jewelry is often used to refer to jewelry designed or created by visual artists known primarily from sculpture or painting. Examples include Meret Oppenheim, Niki de Saint Phalle, Alexander Calder and Max Ernst. This term implies that other jewelry was not created by artists. That is quite a statement: my hand does not go into fire for it and I avoid the term.

International definitions

And how are the terms determined internationally? Here, too, the necessary confusion. To start close to home: in Flanders, there is talk of art jewelry while similar objects in the Netherlands are usually referred to as contemporary, modern or contemporary jewelry. In English, on the other hand, there is no distinction between jewelry or jewels: it's jewellery all the way, or for the Americans: jewelry, whether precious stuff is involved or not....

Source: jewelry muse