Necklace

Necklaces carry layered meanings depending on context. They often denote wealth and social rank, given their frequent manufacture from precious metals and stones. In religious and mythological imagery, they can signal sanctity, divinity, or earthly beauty. Ceremonial, magical, and funerary purposes are also documented. The band, chain, or cord that encircles the neck may support pendants, lockets, amulets, crosses, and gemstones, including diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. In some traditions, necklaces serve as carriers of symbolic objects, such as cylinder seals in Ancient Mesopotamia or amulets in Ancient Egypt, linking the wearer to protective or devotional functions.

The treatment of the necklace has shifted considerably across cultures and eras. Prehistoric peoples fashioned necklaces from feathers, bone, shells, and plants, with evidence from southern and eastern Africa dating to 50,000 BP. By the Bronze Age, metal had largely supplanted organic materials. In Ancient Egypt, upper-class collars of semi-precious and precious materials served religious, celebratory, and funerary ends, while in Ancient Greece delicately worked gold necklaces with enamel rosettes and pendants were prized. The Hellenistic period introduced polychromatic stones and more elaborate pendants. Roman elites favored gold and silver with imported gems, and the Byzantine era saw Christian iconography replace earlier motifs. In medieval Europe, necklaces were uncommon until lower necklines gained favor; the Renaissance then brought heavy, gem-encrusted collars for men and simpler chains or pearls for women, trends that intensified into the sixteenth century with long pearl ropes and intricate pendants.

The necklace persists as a potent visual motif with deep archaeological roots and continuing cultural resonance. The 2004 discovery of 75,000-year-old perforated shells in South Africa's Blombos Cave, potentially the oldest known necklace-like adornments, underscores the antiquity of neck ornamentation. From prehistoric status markers and magical aids to the refined luxury goods of classical civilizations and beyond, the necklace has maintained its role as a primary vehicle for personal and social expression. Its appearance across 191 works in this collection testifies to its enduring utility for artists signaling identity, narrative, and aspiration.