A woman in folk dress. Traditional Portuguese filigree jewellery

Portuguese filigree jewellery
Folk dress of Portuguese woman decorated with jewelry has been always highly valued because of its superior quality and a special technique of making ornaments – filigree. The oldest objects found on the territory of modern Portugal, made in filigree, dates back to 2500-2000 BC.
Noteworthy, the Portuguese gold has the highest purity in Europe – 19.2 carats (80% purity). Forms and design of jewelry are closely associated with the history and religion. For example, the famous heart of Viana (coração de Viana), present in modern traditional earrings is one of the oldest symbols of Portugal.
Filigree – an ancient art technique of processing metal, very typical of the Portuguese jewellery. Openwork pattern of thin gold or silver thread. Technology is not unique to the Portuguese jewelry craftsmanship. For sure, each product made in this technique – a little unique work of art.
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Unique 19th Century Ethiopian Golden Caterpillar Robot. Unique work of Swiss jeweler and watch maker Henri Maillardet Caterpillar luxurious jewellery

Caterpillar luxurious jewellery
Created for some wealthy Chinese aristocrat, 200-year-old masterpiece of high jewellery is still in excellent working condition. Sold at auction in 2010, it fetched a price of more than $415,000. It joins five other such caterpillars known to exist, all of which reside in prestigious art collections.
At one time, robots amused wealthy collectors and art enthusiasts. This stunning caterpillar automaton from approximately 1820 is a wonder of both artistry and workmanship. The materials for Ethiopian Caterpillar include rubies, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, and turquoise all set in gold. The eleven jointed ring segments combine to form a “body” make crawling realistic. Noteworthy, its body moves up and down by means of a set of gilt-metal knurled wheels.
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Fairy tales high jewellery Brooch. Yellow Gold, diamonds, light-orange sapphires, dark-orange sapphires, sapphire. Jewellery Theatre. Golden Fish kaleidoscope

Golden Fish kaleidoscope

Once upon a time, in a land far far away lived a very poor couple in a shack not far from the edge of the sea. Their only means of food was the fish that the old man caught in the sea. One morning, as was his usual routine, the fisherman took his fishing net down to the sea. But on this day something unusual happened, on this day the fisherman caught the Golden Fish.
The Golden Fish begged for the fisherman to spare his life, and offered in return to grant the fisherman any wish he would like. But the kindhearted fisherman asked for nothing, and returned the Golden Fish to the sea. However, the fisherman’s wife was not so kindhearted, she became irate when he related the story to her, and sent him back to the sea to catch the Golden Fish and to wish for a loaf of bread. The fisherman did as he was told, he caught the fish and wished for a loaf of bread. When he returned home he found a fresh baked loaf of bread on the table.
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Lovely semiprecious stones are not only exquisite decorations. Lithotherapy Power of Minerals

Lithotherapy Power of Minerals

According to experts, there are stones that can help a person in various spheres of life, and precious minerals affect humans. Why is this happening? The cause of the astral link between human and stones is the presence within the last positively and negatively charged particles.
Lithotherapy – an original method of treatment with natural stones. What jewelry we wear means much. The stone must be chosen carefully in sense of its medicinal properties. Lithotherapy means energy impact (psycho therapeutic, informative) of stone on the human body. It is believed that the vibration of the stone nearly is identical to human vibration, so stone can optimally stimulate the energy flows in the body. Minerals are the oldest “inhabitants” of the Earth, have accumulated over billions of years in their crystals tremendous amount of energy.
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The treasures from the tomb, Queen Puabi jewellery

Queen Puabi jewellery
It was an archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, who opened Ancient Sumerian jewelry. He led excavations in the Sumerian city of Ur in the 1920s and found the tomb of Queen Puabi (Shubad), whose age is 4,5 thousand years. The treasures from the tomb of Puabi, which, like the tomb of Tutankhamun, did not suffer from the hands of the robbers, are now at the Pennsylvania University Museum and the British Museum. Unfortunately, the part that was at the Baghdad museum was looted during the war in 2003. The ancient Sumerian city of Ur was in present-day Iraq, between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf, close to the gulf.
Until now, there was debate – who this noble woman was, buried with honor? Often called the queen, she might have ruled Ur. According to another version, she was a priestess of Inanna – Goddess of Love, Wisdom, War, Fertility and Lust. Ancient Sumerians had practice to elect the king and his main task was to participate in the ritual, during which he became the husband of Inanna. So, the king took on the divine nature and immortality, not only for himself but also for his people.
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Cats on a roof, brooch made of carnelian, obsidian, pegmatite, cacholong, mother of pearl, verdelite, tourmaline, nickel silver with silvering. 6.3 cm. Mineral jewelry by Anatoly

Mineral jewelry by Anatoly
The creative duo, husband and wife, Anatoly Aronovich and Tamara Alexeyevna live and work in Moscow’s Maryina Roshcha. Anatoly and Tamara, professional geologists in the past, understand the value of minerals, creating jewellery of amazing beauty with high quality of execution. The happy couple have worked all their life in geology, and have traveled in geological expeditions all over their native country, from the far north to the Kamchatka. According to the master, since then stone gems have become love and passion of young geologists.
After retirement, they were able to devote their life and all free time to this exciting hobby. In the summer, Tamara creates mosaics of natural semi-precious stones, and decorates their rural way of life in a country house (dacha). Tamara has learned to handle semi-precious stones and can turn an ugly piece of rock into a bright, vibrant gem. Anatoly invents and creates from these placers bright, cheerful decorations. Noteworthy, the craftsmen use only natural stones, brought from various fields during their geological life.
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‘Autumn’ set. Metal, turquoise, moss agate, hot enamel. Mineral art by Vladimir Orzhekhovskiy

Mineral art by Vladimir Orzhekhovskiy
Born in the Kostroma region 14 December 1951, Vladimir Orzhekhovskiy is a talented Russian artist-jeweler. His father loved to paint, and from childhood Vladimir remembers himself sculpting from plasticine soldiers in hussar uniform. The first bike and the first journey on it to the horizon – it was a nearest forest. Thus began his friendship with a backpack and long miles trips, where he found the secret of eternal beauty and nature.
Vladimir creates amazing works of minerals – quartz, zircon, citrine, pearl, amethyst, rock crystal, aquamarine, turquoise, carnelian, jade, agate, and amethyst. Whatever mineral he uses, he tries to keep its original appearance not to loose its connection with nature. His decorative compositions, sculptures and jewelry pieces can not be confused with anyone else, so unique they are.
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